Blog posts

When it comes to creating an effective team, cohesion is far more important than co-location.

Virtual meeting and collaboration tools can be a great servant, but not a great master. Rather than letting technology dictate processes, a virtual team should aim to take effective face-to-face working practices and adapt them to work virtually.

A shared vision, which is understood by all team members, acts as an anchor for decision making. Each team member’s responsibilities should be in service of the collective purpose.

A virtual environment should support relationship development, not simply communication.

1. Read what they gave you.

2. Involve them from the beginning

3. Ask them to help identify what people need to do<br> and why they aren’t doing it

4. Ask them to help brainstorm activities and limit information

<p>If your SME keeps suggesting fact checks instead of more realistic decision-making activities, you might try the following questions:</p> <ul> <li>If a person doesn’t know that fact, what do they do wrong on the job? How would that affect our goal?</li> <li>How could you tell by watching me do my job that I know that bit of information?</li> <li>What mistakes do new people make?</li> <li>What mistakes do people make when they get over-confident?</li></ul>

This helps remind the SME that the only information that should go into the material is the info that’s <strong>required to perform the activities</strong>