Keep It Personal: Relationship Count When Managing Virtual Teams

  Teams   PM Network  

When it comes to managing virtual teams, technology comes with the territory. A project manager obviously needs a way to communicate with team members—and hopping on the next flight to a project site halfway around the world isn’t always an option.

In today’s ultra-connected world, being a frequent flier isn’t even necessary. Teams have a full arsenal of virtual communication tools at their disposal: e-mail, texting, collaboration software, instant messaging (IM) and video conference calls, to name just a few.

Deborah Fishman, network animator for PresenTense Group, a training not-for-profit in Jerusalem, Israel, helps edit a magazine published three times a year that’s produced entirely in the cloud by a geographically dispersed team. Ms. Fishman uses free IM and collaboration software to run the program, allowing the editorial team and contributors to comment on articles in real time.

Whether they use online communities of practice, chat rooms or wikis, organizations must have a place “where we can all communicate and know what we’re being evaluated on,” says Tom Mattus, founder and president of Successful Strategies International Inc., a training company in Port Jefferson, New York, USA.

Still, technology must serve a greater purpose in making the team feel united toward a common goal.

“Technology …

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