Lesson 7: Global Virtual Team Leadership

Implementing Global Leadership Best Practices

Knowing leadership skills and implementing them can be two vastly different things. There are 9 things you can do to improve GV leadership skills:

1. Attitude of Inquiry. Explore and try new technologies and currently used technologies. Look for technologies that do a better job than the ones you are currently using. Explore the technologies you are currently using to learn how to better use it. If you think of an application like Microsoft Word, most users only used a very narrow part of what the application is able to do. Exploring other applications may increase its usefulness to your team. It will also help you develop a technology wish list that identifies what you would like a technology to be able to do. This will help you monitor for new developments (or make suggestions to the software developers) that will be more functional for your team.

2. Return and Report. You cannot just ask team members to check in or casually report to you. One student leader on a class team mentioned how his team would check in with him at the start of a common class to let him know what they had done, what they were planning on doing and any problems they were encountering. Each was a short, often less than a minute, check in, but it became critical for the team leader to know who was doing what and who needed extra time or help and how this affected the overall team progress. A virtual team needs a consistent method of checking in. It needs to be at a time and in a manner that lets the team leader know what is going on. Perhaps this is done via a webpage, wiki, blog or group site that is up-dated daily or weekly. This would require the leader to introduce this application to the team and require that the update is made. If the update is not added the leader would need to contact the team member and encourage him/her to make the updates. Perhaps the leader would need to start and finish his/her day with up-dates from team members depending on the time zone they are working in.

3. Mapping Team Progress. Monitoring the team's timeline becomes critical. Everything takes longer to do on a GV team. If one area is lagging behind, the leader needs to identify how this will affect the rest of the team. Will extra resources need to be diverted to assist the one area? Can other tasks be worked on while the task is completed? The leader needs to understand how interactions are occurring and where these may be helpful or potentially harmful. He/She will use daily updates and weekly team meetings to determine if and how the time line needs to be altered or modified. For example, a recent student GV team had two endpoints half a world apart. Each sub-group of the team relied on a local leader to relay sub-group needs. When one subgroup leader left her team at the end of the first semester it created huge communication problems because the subgroup's needs were not being communicated. The team leader needs to establish and foster constant communication between team members.

4. Clear Communication. The GV leader must develop communication skills especially written skills. He/She needs to be able to communicate by avoiding idioms or colloquialisms. If they are used, he/she should recognize and seek to clarify cultural difference. For example, on one GV team a North American had used the word "quite" in a description. For the Americans it had the meaning of having a lot or a great deal. However, to another team member the use of "quite" suggested having barely enough. The leader should be watching for such instances and ensure that clarification between team members happens.

The leader also needs to be able to communicate using a variety of methods. Those who are using English as a second language to communicate may be sensitive to any accents or mispronunciations (even if their second language skills are quite strong). As a result the leader needs to be able to communicate with text just as effectively as with word. This includes clearly communicating the team vision so that all team members understand it.

5. Acclaim Achievements. The leader needs to find ways to praise and offer encouragement. Leaders need to be explicit in praise, directions and specifications. It becomes critically important to have team members, from a distance and different culture, understand that their assignments have been completed in an exceptional way. Recognition needs to be given in such a way that honors the individual and motivates him/her to do better. Since physical contact (i.e. presenting a gift, giving a handshake, etc.) is not possible, oral and written communication needs to convey praise in a culturally sensitive way.

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