Lesson 7: Global Virtual Team Leadership

T.R.A.D.I.T.I.O.N

Another model of GV leadership uses the acronym T . R . A . D . I . T . I . O . N . to identify the attributes an individual would need to be a strong leader (Brake, 2008).

Technological Competence.

The leader needs a strong understanding of technology tools that the team is using. He/She is able to compare and contrast using tools such as Skype vs Tokbox vs Adobe Connect to hold team meetings or explain when Dropbox is superior to Google Doc for document and information sharing and vice versa. This enables him/her to know (or be able to find out) what technology exists to help solve the GV team issues. This includes knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the application, what it is best suited to do and how to use it. However, the leader may call on someone with greater expertise to demonstrate the how, but the main idea is if a team member comes with a concern, such as how to share a large file easily, the leader would be able to present a potential solution or direct the team member to potential options.

Results-Oriented.

The team leader needs to have a broad understanding of the project as well as the day-to-day tasks. He or she provides the focus and drive that the team needs to achieve its goals and objectives. This includes keeping in contact with all team members and understanding where they are in relation to where they should be on their project. This is not as easily done over a virtual distance as in a co-located one. It may require the leader to set up and manage a secure blog for team members to use. Perhaps a team site will be best for providing updates and information. It may even be that the leader establishes a check in time and meets briefly with team members using i-chat, Google-chat, Skype or text messaging for daily updates.

Accountability.

Accountability has two directions:

1. The leader is accountable to other team members. He/She completes his/her work on time, within budget and to a high standard. He/She exemplifies how other team members should act.

2. The leader is accountable to the team's client or upper management. This means reconciling team needs and priorities with local needs. For example, if a deadline is near or on a cultural holiday of a team member, the leader needs to plan around that holiday and the likelihood of the team member being unavailable. When assignments are made the team leader is responsible to monitor progress and trouble shoot between meetings. This may require using chat or personal video to quickly touch bases with team members in a casual but effective manner to determine how things are proceeding.

Discipline.

After the start of the team organization, the leader uses the team's goals, rules and procedures to regulate workflow and minimize disruptions to other team members. It may require meeting virtually with an individual member to encourage him/her to complete work needed by other team members or increase communication. The team leader will use the cultural understandings of team members to ensure that each member performs his or her duties in an acceptable manner. If needed the team leader must make decisions on how the team is to proceed, but must do so in a way that motivates the team.

Initiative.

The leader must be proactive in foreseeing potential problems and working to mitigate or eliminate them. He/She must be calculated in his/her responses to team interactions (or lack thereof) to help the team succeed. The team leader must also use the expertise on his/her team. This means allowing a team member to take the lead in an area where he/she has particular expertise. The GV team leader is always open to input that will enable the team to function better. There is an open dialogue that allows trust to be built and uses that trust to understand how to get the most out of team members.

Time Management.

In addition to prioritizing team actions, responding to team member's requests and meeting deadlines, the GV leader must manage these using virtual communication tools. He/She must be aware of time zone differences and changes and how this will affect the team. For example, while North America is on daylight savings time, a Midwest team member is three hours behind a Brazilian counterpart. However as North America goes off of daylight savings time and South America goes on, that time difference almost doubles to 5 hours. The team leader needs to be aware of these time differences and how each difference affects team operations. The greater the time zone difference and number of team end points, the more difficult this becomes.

When a team is required to have some members meet late in the evening while others meet early in the morning, the leader also needs to ensure that these team meetings alternate so one team member does not always have to meet late at night (unless doing so would benefit him/her).

Interpersonal Effectiveness.

The leader needs to communicate effectively and appreciate the skills, abilities and experience each team member brings to the team. The leader should have a 5-10 minute Internet interview with each team member to get to know him or her better prior to the team startup. These visits should be repeated as needed to understand team members and to make a connection with them. Imagine working on a co-located team and the team lead never spoke to you or contacted you. It would be difficult to have any kind of a meaningful relationship. On a GV team establishing this rapport with team members is increasingly difficult, but also critically important. The better connections the team leader has with each team member, the stronger the team is. It may require establishing, updating and constantly referring to a team personal profile. It may require that the leader monitors interactions with others to ensure that the best team members for the assigned task are working together on the task.

Openness.

The leader not only welcomes the sharing of expertise and ideas, he/she fosters this attitude with all team members. He/She recognizes and values the advantage of a diversity of culture brings to the team and its final product. He/She seeks to encourage the sharing of cultural differences, knowledge and innovations that allows team members to learn and grow from one another.

As mentioned in another lesson, members of a GV team must work with another culture without becoming immersed in the culture. This requires extra effort to learn about the culture of the other team members. It may require using resources that describe the other culture, attending local events organized by members of that culture, viewing international films from the culture or reading translated novels. Perhaps team members would also learn second language. If a team member is learning English, this provides an excellent opportunity to advance vocabulary and pronunciation. If a team member is a native English speaker it provides the opportunity to learn key phrases.

In each opportunities team members have the occasion to open up and explain cultural aspects, share stories, history, etc. that provides information on what is important to the culture and how it is important.

Networking.

The leader must be connected with others inside and outside of the team. He/She seeks to build and foster these relationships as they aid the team to expand its knowledge and relationships. It also allows him/her to develop ways to acknowledge the presence of the GV team in various locations. In some cases there may only be one or two team members in a single location. Establishing some way to identify the team allows others to see that the team is functioning and working on important aspects. He/She promotes the team to other co-workers and leaders who are not part of the GV team so the team is acknowledged and valued.

While many of these attributes of a leader have similarities with a co-located leader and team, it is important to note the virtual, cultural and distance issues change the nature of how leadership must interact with other team members. It would be a mistake (and often is the largest mistake) to assume that everything done on a GV team is identical as a co-located team. This is especially true if team members are isolated from other team members and not part of sub-groups in different locations on a team. Personal attention, guidance and regular, clear communication is needed to function successfully. Processes that occur naturally (i.e. visiting with a team member by visiting his/her work space) must be replicated using virtual technologies (i.e. seeing a team member on a chat line or social network and stopping work to have a quick chat with them).