Team Processes: Building Trust

3. Make a 5-minute phone call.

A five minute phone call refers to calling each international team member at the start of the project. Use a media rich communication technology and visit with them about anything other than work. At a minimum the communication should be audio, but preferably has video also.

One team decided the original purpose of their five-minute phone call was to get the other person to laugh through telling jokes and stories. In doing so, team members revealed details about themselves that allowed members to find common connections. While humor needs to be used cautiously, the idea of a 5 minute phone call is to initiate some kind of contact that begins to build trust and encourage communication. The idea is to talk with each international team member to get to know who he or she is.

The point in each of these exercises is to find a means to interact virtually with other team members. The goal is this, what can you tell others about a specific team member? Perhaps you team should take time to have one team member introduce an international counterpart at a team meeting. Unlike face-to-face interactions that often occur spontaneously, interactions on a GV team you must initially be planned and each team member must take the initiative to have these interactions on a regular basis and take the time to talk with international counterparts. A variety of technologies form a wiki, to a team website to a google doc or a Facebook page may be used, but the communication and interaction is critical. As a cautionary note, one should always take care of what is posted on the Internet and be certain that jokes, stories, etc. are appropriate and not offensive to other cultures.