The Recommendations – A Global Case Study in Virtual Teaming

Employees across the world – if they had the privilege of working from home - are being called back to the office these days. Many workers have been home for 15 months now, and businesses are realizing that a work from home option is the new norm for many roles. Working virtually is not just a benefit anymore; it’s a demand. Therefore, virtual teaming is still with us and will be with us in the next normal.  

This is the sixth and final post in a series about virtual teaming. Wow, this series has been a wild ride back into the recent past. And it’s been a joy to revisit learnings with my graduate school colleagues. The six of us became a research team and natural support system for each other during a virtual teaming experience in May 2020. We were part of a global experiment between two universities, two countries, and several businesses to conduct rapid virtual consulting engagements. If you are just joining this ride, then start with the introduction. Then you can move to posts about building change fluency, designing for virtual spaces,  rapidly creating trust within teams, and reflecting as a practice.

This virtual teaming series has been a way to start and continue discussions about virtual teaming in the business environment. Virtual teaming requires a special effort within the entire group to build and sustain virtual connections in a new way. After our student committee worked together virtually and across continents for five months, here are our recommendations for virtual teaming.

1. Virtual Teaming Toolkit: Virtual teams the following key elements for success: teambuilding, working agreements, roles, shared documents, and agendas.

a. An initial teambuilding session is helpful when the team forms so that team members can get to know each other and understand the current bandwidth of the team. In addition, it can be helpful to discuss intentions/desired outcomes as well as explore strengths and areas for growth. Ongoing team building may include check-ins and check-outs to open and close the time together.

b. Working agreements lay the groundwork for how the team will work. A conversation about working agreements may include topics such as workflows, decision-making processes, preferences, and time zone availability. A regular practice of reviewing these agreements may increase team internal reflection.

c. Designation of roles for meetings and non-meeting work directionally aligns the team with assignments and timeframes. Roles may be static (i.e., a certain person always takes notes or schedules meetings) or may rotate. It is recommended that the team have an explicit conversation about the variety and breadth of tasks that need to be completed for the project’s success and how the team will divide up those tasks.

d. Shared documents across a single platform and/or document allows ready access in one place for team members.

e. Meeting agendas allow the team to use team time effectively by time blocking discussions and overall meeting times.

2. Frequent and consistent communication is recommended. This may include formal and informal means, such as regular synchronous meetings, chats on WhatsApp or a text group, respectively.

a. Checking in with the client and/or client point of contact

b. Checking in with each other on process, how expectations may have shifted as things get renegotiated.

c. Checking in with each other for shared understanding and alignment of action items, client communications, etc.

3. Participants must trust the process and lean into deep uncertainty. This report demonstrates that OD processes, such as Flawless Consulting, Appreciative Inquiry, Open Space Technologies, and World Cafe can be highly effective in the virtual space. This effectiveness however takes a willingness to trust the process, lean into the discomfort, and come with the intention of deep human connection.

4. Virtual consulting engagements require additional creativity as we bring even more of the field of OD into the virtual space. Traditional webinars are not sufficiently engaging to sustain a virtual program, before or after a virtual consulting engagement. OD techniques like Open Space and World Cafe are more engaging and model new ways of applying OD.

5. Greater focus on the learning objectives of the course, in addition to the virtual nature of the consulting engagement, is required. Virtual consulting is unique. It is also important to amplify and translate all of the learning that would be done in person into the virtual space, by adding a day or two to the consulting engagements for debriefs and additional course content and leveraging additional technologies like virtual reality platforms to give students access to simulations they would have experienced in person.

After reviewing these findings a year later, I asked our student committee if they had any additions. Organization effectiveness professional Hannah Nichols shared, “In the last 12 months, I’ve experienced working on teams with and without some of these factors. I would say that the virtual experience is smoother when 2-3 of these recommendations are present. I would especially emphasize communication, trust, and creativity.” Nonprofit professional Erin Hall was enthusiastic about the recommendations after 12 months. She said, “Yes, yes, yes to shared documents/tools and agreements (ongoing conversations) about how those documents are used. Rotating roles (note taking, agenda setting, etc.) worked really well for our group! I also feel increasingly stronger about getting clear on what communication platform will be used for what (Ex. Email, Slack, etc.). I would also add the power of a good old-fashioned call. Not everything has to be on Zoom.”

People development professional Christine Parcells offered this insight. “The leaning into uncertainty and figuring out how to navigate that as a team means that people really have to show up and speak up. Holding each other and ourselves accountable could have been challenging with busy schedules, and it’s up to each individual to make that commitment.”  Health care leader Chris Aiken generously supported our recommendations, “Actually, I resonate with these recommendations, even more so than then.” Tech product professional Shelly Dhamija and I agreed.

Need help with designing meetings? Try 5 Tips for Engaging Virtual Team Meetings.