Team Communication

With an ever shifting world where new technology is constantly changing the way we communicate, is it fair to say the teams across the world can be hindered by distance more than ever before?

If we were to stop and take a look at the world through the eyes of technology, then we could certainly say we are a global community. With advancements in telecommunications and technology the business world believes it is now easier to connect people. However, as teams are becoming more and more dispersed across the globe, perhaps there is too greater focus on technology resulting in weaker team cohesion.

This dispersal seemingly affects how these teams function as they appear to work more and more as separate elements, assigned to more individual tasks. This, in turn, means that they fail to recognise themselves as a team, appearing less as a collective and more divided.

There are many challenges to be faced with teams that are dispersed:

• Retaining productivity, peak performance and enthusiasm over time.
• Establishing and developing a foundation for collaboration & relationship building
• On going team building
• Accountability issues where the team find it much easier to break virtual commitments than verbal ones
• Dealing with communication issues like culture, language and learning styles
• Not being face to face creates unique challenges and difficulties in managing the involvement commitment and trust of building a team.

Some Statistics for virtual and dispersed teams:

• 36% of virtual and dispersed teams have never met their team members face to face.
• According to Gartner Group, 41 million corporate employees work one day a week virtually and are likely to be part of a dispersed team
• 65% of virtual and dispersed team members say they have never had an effective team building session.

The key to a successful 'virtual' team is to recognise these challenges and look at ways of preventing or alleviating these situations. Most teams are virtual in some way in the business world today. It's easy to see that there are some similarities in team dynamics and challenges between virtual and face to face teams. However there are definitive differences in the skills needed within these teams. There certainly needs to be a high focus on team engagement and accountability for both, and perhaps more so with virtual teams. 

Above all, teams are the physical manifestation of a mission. Being part of a team means to work towards achieving that mission. How you reach that achievement and how you overcome the obstacles to get there signifies a truly effective team (whether you are localised or global).


To read more of our free team building material from Eventus