Leading Project Teams Virtually

Project Leaders:

For those with headsets,run your audio setup wizardafter logging in

Use the chat area or next pageto let us know if you will be using:

1. headset and mic2. teleconference option, or3. chat box to communicate.

Leading Project Teams VirtuallyGetting Connected!

On headset with mic Using teleconference Using chat box

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1)

2)

If you don’t have a headset or can’t seem to get the micto work, click the teleconference icon once you are inthe main room (arrow 1) and it will give you a call in # arrow 2) that will allow you to use your phone to talk live both in the main room and in Breakout rooms

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Leading Project Teams Virtually

Getting Connected

MaintainingMomentum

Deliverables to

Celebration

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• Who’s here and where are we going?

• What have you found helps in virtual world?

• Here’s some of what we found - best practices

• Getting a virtual project started

Agenda -Getting Connected for Success

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Could

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other

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•You share what you know about

•We’ll offer what we know about

•2 way idea exchange – “What did you discover last week?”

•“Go slow to go fast” to build relationship/trust

“Collaborative Learning”

Why is virtual work sochallenging?

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Words 7%

Team Communication

Communication of feelings and attitudes

Albert Mehrabian

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Words 7%

Tone of Voice 38%

Team Communication

Communication of feelings and attitudes

Albert Mehrabian

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Words 7%

Body Lan-guage 55%

Tone of Voice 38%

Team Communication

Communication of feelings and attitudes

Albert Mehrabian

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Words 7%

Body Language 55%

Tone of Voice 38%

Team Communication

Communication of feelings and attitudes

Increase congruence = Increase trust

Albert Mehrabian

Writing on whiteboard in breakout rooms

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When you are in your breakout room and the instructions slide is pushed out, you will see a menu, like above, where you can navigate to a blank page and enter group discussion notes.

Use this same menu to go back and forth between the instructions slide and your “notes” page.

1. In your breakout group, …..

2. Read the quote and …..

3. Summarize your thoughts using …..

Breakout Discussion

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Click on the drop downMenu, then pick the blank page you want to go to jot downthoughts/notes.

1. In your breakout group, …..

2. Read the quote and …..

3. Summarize your thoughts using …..

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LeadershipVirtual World

1. Clarifying the project

2. Getting the technology to work

3. Connecting the team

4. Setting initial accountability agreements

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Virtual Group Experience• Take 12 minutes total

• Getting Started

o Briefly, introduce yourself and provide a little context

(Council, hometown, etc.)

• What have you found works well for leading

virtual team projects?o Ask someone to capture the discussion on your whiteboard

and someone else be ready to share with the larger group in the main room

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Best Practices• Select some team members who know each other

and some “boundary spanners” (people who are well-networked in the organization)

•Clarify goals/outcomes for the project (what change will occur? What will be different?)

•Establish norms/team agreements (prework material)

• Break work into chunks that can be worked on independently at locations

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Best Practices – Meeting Virtually

• Share pictures

• Use chat area and whiteboard

• Silence is not golden! - tell people you will be calling on them for a specific response

• Have a 2nd “facilitator” to help out (e.g. watch chat area, etc.)

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“Ok, let me tell you what I’m thinking…

“The reason I’m advocating here is..…

“I think we have a few options here…”

“_____, tell me more about what your thinking here”

Make Your Thinking Transparent

“My only concern here is…”

“____, help us understand how you got there”

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Best Practices Meeting Virtually

• Use a visual to remind those in the room “who’s out there”

• Describe what’s happening in the room

Lewis Rachel Bob

Lisa, D.C.Mike, NYC Sara, L.A.

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Virtual Meeting Management

Beginning • Use a form of “check-in”

During

• Ensure everyone’s participation

End• Summary notes; action items are clear

and posted to the online worksite

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Ask Team Members to help with meetings

• Setting up and communicating the meeting

• Drafting an agenda

• Collecting input beforehand

• Facilitating the meeting so you can focus on the interaction

• Watching the chat area and secondary channels

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Ask Team Members to help with meetings

• Setting up and communicating the meeting

• Drafting an agenda

• Collecting input beforehand

• Facilitating the meeting so you can focus on the interaction

• Watching the chat area and secondary channels

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Breakout #2 – Roles and Team Standards

• Breakout Rooms and Topics

Room 1 & 2 - Clarifying project roles

Room 3 & 4 - Establishing team standards

Room 5 & 6 – Managing expectations via the “iron triangle”

• Discuss the prework content and your own experiences working

through these issues on project teams

• Identify and note on whiteboard 2-3 practical suggestions

• Take 15 minutes total

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Project Roles

• Clarify scope of team’s charter• Identify the team lead and support the team lead with securing resources• Stay available to team lead to maintain progress and manage scope creep• Keep upper management informed

Sponsor

• Assemble team• Work with Sponsor to clarify scope• Lead, manage and ensure completion of the project

Project Lead

• Develop and implement project• Share accountability for the success of the team (both content and

process/project management)

Project Team

Members

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Project Roles

• Person/group with the problem the team is trying to addressCustomer ConsumerEnd-user

• Other people and/or groups who have an interest in or are impacted by what the team does

Stake-holders

Other?

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Team Contract / “Agreements”What – Behavior standards we feel are critical

How we work together For us to achieve our vision we must be this way with each

other.

Why – Create boundariesGive team members and newcomers minimum behavior standards they can expect of each otherRemind group of a standard we must try to maintain to achieve our vision

How – One on one conversation and/or group discussionsGroup members agree to adopt

“I’ve been chatting with all of you and thinking about how we

need to ‘be’ together for us to complete this project, and have some fun while we’re doing it … here are some thoughts around that, what do you think?”

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3 Key Team Behaviors/Agreements  Being candid and loyal to the absent I avoid gossiping(e.g., I don’t bad mouth someone “not in the room” and I encourage others to refrain likewise.) I don’t deliver messages for others and if I have a beef with someone, I talk to them directly. 1 2 3 4 

Team before personal: I put the team/organization’s goalsbefore my own. If someone has an idea that’s working betterthan my own, I offer my time, budget, resources to help them 1 2 3 4succeed. Transparency: I am completely open in sharing my thinkingand information I have at any given moment. If I disagree, I bring it up in the meeting vs. in the hall, and I do it agreeably.I model the behavior of “If I have more information than you,I am obligated to share it. If it seems you have more than 1 2 3 4me, I am obligated to ask.”

 

I’ve been very

consistent

Not asconsistent

as I would like

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Project Management 101

Manage Expectations!

2. Time(schedule)

3. Resources(cost)

1. Quality(scope)

“What do you want done?

What’s going to be different at the end?

How good does it need to be?”

“When do you need it by?”“How firm is that?”

“What kind of budget is available?”“Who can I tap into?”“Can temps or other outside resources be used?”

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Best Practices - Quotes“Trust within a team can be harmed by breaches in confidentiality outside the team. Since breaches cannot be physically observed, an important norm to discuss is what is shared outside the team.”

“Several of the teams we studied struggled initially because they lacked a commonset of procedures or way of doing things.”

“Meetings with a strong social element can be resented, for example, when held early in the team’s existence. In the early phases, creating exciting work with a meaningful goal is seen as more useful than hosting social events.”

“We found that one of the biggest reasons virtual teams fail is because the members don’t find the work interesting.”

“The quickest way to build trust in a virtual team, is to play fair and deliver on your promises.”

“Our technology use evolved over time.”

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Questions/Observations?

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1) How might you use a tool like the charter template to clarify scope with a Sponsor and your team?

2) Watch the IDEO video using the link on the LPTV website Module 2 page and discuss with your learning team what insights you took away.

For the Next Session…