1. Social butterflies tend to thrive.
   May seem ironic, but sociable people crave contact with others and are motivated to maintain connections, either virtually – through phone, email or social networking tools—or face-to-face, when they can. Introverts  who find it painful to stop and chat with an officemate may find it harder to cultivate social connections in a virtual world. For someone who’s introverted, social bonds are almost impossible to create and keep up when working from afar.
2. Excellent organizational skills.
   Virtual workers have to be more self-motivated and disciplined than their office colleagues, since they don’t have anyone dropping in to remind them of a deadline. Virtual workers have to set up their own systems for reading, filing and accessing content, performing tasks and reporting progress. Those who are chronically disorganized or need constant reminders are likely to struggle in a virtual world, with no one there to look over their shoulders.
3. Manages time across many dimensions.�
   Virtual workers must be adept at managing their calendars and synching up with others, since conversations and meetings must be so well-orchestrated. They need to be disciplined and realistic about keeping their own calendars, too. While some cram too many meetings into a single workday, forcing them to work after-hours or risk falling behind, others take too much time off for non-work activities, simply because no one is watching. Those who have a realistic sense of how much time they need to get their work done will do much better than those who can’t.
4. Willing and able to use a variety of tech tools with ease.
   Social networking apps, shared repositories, instant messaging, web meeting tools, blogs, wikis, telepresence –and more—have become commonplace for virtual teams. Virtual workers have to know how tools work and which works best in a given situation. Those who are slow to adapt may find themselves left out of important online conversations or getting only a fraction of the information they need.
5. Listens carefully.
   Virtual workers need to be able to hear verbal cues and read written clues to discern what’s really going on for others. People from “high context” cultures, where both the context and the words themselves are considered as key parts of the overall message, tend to be more successful than those who take another’s words simply at face value. Those who don’t listen deeply, including those who chronically multitask during team calls, may never get a sense of what’s behind the spoken words.
6. Knows what to communicate, how and when.
   People who know how to organize their thoughts into cogent, concise messages have a significant advantage over those who struggle to put their ideas into writing. Knowing what medium works best for a particular message or a certain situation is a vital skill for those  who have few chances to make amends if a message is misunderstood or misinterpreted.
7. Ignites own spark.
   People who can move ahead without a lot of direction or guidance on a day-to-day basis are far more likely to be successful in a virtual world, where workers must work with a high degree of ambiguity and the absence of information, sometimes for long periods of time.  Those who crave constant feedback or need frequent affirmation may stagnate in a virtual world.

As much as one-tenth of today’s workforce works virtually at least part of the time. That’s about three times the percentage as those who worked remotely less than 10 years ago. Some workers are forced into leaving their offices for the virtual world, and some managers don’t have a choice about which team members leave the office. But where there is a choice, think about this combination of qualities as the profile of an ideal virtual collaborator.

Chime in if you think I’ve left some key ones out.

posted by Nancy Settle-Murphy

This is taken from a piece I wrote with Rich Trombetta, author of “Mustard Doesn’t Grow on Corn” and president of the Innovation Company. We adapted each step of Rich’s NEWIDEA!! process, which promotes seven key behaviors key to innovative thinking, to a virtual environment. 

1. N – No Negativity
   Make sure your first reaction is positive, not negative. Since you can’t use body language to convey an enthusiastic response, affirm the idea with a word or two: “Great.” “Wow.” “Sounds good.” Silence can be construed as criticism when nonverbal cues are absent. Even if you’re not wild about the idea, simply saying “yes” can let the other person know you are listening openly.
2. E – Encourage the Person
   When a person shares an idea, allow her to fully express what she is trying to contribute. Sometimes a new idea can, quite frankly, sound a little crazy. Resist the temptation to move on to other ideas without probing with a couple of questions to help you tease out key concepts at the heart of her idea. For example: “Now that is a real out-of-the-box idea. What led you to even think of that?” (Note how this statement can encourage your colleague versus this one, which can cause an immediate shut- down: “Sounds really far-fetched. Is that all you have?”) 
3. W – Wait & Listen
   When working remotely, meeting time is typically extremely tight. Make sure to build in time for reflection, ideally by setting up a follow-up session (may be asynchronous or same-time) no more than one or two days after the initial brainstorming session. This gives everyone a chance to absorb the meaning and implications of new ideas and provides an opportunity to ask questions or provide input.
4. I – Include Input
   Focus on building on your colleague’s idea by using the word “and”‘ instead of “but.” This demonstrates that you’ve been listening intently and that you believe the idea has merit. For example, if your colleague suggests that your company offers a live chat line for customers, your response might be: “Yes, and we can also host monthly virtual customer advisory boards where we can get an even deeper understanding about the problems they’re having.” Much better than: “But a customer advisory board would give us a much better understanding than a chat line.” 
5. D – Document the Idea
   Thanks to virtual meeting tools, participants can easily capture their own ideas in writing for all to see instantly. Among the benefits: Ideas are uncensored and unfiltered by well- intentioned scribes who may otherwise miss key concepts as they struggle to keep up. People are less inhibited, since they can contribute anonymously. And many more ideas can be generated in far less time, with everyone brainstorming simultaneously, instead of waiting their turn. Plus, people can quickly see the whole range of ideas on the virtual table, which typically inspires a fusillade of yet more ideas. 
6. E – Explore Options
   Once people get their right brains really cranking with great ideas, choices need to be made as to which ideas deserve further exploration. When meeting virtually, team members can take advantage of virtual meeting tools that allow you to prioritize ideas to come up with a short list. Consider setting up a follow-up virtual meeting to do the selection process for a few reasons: Some people have a hard time suddenly making the switch from right brain to left. Participants may want an opportunity to synthesize and organize ideas before voting. And, if only a subset of people will make the decision, setting up a second meeting may spare hurt feelings. 
7. A – Action
   Once you have a short list of winning ideas, you actually have to do something with them, or you will have wasted energy and raised expectations for nothing. The next step might be to flesh out ideas with action plans to back them up before seeking approval from a decision-making body. In other cases, team members may be empowered to implement actions independently. Sometimes an idea may simply be left alone, in which case the action is to do nothing. In any event, be sure to communicate back to the group the disposition of all ideas so people won’t be left hanging.

Adapting this process to a virtual environment takes planning and practice. Start to use some of these techniques in your everyday meetings, and you’ll be rewarded with innovative ideas, even from those who have been reluctant to contribute in the past.

posted by Nancy Settle-Murphy

There are two reasons why thinking out a communication plan for the meeting, and particularly the pre-work, is very helpful. First, it a way to communicate the value, urgency, incentives and consequences of doing the pre-work. Second (and this is particularly true for those facilitating virtual events), time spent in advance building personal connections is enormously valuable in creating a trustworthy and enlivened environment for true sharing and interaction.  In other words, a bit of advance phone and email work will pay huge dividends.

When constructing your communications plan, consider the following:

1. Who is your audience? Is this a team that has already established norms and a working rapport? Is this a large group of strangers coming together for a one-time “free” webinar or members of a community of interest who are likely to continue interacting with each other?  Knowing your audience will help you decide the frequency and type of communication needed.
2. What are your objectives for this event?  Is this a decision-making meeting where you must have everyone’s attendance and attention, or is this a free webinar where you’d just as soon only have participants who are enthusiastic and engaged? 
3. What are your objectives for the pre-work?  The more you ask your participants to do ahead of time, the more important it will be communicate with them individually and build a personal connection.
4. What communication methods are appropriate? Are there already established communication venues for this audience? These might include team wiki, Twitter feed, newsletter or Linked In group.  Are you able to contact each participant individually by phone or email?
5. How much time do people need to complete the pre-work? Let people know how much time they should expect to take on the pre-work activity and give them sufficient notice to fit this in their busy schedules. Balance providing enough time to reasonably complete the tasks with a level of urgency to get it done sooner rather than later and risk forgetting all about it.
6. What tone should you use? Pre-work communication are often the first way by which a facilitator or instructor establishes his/her role and the tone for the session. Pre-work communications are a way to convey a personal style and connect with participants individually.

I’ve included a specific case example in our latest article in our series “Designing Productive Virtual Meetings”. Read this and more at our library of articles, tips and white papers. Does having a communication plan ring a bell for you?

posted by Danuta McCall

How to Keep People Engaged
We received such enthusiastic feedback for our fall 2009 series that we are offering a new series of complimentary webinars where you, the participants, help build the agenda. Please join us on Wednesday, February 10th or Thursday February 18th as we demonstrate eight principles for designing interactive webinars and virtual meetings and help you extend the reach of your facilitation skills.

Are you spending too much time in ineffective virtual meetings and boring webinars? Our first series of webinars on this topic clearly demonstrated the business need to get better results from virtual meetings and workshops. Setting up a web conference and slide presentation with a chat window on the side is simply not enough to keep people’s attention or achieve desired meeting or learning outcomes. As facilitators we need to design interactive agendas, prepare and motivate participants, select appropriate technology and create a meeting space where everyone is engaged and involved.

Drawing on the full range of our experience as in-person facilitators this webinar will introduce eight design principles for creating interactive webinars and virtual meetings. Past participants have told us how much they valued seeing these principles in action and the role modeling of a highly interactive webinar experience. A little to their surprise perhaps, they found that they were expected to show up and join in rather than sit back and listen (or get on with their email). Other key takeaways included:

Ready to enroll? Click here.

This one hour webinar – with required pre-work – is particularly well-suited for facilitators and trainers who are looking to transition an existing face-to-face workshop to a virtual environment or to include some virtual elements in a blended design. If this topic interests you, click here to download our white paper.

Now, if you would like to engage in an interactive discussion about this material, please join us on Wednesday, February 10th or Thursday February 18th. Registration for this session is limited to 20 participants – other dates will be offered if the session is oversubscribed. Completing the pre-work for the session is required; if you feel you can’t accomplish this in time, no worries: we will bump you to a future session and allow someone else to participate in your place.

Click here to enroll. Feel free to add questions or comments here. We look forward to having you join us.

1. The importance of purposeful preparation
   OST exemplifies the importance and value of meeting preparation by developing clear focus and intent. OST runs on two fundamentals: passion and responsibility. As Harrison Owen writes: “Without passion, nobody is interested. Without responsibility, nothing will get done. Obviously people feel passionately about different things. And it is unlikely that anybody will take responsibility for something they do not care about. It is extremely important, therefore, to declare right up front what the focus is.” Working with a client or meeting owner or a set of learning objectives to identify a theme and desired outcomes sets the stage for any meeting design. Sometimes the nature of a virtual meeting or webinar might lead a facilitator to work in isolation or assume that participants understand why they are attending. However, as with Open Space sessions, virtual meeting participants have a lot of flexibility in when and how they participate. Purposeful preparation and communication is therefore more important than ever.
2. Value of bringing together a group of people who care
   When creating a group who should come and how do you get them there? Harrison Owen writes that for an OST event: “The answer is: whoever cares should come, and the fact that they care is sufficient to ensure their attendance.” This too is a useful reminder, particularly for virtual meetings and webinars where we tend to have less control on attendance – both who shows and how present/engaged they are. As facilitators we have a role in clearly communicating the purpose and promise of the meeting or webinar. People will be less interested in the process. They care about the results and that their time will be well spent. If our invitations focus on attracting people who care about our theme and outcomes it will drive us to better articulate them and be more confident in those who show up – and glad to omit those who don’t.
3. Stay fully present while holding the space for others
   The very nature of the OST methodology is to hold a meeting space open to participants to discuss and explore whatever they choose. The preparation of the theme, the group, the time, the physical space and the methodology all lead up to time where a group of participants are given the space to convene their own conversations. This is clearly particular to the OST methodology but the practice has value to other kinds of events too. In virtual meetings, and most especially webinars, the facilitator tends to take up a lot of space and airtime. Facilitators often express discomfort with silence on a teleconference and quickly fill the space themselves. The audio technology may limit who can speak or can be awkward in passing around the microphone. Participants can be reluctant to speak up when they are unsure who else is on the call or may go on and on, unaware that others also have things to contribute. The lesson here from OST is for us to find ways in our agenda design, selection of technology, creation of exercises, moderation of discussions, and opening of virtual meeting spaces that enable people to fully contribute. This means using meeting time and online meeting spaces in creative ways, less driven by a single focal point of the facilitator and with greater attention on providing participants with more times and places to contribute their ideas.
4. The law of two feet (or ten fingers and thumbs)
   OST uses some wonderfully simple but powerful principles in creating the space for full participation. There is also one law, the “Law of Two Feet” which says that, as Harrison Owen writes, “If, during our time together, you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet and go to some more productive place.” This too has immediate application to the world of virtual meetings – it is the way virtual participants operate, whether we want them to or not. Instead of fighting a tendency to multi-task, what if we designed our virtual meetings and webinars with this law in mind? I think it leads us to find out more about what participants care about in advance of the meeting, provide more varied ways for participants to contribute during a meeting, spend less time talking as the facilitator or presenter, use both asynchronous and real time activities, provide additional forms of collaboration outside the formal meeting room, create spaces for virtual breakout groups, and use collaboration tools that allow for multiple inputs and immediate documentation.
5. Whatever happens was the only thing that could have
   This is one of the OST principles mentioned above. On first reading it could seem a little trite, but on reflection it is an important lesson in taking responsibility for our own outcomes and applies equally to facilitators and participants. As Harrison Owen emphasizes “Voluntary self-selection is the absolute sine qua non for participation in Open Space.” While this is particular to this methodology I took away a clear lesson that is applicable in all that I do as a facilitator and as a meeting participant: I am responsible for my own experience and whatever happens in a meeting is the result of how I choose to show up and participate. As we prepare for any kind of meeting, workshop or webinar, whether as a facilitator or participant we will benefit from thinking hard about what conversations we are truly passionate about on a certain theme. Being asked to choose what discussions to convene or participate in sets a different level of expectation for involvement and attention. So does being asked to consider during a discussion, am I getting something out of this and if not how can I change this… or leave.

As facilitators come to me for ideas and advice on how to run successful virtual meetings and webinars I encourage them to seek out a variety of meeting and workshop experiences to see what others are doing. I am glad that I followed my own advice(!) and sought out Lisa Heft and her excellent Open Space workshop. There is a lot to learn from this methodology, for its own sake and in reflection in other types of meetings, both in-person and virtual.

Open Space Technology (OST) is a meeting methodology that enables self-organizing groups of all sizes to deal with complex issues in a very short period of time. Originated by Harrison Owen and refined over the past 20 years by a community of facilitators and practitioners, it is useful in situations where there is: a real business issue; a great deal of complexity; lots of diversity in terms of people and points of view; real passion (people care!) and probably also conflict; genuine urgency. For more information reference Open Space Technology – A User’s Guide (Third Edition) by Harrison Owen, 2008.

For more details about this methodology and workshops visit http://www.openingspace.net or contact Lisa Heft at Lisa@openingspace.net.

There are two important reasons to design pre-work into your webinar, online conference or workshop.  The first is to get your participants ready to take full advantage of the session by thinking ahead about the content, beginning to formulate ideas or getting to know the group.  Participants who have completed well thought out pre-work are “primed” for active and open participation in the real-time event.

The second is to get you ready to facilitate the session effectively. By knowing more about your participants and their interests, you are in a position to develop focused questions that will stimulate ideas.  In a virtual setting this becomes even more critical, as you typically have less time in which to achieve your meeting objectives and lack the visual cues that make it easier to adjust your course in mid-stream.

The impact of pre-work on a meeting or webinar can be huge.  Successful pre-work can:

• Increase personal investment in the live session
• Build interest and preparedness for an interactive session
• Keep participants engaged and reduce multi-tasking
• Result in a personal connection with the facilitator
• Connect participants with others who will also attend the session
• Enable  participants to self select out of a session if it is not for them

But the reality is that participants often put their pre-work on the back burner and assume that they can “wing” their way in the live session. In fact, this undermines the meeting outcome, the participants’ feeling of productivity and your confidence as the facilitator.

Engaging Participants Ahead of Time – Ensuring that Pre-Work Gets Done

Things to consider: How can we reframe expectations to reap the benefit of pre-work? Whose responsibility is it to ensure that the pre-work gets done? How might looking at pre-work from the point of view of a contract, a requirement, a marketing opportunity or an incentive improve the level of participation?

 There are ways to make pre-work compelling, enjoyable and productive.  While specific tactics will vary according to the meeting format, objectives and size, they fall into six broad categories.

1. Design pre-work that adds value
2. Create a sense of urgency
3. Provide incentives
4. Make it fun
5. Implement accountability
6. Build a thoughtful communication plan

What techniques have you developed to make pre-work more compelling? Please join the conversation by adding your comments here.

We’ve written a more substantial article on this topic as part of our series “Designing Productive Virtual Meetings”. Read this and more at our library of articles, tips and white papers.

posted by Danuta McCall

1- Explore what resources and tools you’ll need to achieve your meeting objectives

• If the objective is primarily to provide “information by presentation “, then making sure your speakers are available and setting up a good projection system may be all that you need. If your speakers can’t physically be present at the session you’ll need networking, video conferencing or telephony capabilities to enable their virtual presence.
• If, on the other hand,  your meeting process calls for an interactive session with group input (especially with a group of 50 people or more), using smart phones or other devices is a good way to efficiently collect the information from all participants without disrupting the meeting flow. Make sure that the majority of your audience own smart phones and that you offer alternative input options so no one feels excluded. Provide loaner smart phones or Apple iPod Touches , or have a few laptops around the room for people to use.

2 – As the Scouts say, “be prepared”

• When using smart phones to support feedback and information gathering, plan to introduce the technology early in the session, with a simple ice breaker exercise. This way you’ll know that the smart phone users can access the network and get to the site you’ll be using to collect information. Doing this early will give participants who are having trouble the chance to resolve it during the break before the phones are used for productive exercises. The ice breaker activity should be both fun and representative of the type of use they will be making of their smart phones during the session.
• Check that the meeting room has cell phone reception. You can always supplement it with WiFi access. In a recent session with over 100 people we made sure WiFi access was available for everyone. We were pleasantly surprised that over 80% of the participants were able to use their cell phones’ data plan to participate.
• If you are using a web based input tool, keep the URL address as short and straight forward as possible. www.input.com/meeting is much more friendly than www.input.com/directory/companymeetings/may/johnsglobalstrategies.html. Whenever possible email the links to folks ahead of time and ask them to bookmark them.

3 – Leave adequate time during each session for the participants to provide input.

• Structure 2 to 10 minutes of quiet time into your agenda for participants to respond or comment.
• Keep participants engaged by giving them visual validation that something is happening. For example, project the comments or poll responses as they come in on the front screen. The presenter may choose to highlight a comment or two and ask participants to provide more feedback. If a significant portion of the room seems to be taking longer than others to respond you may wish to provide those who are done with an opportunity to review what the group has submitted so far or perhaps provide additional input.

4 – Have participants use their smart phones to provide instant feedback during the presentation.

• For large groups this ongoing feedback can help the presenter build interactivity into what would otherwise be a one-way information flow. Participants enter comments as they occur to them without disrupting the meeting flow, and the presenter or an assistant reviews them and stops at natural points to respond to selected comments.
• Take into account the culture of the group. In certain cultures it might be assumed that random typing into a smart phone means that you are not paying full attention to the speaker. For those groups you will need to structure set windows of time for participants to provide input. Instead of asking for input throughout the presentation, pause for a minute a key moments and suggest that anyone with a question or comment enter them at that time.

5 – Demonstrate that the input you are requesting from participants is valued.

• If the participants feel their input is not being valued or will not be used, they will lose interest in providing it over the course of the session and the input will be of a lower quality. Be sure that after the initial ice breaker your next few uses of technology to solicit input are of high value and that value is clearly understood by the participants. In our session we were pleasantly surprised hat over 80% of the people choose to participate in providing real time responses during the sessions. That participation rate started to decline over the course of the session because participants began to sense that their efforts at providing input were not being given sufficient attention during the session.
• As the responses are coming in the session leader should be reviewing the information and assessing its meaning. then sharing the results with the participants. If it is not appropriate to share the feedback directly, then it’s all the more vital that the reason for wanting this information is clearly stated. When appropriate, make the information available to the participants via a web site or printed copies. This reinforces the value of the input to the participants, makes them feel that their time was productively used, and encourages them to provide feedback in future sessions.
• After a successful meeting using technology, consider allowing participants (and others) to continue to provide feedback for a period of time after the event. This makes it possible for those creative or innovative ideas which come to mind after participants have had time to reflect can be funneled back into the process and thereby enhance the value of the meeting.

Using Smart Phones or any other technology in a meeting just for the “snaz effect” is not a good idea. But it is a great way to engage your audience, gather feedback and get the group working together. Always identify your meeting objectives first and then determine how best to achieve those objectives. If you decide to use smart phones, make the discussions or data requested of compelling value and equally important, make it fun.

Of course, any tool can be disruptive in a group if used in inappropriate ways. Based on my work with clients and colleagues who work as part of geographically dispersed teams, here are just a few helpful ways to use SN tools.

Getting introductions. There are a number of SN sites that leverage the concept of “degrees of separation” to help people connect to people they wish to know. These services are based on the notion of profiles. You create an account, and list the companies that you’ve worked for, schools you attended, or other information about yourself that you want to make public. Then, you “invite” connections to “link” to you. LinkedIn provides a publicly accessible service. Once you’ve established your network on LinkedIn, you have access to the networks of the people in your network. Want to find out if anyone you know knows someone working at IBM? Try LinkedIn. (Spoke and Xing are other popular such sites.) It will even offer to help make an introduction to these potential contacts. A more personal, inside-the-company tool for introductions is Visible Path. This tool looks at the Contacts lists of everyone in a company to create a database of who-knows-who outside the company. If you’re a salesperson who wants an in at a certain company, Visible Path will guide you to the people in your company who can connect you.

Establishing and maintaining personal connections with business colleagues. Creating a social context and building “social capital” to cultivate trust among members is much easier for virtual teams, thanks to FaceBook, MySpace or similar SN sites. With these tools, you can control who your “friends” are, who sees your profile and who is notified about your activities. People in a particular group or area of the company can set up a private group with restricted access. Team members can easily post personal and professional information to give everyone a more well-rounded sense of the real person they’re working with, especially when face-to- face meetings are impossible or impractical. By sharing information about hobbies and interests, and posting photos of their families and pets, people who are not in and out of each others’ offices can see what they might have in common. Some tools such as WorkLight enable organizations to keep business information from FaceBook users in-house, requiring all the same security measures users would need to access mail or other applications internally.

Co-creating and sharing content. Like many of the social software tools, Blogs and Wikis began as tools to support publishing on the Internet and widely prevalent within organizations as ways to capture and share personal observations and knowledge. In the context of a virtual team, a blog can provide a diary or history of a project on a regular basis, revealing what issues are being handled, inviting comments, or providing a running commentary. Personal blogs by subject matter experts can provide a way for people with similar interests to keep up with what others are working on or learning. Wikis are an easy and affordable way to collaborate and develop community websites. A wiki allows users to create, edit, and link web pages easily. Internal wikis typically require a registration, while many external wikis (most famously, Wikipedia) allow anyone to read, add and edit comments to a dynamic body of knowledge. More businesses are using Wikis as highly affordable Intranets and as a relatively easy way to set up a knowledge management system.

Keeping on the edge of ideas and learning. Blogs are one way to keep up with what people are thinking, but a more focused approach is provided by the web site del.icio.us or other social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking allows Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage web page bookmarks. Most social bookmark services encourage users to organize their bookmarks with informal tags for remembering or sharing pages later. Virtual team members can access others’ bookmarks, with permission, to greatly expand the collective repository of topical information. Feeling overwhelmed by the web sites you want to follow, blogs and tags you want to track? That’s where RSS (Really Simple Syndication) comes in. RSS allows you to subscribe to any blog, wiki, person, topic, web site, and so on. Then, once subscribed, you are notified if someone writes a new blog entry, or if there is a change to a wiki you are participating in, or a topic that you’ve tagged as something you want to know about. What’s new, current or on the cutting edge, can be delivered to you in your email, via Google Reader, on your FaceBook page, or any growing number of sites.

Staying constantly connected. At a more granular level, there is, of course, Twitter. For teams whose members want to convey frequent detailed updates of their comings and goings, pointers for great resources or content, etc., Twitter may come in handy. Senders can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends. Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through a third-party application, like Linked-In, Facebook or Google Reader. For a great article series of how-to articles on getting started with Twitter or Facebook for business purposes, see www.searchengineguide.com.

Creating greater transparency. When work is more transparent the opportunities to offer help or work together become more plentiful. Thanks to tools like instant messaging (available in some form almost anywhere) and Skype, you can find out who is available to talk to you at the moment. Such communication tools let people indicate if they’re available, busy, out of the office, etc. Skype provides the ability to chat, as well as to ring up and talk using Voice Over IP (VOIP) protocols. As we know about virtual teaming, the ability to create understanding grows with the bandwidth. Talking briefly can often save many emails and sidestep many confusing chat messages.

Social software tools are revolutionizing our ability to connect and collaborate, to stay aware of what others are up to, are interested in, and to find ways to share as much as we want about our own personal lives. The challenge is finding a few tools that best help you meet your objectives, putting them to the test, and then choosing the ones that deserve a place in your overall team communications plan.

By the way, if you want to follow my tweets, I go by the handle of nsettlemurphy.

posted by Nancy Settle-Murphy

I noticed the questions I received from my first blog posting asked my opinion about why we were seeing some of the results. In the larger, long-term study, I analyze the data using not only statistical techniques, but also by using “qualititative methods of inquiry,” a newer research method that helps researchers and practitioners understand not just “what” they are seeing in the research results, but “why.”

As a reminder, each Research Brief refers readers to the full published article. The research I summarize for you in this blog has already been reviewed and deemed credible by top scholars in my field. Click on the link to read today’s Research Brief Comparing Collaborative Meeting Systems  - Qualitative Results.

The ultimate result of this research is to design meeting models and processes that will help practioners choose the most effective methods to conduct meetings globally, across time and space, using the latest technology. For example, this month, not only did I add more data to this study, but I also added additional meeting venues that enable meeting participants to integrate real-time audio/video communication with real-time desktop sharing in meetings that use collaborative meeting software such as FacilitatePro.

These blogs are intended to communicate the results of my already published research to practitioners in the workplace. I appreciate and encourage your feedback; you are the best qualified to judge the relevant application of my research in the workplace.

Highlights from Research Brief #2 – Qualitative Results:

Study Purpose
The purpose of the larger, more comprehensive study is to study the effectiveness of six collaborative systems (CS). The larger study used mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry) to compare 26 validated effectiveness factors clustered under 6 constructs for 6 meeting venues: face to face without CS, face to face with CS, audio only with CS, audio and video with CS, asynchronous web (text messaging only) with CS and synchronous web (text messaging only) with CS. A collaborative system is a software application that is specifically designed to address the group processes in problem solving and decision making. Other terms for CS include electronic meeting systems, groupware, and group decision support systems. These studies used FacilitatePro from Facilitate.com as the collaborative system.

Research Questions
The qualitative piece of this larger study study addressed the following research questions: What are the perceptions of meeting participants and facilitators toward each construct/factor? Does a significant difference exist in perception toward each factor/construct among the meeting venues? What quantity and quality of ideas are generated for each of the meeting venues? Does a significant difference in quantity/quality exist among meeting venues? What are the perceptions of session observers toward six factors across meeting venues? Does a significant difference exist for observer factors among the meeting venues?

Results Highlights
Here are a just a few intriguing results that should whet your appetite for a fuller discussion of the results and conclusions found in Research Brief #2 Comparing Collaborative Meetings Systems – Qualitative Results.

• Face-to-face venues were identified as the most effective to structure and focus problem solving, with teleconferencing next most effective and the web approaches (using text messaging) as the least effective.
• Face to face venues are the most effective and web-enhanced venues the least effective for keeping a session on task. Lack of nonverbal cues for facilitators and lack of personal support for participants hindered web venues.
• CS-enabled venues better support equitable participation.
• All CS venues foster an unbiased, comfortable, open environment that might lend itself to diverse situations and cultures. Face to face methods can infuse bias.
• All venues were identified as effective, with face to face venues and synchronous CS venues stimulating the most effectiveness comments.
• All venues generated valid high quality ideas, especially face to face, teleconference and synchronous venues. Synergy appeared especially evident in the face to face without CS venue. All venues except web cam (audio and video) with CS noted inadequate idea elaboration as a discouraging factor. Face to face without CS noted limited idea generation as a discouraging factor.
• Complications caused by technology were frequently mentioned as limiting participation at a distance, most dramatically for synchronous (text messaging) with CS.

Posted by Donna McAlister Kizzier

Here are a few tips I shared with her to help her get her new team off to a fast start:

1.     Choose the right people.

When you can choose your team members, look for people with diverse perspectives with a blending of skills, knowledge and experience. Important competencies include tolerance for ambiguity; sensitivity to cultural differences; willingness to work independently; ability and openness to communicate using a variety of methods; and keen listening skills.

2.     Make shared goals explicit.

Virtual teams have few opportunities to correct misunderstandings, fine-tune agreements, or debate differences. Without shared goals, members can veer off in different directions and become derailed quickly. Allocate the time necessary for the kind of in-depth conversations needed to hammer out explicit goals that all understand and agree to. Set aside a series of virtual meetings right up front to create shared goals, and make sure that everyone has an opportunity to reflect and revise.

3.     Develop ground rules tuned to a virtual team.

For example, agree on who needs to attend which meetings and how frequently. Be specific about the extent to which multitasking is acceptable on team calls. Discuss the consequences of failure to do important prework. Agree how conflicts will be resolved among members. Establish an agreed-upon protocol for handling distracting, disrespectful or disruptive behavior. Establish conventions for sharing, editing and posting vital documentation, including editing and approval rights. 

4.    Facilitate connections.

Team members who work virtually have few chances to get to know each other beyond their respective deliverables and due dates. You can facilitate the getting-to-know-you process many ways. For example, invite people to complete a bio that helps to draw out the real person behind the voice. Ask for a picture and information about special skills or qualities, values they live by, preferred communications method, etc. Post bios on a shared website. Face time is the best way to build a new team. Leverage corporate events, sales meetings and conferences to bring people together without making too big a dent in your budget. 

5.     Model best practices.

For example, show up to con calls on time, fully prepared to participate in a productive conversation. Be respectful of others’ ideas by practicing generous listening. Avoid the temptation to multitask. Use IM judiciously, which may mean inviting a reluctant participant to contribute or asking someone for additional data. End meetings on time, and make sure that you’ve kept the team focused and on track in achieving your intended outcomes. 

6.     Make work fun.

Give people permission to make everyday interactions fun. Playfulness and a sense of humor help people relax, bond and de-stress. Example: Start a virtual meeting off with some type of sharing that’s not directly related to the task at hand. For example, talk about where you’d most like to be right now, if not in this terrific meeting. Send a humorous sound or video file that everyone can enjoy at the start of the meeting. Make sure to strike the right balance between having a social conversation and allowing people to focus quickly on the work at hand. 

7.     Celebrate achievements, milestones and successes.

Most projects go through phases when the potential for burn-out or withdrawal is high. Show appreciation for contributions, achievements and sacrifices by making 1:1 contact with each team member. Send cards, either the paper or virtual kind, or personal emails. Or pick up the phone to say thanks. Get sponsors and other managers involved in showing appreciation, including acknowledgement via emails and in company publications. Plan team celebrations by sending gift certificates for coffee, pizza or dinner. And perhaps the best reward of all: Give people well-deserved time off when special milestones are met.

Like any other team that’s starting up, a virtual team will undoubtedly move through the phases of forming, norming, storming and performing. Your challenge is to accelerate the time it takes to cultivate a high-performing team by applying sound project team development principles in new ways that reflect the unique dynamics of a virtual team environment.

posted by Nancy Settle-Murphy