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PHILOSOPHY |
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We believe the most challenging work with virtual teams comes from human and technology interactions. Interaction involves the combination of two elements (in this case humans and their technologies) in a way that creates an unexpected outcome or a significantly greater (or lesser) effect than what normally occurs. Consider the combinations of 4 different glues with 3 different woods. Of these 12 possible combinations, 10 are as strong as expected, but two are not. One is exceptionally strong and the other fails to bond at all. Something about the glue solvents or wood densities interaction to provide unusual results. The same can be said for humans and their technologies. Our facilitators are well skilled in coping with human dynamics on the teamwork side of virtual teaming. For example, we address conflict and resistance through the use of numerous facilitation techniques (solution focus, confusion, paradox, or double binds). Our trainers are equally well equiped to deal with technological breakdowns on the electronic side of virtual teaming. For example, we train people in the use of online communication tools and stand ready to repair any and all technical difficulties as these arise. However, the really difficult virtual teaming problems come from the interactions of humans with their technologies. Consider the top twelve challenges of virtual teams. Ten of these twelve are caused by human and technology interactions. The other two are simply conditions of humans and/or technologies. These are the interactions we expect based on our experience. For the ones we can't expect, because they've not yet happened, we stand ready to address these with our top notch facilitators and trainers. |
We offer a number of services, products, and support programs designed to counter the expected and the unexpected human and technology interactions.
We allow virtual teaming in your company to flourish through our direct or indirect involvement. Direct involvement means we partner with you to deliver a blend of face to face and online programs such as:
Indirect involvement means we create a relationship with your organization that allows you to create your own virtual teamwork programs through our:
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Other companies purport to build virtual teams using technology to talk about teamwork. We believe this works if the issues of a virtual team are based solely in human or in technology concerns and not in both. Talking alone doesn't work when virtual team issues arise from interactions of humans and technologies.
Instead of talk, we use experiential learning events and these are delivered via your choices of online communication technologies. These challenges are specific group problems and team tasks that cannot be solved or completed without using teamwork and its composite elements (planning, trust, collaboration, communication, leadership, decision making, etc.). The events are deliberately intended to take virtual team members away from their work, so they also leave negative old habits behind and become free to experiment with new positive behaviors. In this way, they can learn teamwork behaviors by very practical methods and later change those behaviors at work.
After each challenge, our specially trained electronic facilitators conduct a debriefing discussion. During this debrief, carefully crafted questions are asked (also online) to purposefully examine the lessons that virtual team members learned about the interactions of human relationships and technology processes as they were solving problems or completing tasks. In order to enhance the likelihood that new learning will integrate back to the job and show up as change around the office, we utilize a collection of techniques known as metaphoric transfer. Virtual team members are encouraged to discuss and determine personal metaphors between the experiential learning events (which simulate work) and their daily lives around the office. In doing so, people are more likely to take their newly learned teamwork behaviors back to their jobs. |
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