Virtual Team Pointers: Management Practices Must Adapt To The Way Virtual Teams Function To Ensure Productivity

Once a company’s telecommuting program is established and its Virtual Private Network (VPN) is up, the ability to keep its virtual team productive depends on management and communications practices that differ from face-to-face management. This article recommends:

• Hire experienced, self-motivated personnel;
• Develop new techniques to ensure work and team coordination; and
• Clarify specific assignments and deadlines in meeting minutes that are e-mailed shortly after meetings.

The article concludes with a discussion of Boston-based Signet Consulting Group’s mapping process that can help guide the flow and control of meetings, decisions and actions. This mapping provides “a structure and process that will engage all of the team members and provide a road map that will help the team course-correct in route to its goals.”

Source: Loretta W. Prencipe, InfoWorld, July 16, 2001