Mapping Virtual Distance

Mapping virtual distance involves several steps (Cross & Parker, 2004):

1. Draw a circle for each team member with the name of each team member in the middle of a circle.
2. Connect the circles with arrowed lines. The arrow indicates who initiates the contact. For example, if Jack contacts John, there would be a line from Jack to John with an arrow pointing to John. If John did not initiate contact with Jack there would be no arrow pointing back at Jack. If John did initiate contact with Jack then the line between them would have two arrows, one pointing to Jack from John and one pointing to John from Jack.
3. Assign a virtual distance score between the individuals that are connected. Use a simple scale (i.e. 1 - 5 with 1 being a low score and 5 a high score). Depending on the type of virtual distance you are examining the arrows and score may simply reflect by how often the contact occurs. However it may be narrowed by focusing only on work related contacts or solely on social contact.
4. Identify critical relationship paths. This takes several forms. If everyone is communicating through a single person, determine the role of that person. Is he or she a facilitator or bottleneck? Identify who is on the periphery and only have contact with one or two other people. Identify key people who, if removed from the diagram, would cause large communication breaks between members of the group.

If you look at the network map A below, it appears that the 54 executives have multiple connections with the other executives.

However, if you were to remove just 9 of the 54 executives the network changes dramatically (see network map B). While portions of the network remain well connected, what appeared to be a well connected network, without the 9 key executives is shown to have serious gaps and disconnects.

The next network C below illustrates a communication pattern that is not healthy. With the removal of two people, the two halves of this team would be totally severed. While there is good connection within each half of the team, both halves are not connected.

The chart below indicates changes where more team members are connected to other team members. It is a much healthier and stronger network. Note that each member does not need to be connected to all of the other members, but each member needs sufficient, meaningful connections to several team members.

Increasing the contacts between the group members enables one to increase communication and interaction. This increased communication and interaction helps to build and maintain trust among group members. The more team members communicate, interact and share information (both work and personal related) the greater trust will be built. Do not mistake quantity of contact for quality. Simply contacting another person a lot will not necessarily build trust. It is the combination of the amount and the quality of the interaction. Double arrows with high interaction scores promote and maintain high trust.