Perspectives & Strategy

One of the biggest challenges in managing remote, or viurtual projects, has always been one of communication and collaboration. From the management perspective it is not possible to simply walk down the corridor and see the fear in people’s eyes: not fear of physical harm, but the fear that you are going to ask them the dreaded question about their project task that is running behind schedule.

This short walk down the corridor often speaks volumes more than the weekly project meeting. To me this signals a time when a one-to-one meeting is required, in order to get to the bottom of the problem.

With remote team members this type of reaction seeking or non-verbal communication is not evident. It is possible to hear fear when a person speaks, yet in a teleconference it is possible to hide – simply by remaining silent. When you are in a teleconference with your remote team members do you ever ask for personal feedback from every person present? Trouble is that it is all too easy to forget the silent ones even in a face-to-face meeting.

Generally speaking in any meeting there are two reasons to be silent. Firstly shyness, and secondly because that individual has something to hide.

Shyness is a symptom of managing comfort zones. We can all be shy when confronted with something new, and perhaps a little intimidated particularly when we understand very little about it. It can normally be managed by coaxing that person out of their existing comfort zone and expanding that comfort zone to include the new working environment.

Having something to hide is a different matter. These team members are the onces who are most likely to bring bad results on a project, irrespective of the circumstances. Projects are always limited by time and resources, whenever there are problems it is always vital to share. Managing projects via Agile methods does allow problem areas to be ring-fenced and focused on more thoroughly at a later stage. I am always more concerned about those who hide away because they have a problem than I am the shy person.

Despite sayings like “a problem shared is a problem halved” having entered the main-flow of society, people tend to be concerned that when a problem is identified then it is their personal challenge to solve it. They hide the problem in the hope that no-one finds out about the problem. Sadly this is the point when it starts to have a negative impact on everything that you do. Project working is not generally the place for heroics. That person who focuses on the problem and tends to lose sight of their deliverables.  Here we are back at the team member who rushes back the other way when when they see you, their manager, in the corridor. Something is wrong here and needs to be solved.

BUT how do you do this when the person is working remotely? Many project managers believe that having remote workers is too risky. Yet it is the things we do not wish to do that we are often forced to do.  There is a certain amount that can be achieved by regular visits to remote sites, yet at all times you remain a stranger at that remote location – so there is a psychology to managing remote visits. Remote project workers are a fact of life, as are constrained project budgets. The latter reduces out ability to complete regular remote-site visits, so it is essential to identify remoteness challenges of virtual teams in other ways.

It is vital all virtual team members are a part of developing and following the team plan – this must be lived and breathed. Knowing each remote worker is important – you probably need to spend a disproportionately high amount of time developing this relationship. You need to stay in touch, daily is best; set and follow an agenda for all meetings – ensure it is business focused. Leverage technology where appropriate – particularly collaboration tools.