European Team Illustrates How to Make Virtual Teams Work

A team at pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly had 15 members split among London and two locations in Germany. Adding to the challenges, though German members spoke English well enough for the team to communicate, it was of course a second language for them, and the team's customers were spread throughout Europe. Not surprisingly, major problems arose in communication, task coordination, customer requirements, and the issue of who was supposed to be doing what.

The team responded by starting face-to-face meetings three times a year that also included workshops and social activities. It took the time to clarify roles and procedures. Members also met in person with a service team in the United Kingdom that was holding up their work due to poor communication on processes and priorities. In short, a proactive response to the problems they were seeing allowed the team to turn around its performance despite its geographic differences.

The researchers who wrote the article provide a list of suggestions. They said (using British spelling and grammar):

• "Shared goals, clear roles and regular performance feedback are particularly important…and need to be spelt out explicitly."
• "Standards and processes…need to be agreed at the outset…"
• "Appropriate communication media need to be used for particular purposes…E-mail is more suited to simple tasks where there is little danger of emotions escalating or misunderstandings occurring."
• "Team-building meetings and the exchange of social and contextual information," some of which must happen face to face, can help build trust and cohesion.
• "Selection and training for virtual working need to include interpersonal skills…as well as technical skills."

Source: Axtell, C., et al. (04), "From a Distance," People Management 10(6):38.