
Earl, you were instrumental in helping with the very large challenge of getting our Safety Collaboration Teams to work together, both cross-functionally
and virtually, using our in-house IT collaboration tools. Thanks for another big success.
Jim J. Collins, MIS, CSP, CIH
Manager, Global Safety, Claims Management, and Health Promotion
A virtual team is much, much more than a collection of humans, working at a distance with phones, email, and fancy collaboration software!
A solid virtual team, like any
other team, is best formed intentionally. It's members will have fierce clarity about the team's mission, goals, and each other's roles and
responsibilities. In addition to enabling hardware and software technologies, the team will have had training with the avialble collaborative
tools and be familiar with virtual team best practices.
Finally, a great virtual team will be managed by a leader who is comfortable in virtual space and who
is able to create a climate of trust, accountability, and connectedness.
Managing a virtual team takes all the skills required of a co-located manager plus some new sensabilities and new resources.