Career Talk JDR

Posts Tagged ‘virtual teams’

Today, companies have employees both on and offsite, which brings the challenge of managing teams they can’t always see.  Virtual teams are potentially cost effective, providing that the company has the right structure, leadership, motivation and, most importantly, communication in place.  This is where technology can really pay off by substituting for in-person communications.  Organizations have a lot to choose from: email, text, conference call, video conferencing, Live Meeting, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.; but too many variables lead to a lack of coherency and make tracking difficult.  The bottom line is that the manager needs to know what team members are doing, and that it aligns with the vision and mission statement for that project.  In my experience, weekly (or sometimes daily) phone calls with all of the team members together make a huge difference in the success of a project.