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310 PART 4: THE LEADER AS A RELATIONSHIP BUILDER
virtual team to develop a successful joint proposal for a major Haggar advertis-
ing campaign. Without this collaboration, it is unlikely that any of the companies
could have competed against Sports Illustrated, a magazine with a circulation
equal to that of the other three combined. 57
Using virtual teams allows organizations to use the best peo-
Action Memo
ple for a particular job, no matter where they are located, thus
enabling a fast response to competitive pressures. When IBM needs to
As a leader, you can help a virtual team
staff a project, it gives a list of skills needed to the human resources
perform even with limited control and
department, which provides a pool of people who are qualifi ed. The
supervision. You can select members who
team leader then puts together the best combination of people for
thrive in a virtual environment, arrange
the project, which often means pulling people from many different
opportunities for periodic face-to-face
meetings, and ensure that members
locations. IBM estimates that about a third of its employees partici-
standards.
pate in virtual teams. 58
understand the goals and performance
Leading the Virtual Team Despite their potential benefits, there is

growing evidence that virtual teams are typically less effective than teams
whose members meet face-to-face. The team leader can make a tremendous dif-
59
ference in how well a virtual team performs, but virtual teams bring signifi cant
leadership challenges. Leaders of conventional teams can monitor how team
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members are doing and if everything is on track, but virtual team leaders can’t see
when or how well people are working. Virtual team leaders have to trust people
to do their jobs without constant supervision, and they learn to focus more on
results than on the process of accomplishing them. Too much control can kill a
virtual team, so leaders have to give up most of their control and yet at the same
time provide guidance, encouragement, support, and development. The ideas pre-
sented earlier regarding the team leader’s personal role are applicable to virtual
teams as well. In addition, to be successful, virtual team leaders can master the
following skills:
• Select the right team members. Effective virtual team leaders put a lot of
thought into getting the right mix of people on the team. Team members
need to have the technical knowledge, skills, and personalities to work
effectively in a virtual environment. When people are highly skilled and
professional, they don’t need to be monitored or supervised in a traditional
way. As with other types of teams, small virtual teams tend to be more
cohesive and work together more effectively. However, diversity of views
and experiences is also important to the success of a virtual team. Diversity
is usually built into virtual teams because when leaders can pick the right
people for the job, no matter where they are located, members usually
reflect diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. 61
• Build trust by building connections. No matter how effective team members
are as individuals, unless they can come together as a team, virtual
teamwork will fail. Virtual team leaders work hard to establish connections
among people, from which trust can grow. There simply is no substitute
for initial face-to-face interaction for building trust quickly. At Mobil
Corp., leaders bring virtual team members together in one location at the
beginning of a project so they can begin to build personal relationships
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and gain an understanding of their goals and responsibilities. These
intense meetings allow the team to rapidly go through the forming and
storming stages of development, as discussed earlier in this chapter.
Studies of virtual teams suggest these processes are best accomplished at
the same time and in the same place. 63