I like the idea of looking at being virtually connected rather than being in physical proximity as a boost to the team productivity instead of an obstacle. I've always heard people complain and state "lack of face-to-face" on the disadvantages side, but now more people are recognizing how it can actually help.
What if I personally prefer my desk rather than a round table in a conference room? I'd join a virtual team. What if I hate frequent travelling, the tiresome jet lag effect and the awful airport delays? What if I believe in the "No-Place-Like-Home" philosophy? ... What If? What If? What If? ... All of these are valid reasons to prefer a virtual team over a physical one.
But it's always a matter of weighing pros and cons in a subjective judgement call. What about the time difference? What if the team finds a convenient meeting time to most members, but it's 3:00 am in the morning where I live? How can I -as the group manager- maintain trust between the members? What if I get more motivation from being in a group- physically in a group- rather than being alone with a laptop? ... What if? What if? What if? ... All of these are also valid reasons to prefer a physical team over a virtual one.
As I said, it's a subjective judgement call, I believe.
3 comments:
Like you mentioned with the concerns of being a manager, there is something so important about TRUST between colleagues that I believe can only be achieved through face-to-face physical contact. Don't get me wrong, I think virtual teams can definitely succeed and I hope to be a part of a successful one, but in my opinion true drive and team work ethic comes from being together or at least meeting in real life.
it seems these would be problems with an overseas company and international team. I worked for a california base company in new york which also was based in richmond. We had conference calls and never had much problems with time but you never saw them.
All valid points, and I do believe that telecommuting is the future but there are some things that I don't think that it'll ever capture. There's just something... organic for lack of a better word about the physical meetings. You believe in metaphysics and energy, how do you think virtual conferencing can over come the lack of that presence. Do you think it contributes to the meeting?
PS Miss You like crazy, overcome *that* with your newfangled virtual world.
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