Managing Virtual Teams - Dec. 09

Overview

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, managers and employees alike are increasingly challenged to find new ways to get things done – better, faster, and cheaper. More and more companies today are embracing the concept of the virtual team work environment to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their people who often work remotely, whether from across town or on the other side of the world.

Using technology effectively is critical to the success of virtual teams. Knowing why, when and how to employ the right tools, at the right time, for the right need, and how the virtual team environment impacts your business processes makes all the difference. This course will give you a vendor and product neutral perspective of what it means to work in a virtual environment and provide real-world experience and best practices from both a management and technology perspective.

Course Information

This project funded in whole or part with funds from Employer Workforce Training Funds administered by the Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development and Worksystems, Inc.

Prerequisites

Experience using virtual tools in a professional setting
No minimum management experience required

Intended Audience

This course is for you if you are one of the many company leaders or managers who are currently or anticipate working with virtual teams. You will also benefit if you are interested in understanding and leveraging the business efficiency and cost savings that can be achieved by utilizing virtual technology.

Course Outline

Why You Need This Course:
Working in a virtual team environment is the reality of business today and companies that leverage the efficiency and effectiveness that can be achieved with virtual teams will achieve a key competitive advantage over companies that do not. This course is not about theory, it will provide you with practical knowledge that you can use to strengthen your ability to lead and increase your team’s efficiency, motivation and results. This course is vendor and product neutral so you will be able to evaluate the options available and select the tools best suited for you and your team to move forward with confidence.

Training Objectives - What you will learn:

• Understand the current trends of organizations moving towards virtual teams and the impacts to an ever changing and often global workforce;
• Understand the opportunities and challenges of working in a virtual organization and develop new ways to manage yourself and others to succeed in this new era of “working virtually”;
• Compare different management styles and approaches and how they are impacted by technology;
• Understand the various team-based and personal technologies available today to support the communication and collaboration needs of virtual teams;
• Effectively use technology to meet and exceed your organization’s goals and objectives while continuing to build strong team relationships for ongoing success;
• Recognize the changes needed to work virtually across new organizational boundaries, inter-generational differences and varying cultural expectations;
• Develop new approaches to manage and motivate your organization, teams, project teams and yourself; and
• Develop next steps to develop or strengthen your virtual team work environment.

Agenda:

• Overview of Going Virtual
• Benefits of the Virtual Workplace
• Defining How You Work Today
• Case Study: Going Virtual at Hewlett Packard
• Overview of Technologies Used in the Virtual Workplace – from teleconferencing  and videoconferencing to mobile technologies to collaboration tools to social networking
• Virtual Project Management – Managing and motivating your project teams to develop and instill a shared sense of purpose and common goals
• Seeing the Opportunities, Managing the Challenges – Explore how a virtual workplace changes your approach to work
• Tricks, Tips and Traps of Technology in the Virtual Workplace (e.g. time zones, language and cultural challenges)
  • Teleconferencing and Remote Meetings – changing meeting dynamics
  • Instant Messaging and Email – staying in touch
  • Collaboration Tools – managing projects, managing teams
  • Social Networking – creating a sense of team, knowing your team
• Case Study: Different People, Different Expectations
• Managing in the Virtual Workplace
  • Manage for results, not for “Always On”
  • Managing and developing employees remotely
  • Managing yourself and your career remotely in different environments
• Defining How You Work Tomorrow
• Go Forward Strategy and Action Plan

Instructor Bio

Mark Molau is a Practice Director and consultant for Virtual Information Executives (VIE) delivering enterprise performance management focused business intelligence and information management solutions. He has twenty years of senior leadership experience spanning various information technology, finance and business functions.

He has worked in various organizations, from the Fortune 50 to fledgling high-tech startups; working with sales, marketing, professional services, product management, research and development, service delivery, production engineering, manufacturing, finance and human resource organizations and functions. Prior to joining VIE, Mark led his own consulting firm and held senior management positions in IT, finance and professional services with firms such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Price Waterhouse.

Mark has worked in various virtual organizations over the past 14 years managing multinational organizations, program and project teams spanning the Americas (United States, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica), Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia and the U.K.), and Asia (China, India, Philippines). During this time, Mark has managed numerous employee; peer; manager and stakeholder relationships in a virtual manner – including telecommuting from Portland to the San Francisco Bay Area for nearly 3 years once he relocated to the Pacific Northwest, while still maintaining his Bay Area position. Mark has experienced firsthand the various opportunities and challenges that a virtual workplace offers and supports.  He is known for building and leading creative, dynamic, focused cross-cultural teams working in a global business environment.