Anne Zelenka over at Web Worker Daily wrote a great post entitled "Seven Habits of Successful Virtual Teams" a few months ago. You can read her post here. For those of you interested in virtual teams, this is a must-read.
The 7 Habits of Successful Virtual Teams which Anne includes in her article are:
* Management demonstrates a thoroughgoing comittment to virtual work
* Team members communicate regularly by phone
* Team members check in with each other frequently throughout the day
* Team shares a view of their work
* Team leverages diversity of the team members
* Team members get to know each other on a human level
* Trust and respect are assumed, not earned
I think that these are all important considerations when putting together a virtual team initiative. As we see with so many other HR initiatives common vision and top level management support are essential for success in innovative approaches.
What are your thoughts? Anything that you would add? Please feel free to comment below.
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Leveraging Technology for Virtual Teams
Technology has spurred the proliferation of virtual teams, alongside globalization and shrinking travel budgets to name a few. If your organization has virtual teams (or commonly known as geographically dispersed teams) are you leveraging technology to the utmost?
Some technologies you may want to consider include:
* TeleConference Brigelines
* Webcasts
* Wikis
* Podcasts
Some of the current bestseller business books such as Wikinomics, explore the themes of how technology, and mass collaboration, is changing the business world. What tools can you leverage for your virtual teams?
Technology has made the globe a much smaller place and has rapidly changed the face of the business world, how we connect and how communication happens.
One of the services I have been offering to businesses and individuals since last June is facilitating virtual retreats. These retreats are held by phone and enable participants to refocus, recharge and renew from their own location (home/office/hotel room). This Saturday (Feb 17/07) I will be holding a six hour Balance Virtual Retreat (10 - 4 pm EST) if you'd like to get a taste of this process.
There are many advantages to the virtual retreat process including:
* The ability to connect participants across many time zones real-time, with no travel cost;
* Retreat scheduled around your schedule -- virtual retreats can be held for a full day or for several hours a day over a longer period;
* Accessibility of business materials for retreat participants right at their finger tips;
* Immediate applicability of new ideas, and action items to the office.
Have you considered holding a virtual retreat for your staff team to keep the momentum going between your regular face-to-face offistes? Please feel free to contact me to explore how a virtual retreat could benefit your organization or team. I look forward to hearing from you!
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Some technologies you may want to consider include:
* TeleConference Brigelines
* Webcasts
* Wikis
* Podcasts
Some of the current bestseller business books such as Wikinomics, explore the themes of how technology, and mass collaboration, is changing the business world. What tools can you leverage for your virtual teams?
Technology has made the globe a much smaller place and has rapidly changed the face of the business world, how we connect and how communication happens.
One of the services I have been offering to businesses and individuals since last June is facilitating virtual retreats. These retreats are held by phone and enable participants to refocus, recharge and renew from their own location (home/office/hotel room). This Saturday (Feb 17/07) I will be holding a six hour Balance Virtual Retreat (10 - 4 pm EST) if you'd like to get a taste of this process.
There are many advantages to the virtual retreat process including:
* The ability to connect participants across many time zones real-time, with no travel cost;
* Retreat scheduled around your schedule -- virtual retreats can be held for a full day or for several hours a day over a longer period;
* Accessibility of business materials for retreat participants right at their finger tips;
* Immediate applicability of new ideas, and action items to the office.
Have you considered holding a virtual retreat for your staff team to keep the momentum going between your regular face-to-face offistes? Please feel free to contact me to explore how a virtual retreat could benefit your organization or team. I look forward to hearing from you!
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Interviewing 101 - Part II
Interviewing 101 - Part II
Copyright 2007 - Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized
Today I am picking up from my recent post on interviewing do's and don'ts from the interviewer's standpoint. You can read the first part of this post here. In addition to the tips I provided two weeks ago consider the following pointers when developing your next interviewing process:
1. What really are the KSAs (the Knowledge, Skills and Ablities) you need to hire for? In HR we talk a lot about job specifications for good reason. How many times have you attended an interview when the questions and the interviewing process really didn't look at what was required for the position? In addition to legal issues, it is important to really hone in on the KSAs required for any post. The KSAs will play an important role in your recruitment, selection, compensation, training and development and performance management (appraisal) processes.
2. Avoid closed questions - Wherever possible, avoid the use of closed questions, as well as leading questions. Closed questions are those questions when used would elicit a yes/no response. For example, "Have you had supervisory experience before?". Look to rephrase this to "Please describe your previous supervisory experience" or better yet "What are the lessons you have learned from your previous supervisory experience?". Notice how the second question gets even deeper than the first?
3. Be clear on next steps -- A common pitfall with interviewing is a lack of clarity with respect to next steps. Will there be a second interview? When can the candidate expect to hear from the panel? Be as specific as possible regarding when the candidate can expect to hear back from the company.
4. Interviews are a two way process - Remember that interviews are the chance for you to check out the candidate and the candidate to check out your company. Often strong candidates may leave an interview realizing that they do not want to work for the company they have just interviewed with. What is the image of the company you are portraying through the interview process? Does this match your corporate values, culture and ways of working? If not, what changes do you need to make?
Interviewing is often referred to as an art. There are also many practical tips and tools you can use to enhance your interviewing process, ensuring that you get the right fit for the position. I hope that you have enjoyed some of these pointers regarding the interview process, which is just scratching the surface.
If you have any questions on how your interviewing process could be enhanced, please feel free to contact me to see how my services could benefit your interviewing process.
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Jennifer Britton is a Certified Human Resource Professional and Certified Professional Coach. As the founder of Potentials Realized, she provides consulting, training and coaching services to governmental, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations in the areas of teamwork, leadership, HR and other employee engagement issues. Jennifer has worked with organizations and small businesses across North America, the Caribbean and Europe on developing systems to enhance their personnel management, performance and business results.
Copyright 2007 - Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized
Today I am picking up from my recent post on interviewing do's and don'ts from the interviewer's standpoint. You can read the first part of this post here. In addition to the tips I provided two weeks ago consider the following pointers when developing your next interviewing process:
1. What really are the KSAs (the Knowledge, Skills and Ablities) you need to hire for? In HR we talk a lot about job specifications for good reason. How many times have you attended an interview when the questions and the interviewing process really didn't look at what was required for the position? In addition to legal issues, it is important to really hone in on the KSAs required for any post. The KSAs will play an important role in your recruitment, selection, compensation, training and development and performance management (appraisal) processes.
2. Avoid closed questions - Wherever possible, avoid the use of closed questions, as well as leading questions. Closed questions are those questions when used would elicit a yes/no response. For example, "Have you had supervisory experience before?". Look to rephrase this to "Please describe your previous supervisory experience" or better yet "What are the lessons you have learned from your previous supervisory experience?". Notice how the second question gets even deeper than the first?
3. Be clear on next steps -- A common pitfall with interviewing is a lack of clarity with respect to next steps. Will there be a second interview? When can the candidate expect to hear from the panel? Be as specific as possible regarding when the candidate can expect to hear back from the company.
4. Interviews are a two way process - Remember that interviews are the chance for you to check out the candidate and the candidate to check out your company. Often strong candidates may leave an interview realizing that they do not want to work for the company they have just interviewed with. What is the image of the company you are portraying through the interview process? Does this match your corporate values, culture and ways of working? If not, what changes do you need to make?
Interviewing is often referred to as an art. There are also many practical tips and tools you can use to enhance your interviewing process, ensuring that you get the right fit for the position. I hope that you have enjoyed some of these pointers regarding the interview process, which is just scratching the surface.
If you have any questions on how your interviewing process could be enhanced, please feel free to contact me to see how my services could benefit your interviewing process.
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Jennifer Britton is a Certified Human Resource Professional and Certified Professional Coach. As the founder of Potentials Realized, she provides consulting, training and coaching services to governmental, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations in the areas of teamwork, leadership, HR and other employee engagement issues. Jennifer has worked with organizations and small businesses across North America, the Caribbean and Europe on developing systems to enhance their personnel management, performance and business results.
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