Virtual Team Leadership: Resource

As many of you know, Virtual Teams and Leadership are two ongoing themes for this blog, stemming out of my earlier work as a leader with virtual teams globally through my work in the international development sector. I continue to be amazed at how virtual team leadership skills, along with project management and global/cross-cultural management skills continue to be some of the most important skills for this decade, and unfortunately, skills that many organizations are really needing to improve.

There was a great article this month in CLO Magazine which addresses this increasingly important area of virtual team leadership:

Virtual Leadership for a Virtual Workforce by Jerry Fjermestad as featured in CLO Magainze, March 2009.

Jerry mentions that

"Leaders are responsible for the vision, planning, engaging the team, coaching, training, team learning, networking and promoting, among other skills".

He also mentions that

"The results are that virtual teams are at least as effective as face-to-face teams, and according to Powell, Piccoli and Ives, under some conditions, they are even more effective. Leader development leading to high-performance teams leads to successful organizations in this new virtual environment".

• How are you developing your leaders for the virtual realm? What's working? What's not?


• What are the challenges you are experiencing as you move forward with leadership development for these leaders?


• What else, beyond strong leadership, is needed to enable virtual teams to florish and really perform optimally?

Have a great week,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP

Potentials Realized

Email: info{at}potentialsrealized{dot}com

Ph: (416) 996-TEAM (8326)

Teams on Thursday: Teams in Transition

With change becoming the new constant in today’s workforce, more than ever teams are now in transition – sometimes with new leadership, sometimes with new team members, often with both.

How do you create an environment for the team to go from 0-100 (or at least 60) with limited budgets, resources and time?

I am in the process of writing an article on essentials for teams in transition in which I explore six essential ingredients:
1. Creating a Common Vision and Goals
2. Clearly defining roles and responsibilities
3. Looking at Common Values
4. Identifying Trust and Respect
5. Looking at Individual and Team Strengths and Capabilities
6. Developing Effective Communication Strategies

How does your team rate on these? How much attention are you giving these factors?

Without a firm foundation teams cannot meet, or sustain, their optimal productivity.
What other ingredients do you see as essential for teams in transition?

Have a great week!

Warmly
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Ph: (416)996-TEAM (8326)
Email: info{at}potentialsrealized{dot}com