It's not just because "Selling a Global Business: Teamwork Working Like Clockwork Around the Clock" quotes us (thanks) that I'm pulling out its virtual team guidelines. Click-worthy for the whole list of nine, I'm pulling out four that are particularly good:
Have explicit meeting preparation and management
It is more difficult to follow standard meeting processes over distant locations, cultures and time zones. Take the time to state the meeting preparation expectations for the project. Find the best time zones for the team and alternate between them. For example, in a recent client engagement involving a US company expanding in an Asian market, we had meetings every Tuesday, but alternated between 7 am and 7 pm US CST. We were all equally inconvenienced, and that is the only fair way to do it.
Repeat names during the meeting. Since you cannot see body language, proactively monitor meeting reactions and performance, and address problems promptly.
Rotate meeting leadership and scribe roles
To promote inclusion and participation, rotate leadership and scribe roles. Wake up the team by raising your expectations of them. Whoever takes the minutes should be the next meeting’s leader, since one prepares you for the other.
Spend 70-80% of time with team members that are NOT co-located
It is easy to stay in the pattern you are already in: building relationships, sharing information and spending time with those already in your location. Global virtual team leadership requires you to go beyond your comfort zone and not just reach out but to focus on those that you cannot easily communicate with. Schedule one on one conversations for feedback and focused conversations.
Assess team and leader skills, and design training to close gaps.
With a team that is in your location, you may have a better understanding of what the team’s skills are. With a team in another location, special effort needs to be made to understand the team’s skills, and where and how to improve them.
