Topic 5.7: Managing and working in virtual and hybrid teams

Although our next module will deal more specifically with communication (and Module 5 will look at managing others and teams), there is no doubt that the rise of new technologies  is providing potentially valuable new ways for team members to stay connected – to each other, to the wider organisation and to the communities they work with. And, as many people find themselves working with colleagues in different parts of the state, country or world, social media and technology provide more ways for us to share and access more information more quickly. But it’s important to remember that technology is only one, albeit important, element in working with those with whom we are not regularly physically co-located. While increased flexibility and technology-enabled working arrangements offer many benefits, they can also create disconnection, information vacuums and a lack of group visibility.

Social media and virtual work teams are rapidly changing areas. So the following readings are provided to get you thinking about:

• Your own experience (including that of the team you are a part of) – approaches that have ensured team members stay connected and supported, the different preferences you’ve noted about remote working and virtual connections, and things that haven’t worked so well
• The likely changes you will encounter in the near future
• The potential opportunities that may already exist to harness organisational and team knowledge using new technologies.

The emerging workplace: remote, hybrid, virtual …

This is a quick summary of some of the emerging (and some well-established) insights into effective and productive remote work. It’s important to appreciate that this is an emerging and changing environment and that we are learning how to make it work in real time! And we’ll look at some of this content further in Module 5.

Tsedal Neeley has been studying remote teams for more than 20 years. She is the  Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, and author of Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding from Anywhere (Harper Business, 2021). One of her central principles is the role of “launches and relaunches”.

Martha Maznevski, Professor and faculty director at The Ivey Academy, Ivey Business School. She specializes in coaching, leadership, teams, disruption, diversity and inclusion, digital transformation, and experiential learning, and has studied virtual teams for 20 years. She offers three principles and practices: Create a heartbeat … Keep the pace … Unlock the treasures.

• Heartbeat meetings: (two objectives: build deeper relationships, and put meaning around facts).
• Keep the pace: stablilize workflow with backbone of information organisation, and clear team norms to establish confidence in info sharing and how issues are dealt with; flex your tech – use what’s best; share the leadership (Devolve typical responsibilities: the formal team leader must hold accountability for the overall goal and progress. Beyond that the formal leader’s main role is to coach and enable others to fulfill their roles. This fits well with one of the “treasures” principles …).
• Unlock the treasures: capitalise on the opportunity virtual offers for more equal contributions, for exploring ideas more deeply and assessing them more objectively, use the challenges of virtual teams to engage more leaders and develop their skills through doing.^[3]

What Newly Remote Teams Need, Right Now

How can managers intervene to ease the organisational transition to remote working?

• While video conferencing is valuable, particularly for discussions that require rapid iteration, restructuring work processes to make work more self-contained if possible or allowing for asynchronous coordination (e.g. shared documents/files) are alternatives worth considering.
• Social isolation is a concern and should be combated: Push for some online socialising even if it feels unnatural initially. Occasional video calls with no specific agenda and online gaming are two options to consider.
• At the same time, it is important to respect boundaries: work without an office does not translate to unlimited working hours. There must be clear “off” times when employees should not feel obligated to respond to chat/mail/calls.^[4]