Virtual Teams Need Team Building Too

The Internet has not only made virtual teams possible it's made them common place. Using web based tools, commercial or free, people on opposite sides of the world can work together as if they were in the same office. For example a web development group could have the web programmers based in India, the web designers in the UK and the search engine optimisation specialists in the United States.

The problem is virtual teams by definition are not in the same office or even on the same continent and this makes team building difficult. A 2005 study by Darleen DeRosa found that out of 213 individuals representing 21 virtual teams 65% had never had any effective team building. DeRosa also found that virtual teams who invest time for team building tend to perform better than those that don't. Not really that surprising.

Given that, according to Gartner, by 2010 there will be over 41 million corporate employees working virtually, if team building isn't considered there will be a lot of dysfunctional projects and a lot of money being wasted.

The thing is, if the tools exist that make it simple for groups to work together efficiently, shouldn't it be possible for those same tools to be used as part of a team development exercise? After all improving teams isn't only about getting muddy, cold and being made to feel inadequate!

It's a simple fact that teams work better when they are given the chance to bond, learn about each others strengths and weaknesses and generally develop a detailed understanding of what makes each member tick. This is the case when teams are in the same building or separated by time, space, and organisational structures. In simple terms get more from your virtual teams by organising some virtual team development.

To go back to our original example of our web development team it's important that the SEO guys work closely with the web designers and developers and a little bit of team building is going to make their web projects run so much smoother. Be smart and give your virtual groups some TLC.

Dave Robinson is the Managing Director of web development and SEO specialistsRed Evolution. The company have recently created the world's first virtual team building exercise, Team Building Rescue.

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