Tue, 9 February 2010
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One of the primary issues in effectively managing virtual teams is, ironically, ensuring sufficient 'face time'. But how often and for what reasons should a virtual team meet? And how can leaders see to it that the meeting is valuable?Once the virtual team is built, relationships are often strong
Stéphane Brahy, director of intercultural services at Cendant Mobility, has noticed that a "vast majority" of the clients he works with have "increased the number of multicultural teams that work virtually." But there is still a lot to be learned in effectively managing such teams. 
"I'm always relatively dumb-founded how few teams go for the depth that is needed to get to performance," said Brahy.
When virtual teams are created, meeting face-to-face is the best way to lay the foundation for the work of the group, says Carolyn Ryffel, senior manager of trainer development and curriculum design for Cendant Mobility's intercultural services.
During the initial meeting, the team should define itself and create a charter for its work. The charter should address issues such as how the team will communicate, decision-making approaches and hierarchical structure.
"It makes a big difference when you can all come together, meet face-to-face and really get to know someone other than through email and voice mail," said Ryffel.
Team building
But not everyone agrees that meeting in person early on is imperative to developing a solid team. In face-to-face meetings, impressions are made based on what's visible and there is a tendency to focus on the differences, said Anita D Bhappu, an assistant professor of management and organisations at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. "The differences act as filters when the communication returns to a virtual format," she said.
"To avoid that filtering process, it might be better for teams to interact virtually, using email or chat," she said. "Simply because that type of environment starves people of these queues, we tend to be more focussed on the content."
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