Endless Knots

TAE Radio: What Are “Virtual Teams” and How Do They Work?

My conversation yesterday on The American Entrepreneur, interviewed by David Iwinsky. We talked a lot about email, communication "lenses," the next generation of leaders, stuff...

Sorry, Ragan, I warned you

In one of those "oh, this is interesting, I'll subscribe" moments, I signed up for something sent out by Ragan Communications. One thing, or so I thought. Zero memory of what was interesting about it but, since that time, I've been besieged with emails from them. Sometimes half a dozen a day, each often from a different email address.

I systematically removed myself whenever they came but alas that did no good. At least one time I got back the reply that it would take "up to 10 days" for my request to go through. Puzzled, given that this is all instantaneously electronic, I queried my "friends" on Facebook about how this could be and several speculated that the lists were nothing more than phishing to begin with. Being naive, I defended the company, saying they were a reputable communications firm.

Well, last week, after multiple emails from the company yet again, I sent this note:

I've tried to take myself off your many lists multiple times.

Please remove me from all lists.

I have no idea how I got on but you send far too much mail to the point that you're irritating me. One more message and I'm going to blog about how you, as a communication company, are clueless.

Instantly, I received a slew of emails:

Guess what? Last night, I got yet another email from yet another Ragan list, about the all-important topic, "Do you think Tiger will survive?"

Maybe this post will ensure that I am removed from *this* list. Should I hear from Ragan again, you can be sure I'll post--again.

Except when it applies to me, of course

A friend texted today and, when I replied with a call, she said that my posts about the evils of email had scared her off from emailing. Really, friends, you should know me by now: Never email anyone - except me.

Email, bye bye (and you heard it here first)

Wall Street Journal, Oct 12, 2009: "Why Email No Longer Rules" by Jessica E. Vascellaro.

Endless Knots, July 19, 2007: "Email is for old people," and here and here and one of my faves (study confirms that email stresses people out) and the whole honking stream here.

And, of course, Harvard Business Review, May, 2004, "Can Absence Make A Team Grow Stronger?", our jointly written (with Ann Majchrzak and Arvind Molhatra) article in which our study indicated that highly successful virtual teams often ban email because it proves not that useful for true distributed collaboration.

"We've received your request and you'll be unsubscribed in 10 days"

Twice, no, three times in the past 24 hours I've taken myself off lists that have become irritating. One is from Ragan, a communication company (maybe it's actually PR but there are some worthwhile tips - no deliberate offense intended, PR companies) that sends at last count three emails in about four hours. Even though I have a mailbox set up to capture these notes so that I can look at them at my leisure, they continue to change their "From" address so that they end up in my Inbox. Then I unsubscribed from Taunton's Fine Homebuilding newsletter, which I apparently signed up for in a weak moment thinking that I would need such info. (This requires serious self-reflection, obviously.) Finally, PayPal.

First, I unsubscribed from Ragan, which I had to do separately from two of their lists, each generating another email, and each telling me that [see title of this post] it's going to take a while. Why? Same with Taunton; same with today's PayPal.

Why, oh whyo? Sorry, list generators. This makes zero sense. The whole thing is electronic. Here's PayPal's response: "We've received your request and you'll be unsubscribed within 10 days." Is there any logical explanation for this?

"Getting off the email hamster wheel"

Even if Gil Yehuda's post were awful (it's anything but), I'd still want to blog it just for this title. We all complain about email but who does anything about it? OK, a few people (loud clearing of throat)...which prompts me to post this single slide about how to radically improve your use of email.

And, sugest that you read Gil's post where he reviews Mike Song, Vicki Halsey, and Tim Burress's book, The Hamster Revolution, apparently about information overload and, yes, email management.

Song et al's book, according to Gil's post, has some good tips, including this really simple one:

All emails have a Subject, Action, Background, and Close.  All meeting requests have Subject, Location, and Time (provided by the email client — e.g. Outlook, Notes, etc.)  as well as Objective, Agenda, Logistics, and Prep-work.

If only. Life would be so simple...and thanks, Gil. Great post. Our billboard messages on email:

 

Business Week: Managing the virtual workforce

Business Week has done a good job over the years of following trends in the virtual workplace. When one of our early books came out (maybe The TeamNet Factor) we got an audience with then (a bit more than cub) reporter John Byrne, now waaaay more than cub, i.e. he's editor of the mag.

Now Businessweek.com has a whole section on "Managing the Virtual Workforce," with these topics, one of which has quotes from none other than your favorite blogger, being me (see this one, a very good piece by Rebecca Reisner, who profiles Smart Balance, a company that seems to have not only conquered the fight against body fat but the same against corporate fat:

• Is There a Virtual Worker Personality?

  It turns out it's the gregarious types who thrive in virtual work set-ups, since they connect nonetheless. It's the shy types who feel isolated

• Managing Virtually: First, Get Dressed

  An Ernst & Young executive who has been managing teams virtually for a decade shares her tips and caveats

• A Smart Balance of Staff and Contractors

  How the fast-growing food company integrates its small permanent staff with a sizable contractor workforce

• How to Create E-Mails That Generate Action

  When face-to-face communication isn't an option, it's critical that your e-mails get read and are the impetus for getting things done

• Video: Managing in a Wired World

  Technology has made it possible for teams across the globe to collaborate, but it's still critical to make communication as human and authentic as possible, advises Lorenca Rosal

• Slide Show: Top 10 Tips for Sending E-Mail

  How to write e-mails that grab attention and motivate people to respond and take action

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GeekDoctor: Leading by clicking around

I'm doing a webcast on virtual leadership in a couple of weeks for eighty people, all situated virtually and all around the world. The link between the executive sponsoring the event and me  will be via Cisco's Telepresence -- though for everyone else, thank heavens, I won't be in high def.

In preparing for the webcast, I asked a few questions of one of my virtual leadership role models (scroll down for some great pics taken the same day this one was), John Halamka, CIO at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, whose answers I thought others would enjoy seeing:

Q: You're on the move constantly. How do you maintain strong relationships with your direct reports?

*I live by Blackberry, laptop and conferencing technologies (Webex, iChat, Telepresence)

Q: What do you find most difficult as a "virtual" leader?

*Managing communications while constantly traveling is challenging.   My goal is to reduce the hours spent in airports through more virtual work

Q. What do you find to be easier when you're virtual?

*I eliminate many hassles - Parking, traffic, airport security lines, delayed flights, and lack of places to recharge my devices

Q. In terms of your reporting to your boss, how has your non-face-to-face presence affected your relationship?

*Paul [Levy, BIDMC's CEO] is just as virtual to me - we live in the world of social networking and web connectivity

Q. What advice on maintaining virtual connections with customers do you have for others who are very tech-savvy but whose customers may be less so?

*It's a journey. Start by eliminating as many face to face meetings as you can and set a goal of less travel/less in person meetings each year.

How many multi-tasking on conference calls? 100%

I've recently done a project for a company that is highly dependent on conference calls. You know the type - people spread out across many hundreds and thousands of miles, rarely get together, have to work together...let me see, I think they've got that virus called, uh, VIRTUAL TEAMS!

As is my wont, I asked to interview some of the patients suffering from the virus to better understand their symptoms. Nearly all mentioned a similar complaint: super-long conference calls, as in two hours or more. Oh, my aching everything!

My follow-up to this question is always the same (this is what they teach you in Virtual Team Medical School): are you also looking at the same screen during these calls?

When patients say that they're not, i.e. they only have the conference call to hold their attention, my textbook instructs me to ask the following question: how many on the call would you estimate are multi-tasking?

100% said 100%.

And we know that multi-tasking means partial attention, which I fully admit I am guilty of most of the time myself.

So, what to do?

1. Make the calls shorter. And shorter. And shorter. One senior exec whom I love for his discipline in this got his calls down to 15 minutes. And he's very senior. Stars on his shoulder and all that.

2. Please, please, please listen to the "medical" experts, those who've treated thousands like yourselves: Always use some form of screen sharing during your calls so that everyone can focus on what you're talking about. Imagine that you're in a conference room together and everyone has their backs to one another and is looking out the window in different directions. How much attention are you paying to what's being discussed? Looking at the same object is a powerful way to focus attention.

3. Close your email while you're on your calls. Close it. Click it shut. And for those of you reading this post during your call, your browser too.

"Proclaim"-ing this the coolest thing I've seen yet

It began this way: Julia Gallagher, Director of Technology Services for Development at Mayo Clinic, sent an email query about an aspect of our work. Email led to conference call which led to talking about social media which led to Julia's sending me a "Proclaim," video email just a few minutes later, Julia talking directly to me, just as if she were on the phone, or writing...only I could see her, hear her, and it was completely, perfectly clear. Check it out. We all knew this was coming but I, for one, didn't realize that it's here. Now.