Preparing for Change: A Global Case Study in Virtual Teaming
My heart still hurts when recalling the first moments of the pandemic. How does one prepare for change when we don’t see it coming to us? This is a question that each of us faced in multiple ways when the COVID-19 pandemic began. And it wasn’t just an individual experience. Teams, businesses, communities, countries, and nations were navigating the same question. This is the second blog post in a six-part series about virtual teaming. I am looking back at a global virtual teaming experience that happened early in the pandemic and bringing forward insights for the future. This series is a collaboration of thoughts from the student steering committee involved in designing a virtual 14-day intensive for the Pepperdine MSOD program.
Today we are focusing on the preparation for change. While we cannot predict every change that happens, we can certainly build a capacity for change that will prepare us for the future. Ironically, our graduate program was studying agility when the world shut down. Even more ironically, we were learning from one of the gurus on change and agility, Dr. Chris Worley. In his book The Agility Factor with co-authors Thomas Williams and Ed Lawler, Worley defines agility as “a system of routines that allows a company to make repeated organization changes when necessary.”
That sounds all well and good until you are in the moment of BIG change. What prepared you for the changes we experienced in 2020 and continue to experience today? As you reflect on the last 12 months, what have you learned and what skills are growing because of these changes? I would enjoy hearing your answers, as I can imagine that the list is long. I asked my student colleagues the same question, and here are some themes that popped up for us.
Previous virtual teaming experience makes a difference. Our group brought varied levels of experience into our working space; however, some of us had years of involvement with national and international virtual work teams. Health care leader Chris Aiken said, “My previous experience working internationally doing humanitarian response definitely helped. I was familiar with having a boss, or members of my team, operating from a different country.” Additionally, our graduate program was already a hybrid environment with a mix of online classes and short-term residences. Rotational assignments prepared us for change.
Team Building is critical for effectiveness. While experience with virtual work was a plus, our team also had the added benefit of deep connective team encounters. Our specific team for designing the virtual graduate intensive had never worked together as a group before, yet we had personal relationships and previously traveled together. The Pepperdine MSOD program made a concerted effort to build psychological safety in our group. Professor Amy Edmondson says, “Psychological safety isn’t about being nice. It’s about giving candid feedback, openly admitting mistakes, and learning from each other.” We drew from a deep well of psychological safety that prepared us to take risks together.
An orientation to complexity builds confidence. Another factor in preparing for change was orienting to a new mindset – specifically, one grounded in VUCA. VUCA is a military term which stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. Early in our graduate program, we were introduced to VUCA as a result of rapid globalization and connectedness. Why does this matter? Globalization requires a new set of skills that are not dependent on predictability. Organization effectiveness professional Hannah Nichols shared, “What prepared me was being committed to a shared outcome of what we wanted to create with and for our classmates but not attached to it happening in a certain way. Letting go of what ‘should’ve ben’ allowed me to focus my energy on what opportunities still existed.” Understanding the complexity of globalization prepared us to work globally.
Regular intentional communication is essential for virtual teaming. What’s the biggest loss of in-person work? Many would say the side conversations that happen in the hallways between meetings or breaks. Rather than leaving a communication gap, virtual teams need a regular place to communicate. We used WhatsApp due to the global makeup of our team. This also gave us a place to share funny stories and life updates during a tenuous time. People development professional Christine Parcells offered, “I try to check in with other coworkers more frequently to learn I’m not alone in feeling a certain way – this helps reduce the energy-zapping internal stories I may have created while being remote.” Regular communication prepared us to respond quickly.
Simplicity will be celebrated. When the world pumps out complexity, simplicity becomes a breath of fresh air. Our team made a few decisions early on that streamlined our processes. These included regular meeting times, synchronous and asynchronous work in smaller groups, facilitation rotation, role definitions, and shared documents. We knew what to do, when we needed it, and how to find it. Tech Product professional Shelly Dhamija shared this wisdom, “Less is more, and simplicity is what we need.” Nonprofit professional Erin Hall also recognized the level of simplicity induced by the pandemic, “At the time of our virtual intensive, I had significant space in my life – mentally and also time that was not too scheduled or in demand…The pandemic eliminated a lot of activities for me…I had the capacity to be agile, to take a break, and rethink.” Simplicity prepared our minds for change.
As you reflect on the last 12 months, what have you learned and what skills are growing because of these changes? Author Alice Walker once said, “Every small positive change we make in ourselves repays us in confidence in the future.” Experience, teambuilding, complexity, communication, and simplicity allow us to build personal and professional agility. I definitely feel more confident after working virtually for the last year or so. How about you?
Resources
Lahl, S., & Egan, T.D. (2012) Bridging the Complexity Gap: Leading Effectively in a VUCA World. Graziadio Business Review, 15 (3). http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2012/11/bridging-the- complexity-gap/
Worley, C., Williams, T., and Lawler, E. (2014). The Agility Factor. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass).
Read the next post in this series here.