CHAPTER 6
Getting Deliverables Out the Door
Since delivering results is the most clear-cut of the four elements that define successful virtual teams, you may think it would be the easiest to master, as long as action steps and status checks are in place. However, that is not the case. Although deliverables are measurable, and therefore straightforward, they can become comingled with the other three elements of team success—communication, accountability/trust, and conflict management—and are subject to similar pressures and complexities.
Getting deliverables out the door is specific to the team, and since teams exist to accomplish results, managing the process successfully is an art as well as a science. You haven’t reached your destination until you drive your goals. How you approach deliverables (the very reason the team exists) and the specific implementation tools/processes used are going to vary.
This chapter introduces several guidelines to follow in making choices around deliverables. These guidelines are based on my consulting experience and the experiences of the 150-plus virtual team managers I spoke with in preparation for this book. These guidelines seem to work across teams, in spite of each team’s unique characteristics. As you read this chapter, consider your own team and the different approaches available to determine which of the suggested practices would work best for your situation, in both the short term and the long term.
What Is Difficult About Managing Deliverables?
Never has the challenge of virtual managers been greater than it is today. Tasks are so far-ranging in structure, technical complexity, and organizational span that the days of the “supermanager” who knew every element of the project inside and out are gone. From day one, the input of team members who bring their special expertise is now integral to solving a business puzzle with many interlocking parts.
All organizations use team projects to translate strategies into actions and to transform objectives into realities. Many teams are project-intensive: They live and breathe project management throughout their life cycle. Organizing around projects is a natural way of life. However, realizing project objectives is not easy when teams are distributed globally and when you factor in intricate technology issues, outsourced work groups, cultural differences, budgetary pressures, and disparate regulatory requirements.
All members of a virtual team, from the manager on, must understand how their efforts impact the deliverables. That, of course, is why they are on the team! Reaching milestones and completing projects require strong support, and as the manager, you are charged with putting a workable structure in place.
The difference between “good” and “great” team management is in the delivery. Strong delivery capability is the result of effective planning, sound processes, and careful monitoring, all of which translate strategy into action. Over the years I’ve observed many virtual teams, and in every case—no exceptions—they run more smoothly and stay competitive if they plan wisely, maintain ongoing communication among members, and have clearly delineated deliverables.
Conversely, when projects are rife with inefficiencies, the delivery of project results may be hindered. For example:
Inefficiencies That Affect All Project Deliverables
Ineffective processes are used for project planning, monitoring, coordination, risk management, and follow-through.
There is inefficient scope management and staff utilization.
Schedules are created in isolation, without integrating key areas of dependency.
Team members do not report steps/actions and accountability breaks down.
Delays in area A are not communicated to area B, which is dependent on area A for its own goals.
Resources are not allocated where they are most needed.
Schedules fail to identify critical paths and do not include nonworking time (and time zones) unique to a particular country/culture.
Key information is not properly documented and/or communicated in a timely manner to stakeholders.
Responsibility for decision making is not clearly defined (e.g., Who decides when a deadline or a priority is changed?).
The fundamentals of proactive communication are not in place.
No risk management plan exists.
Key activities are delayed, forgotten, or changed drastically, without thought given to the impact on other aspects of the project.
In the virtual environment, deliverable management is often about getting work done and moving on. Action-oriented managers are often wary of anyone or anything that may slow them down. They may be more concerned about meeting milestones than developing a strong foundation of structure, process, and tools with which to build future success. That might work well in the short term when the focus is on implementation, but the temporary structure of many virtual teams and the need to move quickly may encourage shortcuts that have long-term costs.
Many virtual managers also fail to realize that team alignment must be addressed not just initially during Team Setup (see Chapter 2), but throughout the entire team life cycle. If meeting deliverables is the objective, whatever your time zone, then successfully completing assigned projects and/or responsibilities depends directly on your ability to foresee pitfalls, design workable processes, and change them when necessary.
In a sense, virtual teams encounter general project management issues similar to those faced by traditional teams, but with the added layers of time and space creating additional demands. These obstacles are challenging, but they can be an advantage, too. Elements special to deliverables on virtual teams are detailed later in this chapter, but to start, let’s summarize effective delivery practices.
Checklist: Practices for Effective Deliverables Management
Plan and organize work and schedules by dividing tasks into smaller action steps.
Develop workable communication processes so that progress and problems are easily reported.
When there are multiple projects, break them down so that it is easy for the team to coordinate where necessary and collaborate when the need arises.
Monitor and control costs by building in frequent check-ins.
Report progress and provide early warnings of delays to all stakeholders.
Document and share learnings so that future deliverables benefit from the process.
Checklist: Additional Deliverables Management Practices Relevant to Virtual Teams
Manage projects by communicating clear deadlines that people buy into regardless of their location. Remember that documentation and coordination take on greater importance when physical distance increases.
Strive to make team members more autonomous and self-disciplined so that they recognize when their work is off schedule.
Update communications/documents frequently, and ensure that version control is in place.
Divide tasks into smaller parts/steps/activities, since team members work on various aspects at different times and in different locations.
Direct the team to keep communications flowing continually if team members work across several time zones.
Take immediate action to get back on schedule if things get off track.
Continually check and measure results. Many virtual team managers interviewed for this book offered the same advice: Follow up, follow up, follow up. So, do a lot of follow-up.
Document and share new knowledge with teammates. Some virtual managers refer to it as doing an “autopsy” at the end of every project and finding ways to do it better next time.
Strive to understand how deliverables can be affected by different cultural, ethical, and interpersonal values; put the effort into knowing your team.
Deliverables Across Time Zones
“You need to connect your business to everyone!” said Sam, who runs a small electronics company. “When it comes to business, connecting people, linking them from point to point, using knowledge-sharing tools or social networking portals gives you a great way to share your vision and strategy, inspire others, and move deliverables into the customers’ hands.”
Sam connects to his people daily using wireless technology. He wants to know what they are working on, what they hope to accomplish, and what is actually getting done. Sam looks for measurable milestones in every communication. His direct reports e-mail him at the beginning and at the end of the workday. Because his direct reports manage their own virtual project teams, their time is limited and defined by the miles and time zones that separate them.
Sam’s team “follows the sun.” People work different hours (in India, the United States, and Europe), and their workday overlaps for a few brief hours. As a result, tasks can take longer to get done due to availability. Often team members work on multiple projects simultaneously and are not fully dedicated to one project, so when something is due, it can get hectic. If an assignment has a tight deadline, then several team members work on it while others sleep, and then they hand their work product off to other members who move the project along. Sam’s managers have set up regular checkpoints for when individuals hand a project off to the next person. To accommodate a client who complained about a defective part, several teams worked two days around the clock to resolve the problem. Sam acknowledges that “we spend extra money and time to get the virtual team to work together and produce quality deliverables,” but realizes that the geographical distribution allows the workday to span as many hours as necessary, which gives the team an extra advantage. “I can no longer walk down the hall to get the attention of my associate or have a face-to-face meeting,” Sam says, “but I found that I can turn this disadvantage into an advantage by being able to produce work continuously, virtually 24/7, even on holidays.”
Not every manager shares Sam’s enthusiasm. I often hear comments from frustrated virtual managers about working across time zones. One team member may finish work at a given hour and doesn’t see the results until late afternoon the next day. This leads to frustration since precious time is lost (a day, an hour) as are opportunities because team members can’t “eyeball” each other. Many virtual team managers believe that their costs and benefits should be carefully weighed to determine if the benefits can justify their associated costs.
For Sam, the deliverables challenge is the opposite—remote teams will work until midnight because they can, thanks to technology. And this requires his virtual managers to be involved in important ways: They must clarify expectations and conduct interim reviews (have frequent checkpoints) to quickly catch mistakes. The purpose of frequent check-ins is to shine the light on issues before they cause breakdowns. Your job is to make sure that expectations and instructions are clear up front. “When in doubt,” Sam says, “you need to clarify things or you will get something different from what you expected.”
Coordinating Deliverables
Coordinating deliverables is like conducting an orchestra. Your job as a virtual manager is to be the conductor who coordinates tasks by planning, by talking, and by tracking. As one virtual team member bluntly stated, “You need to talk about communication, talk about prerequisites, talk about the plans, talk about performance, talk about the breakdowns, talk about solutions—be involved in so much talking that people are sick of talking.”
However, successful virtual managers don’t just do the talking; they get involved in the listening, questioning, and coordinating. This links back to three behaviors virtual managers need to cultivate for successful deliverable management: (1) aligning, (2) tracking, and (3) establishing frequency of communications.
1. Aligning
The act of aligning is step one in focusing the virtual team to get things done—and to get deliverables out the door. You need to make sure that team members share an understanding about expectations, and that everyone is committed to the same goals. Given the challenges (a culturally diverse team that spans several time zones across dispersed locations), it is even more important to keep team members aligned. Without alignment, teams experience periods of instability, ambiguity, and tension that can lead to a lack of productivity and, eventually, a breakdown of the team itself. Your role, first and foremost, is to guide team members to face the same direction, setting the stage for effective work processes that ensure a strong delivery capability.
Aligning Goals and Expectations Brings Focus
To manage any team, on-site or virtual, establish your goals and expectations, and then create a plan to deliver them. Of course, the virtual world brings a set of circumstances with certain challenges that affect how virtual team members interact during the workday and communicate about projects. As a manager, the more specific your planning is, and the more checkpoints you build into daily activities, the greater your chance of heading a high-functioning team. How else will you know if your intentions were understood as you intended, and how will your team members know if they are on track?
Aligning goals and expectations consists of orchestrating multiple processes and mechanisms, and your role as the team leader is to get the players to play in concert. And while business requirements are often dictated by outside stakeholders, you are like the conductor who makes sure that the orchestra members concentrate on the entire composition as they master their own individual parts.
Tips for Aligning Goals and Expectations
Meet with stakeholders ahead of time to understand important elements: what product/service the team is charged with producing, who will benefit from it, what resources/information the team will need, and what criteria the team will be measured against to evaluate the quality of the deliverables.
Have a project plan with specific specifications. Reconfirm and monitor due dates continually.
Prioritize work at the individual and process level. Identify which tasks are most important and connect them to project goals. Since tasks and priorities change constantly, be ready to refocus and handle changes that vary in priority and scope.
Don’t do twenty things in a mediocre way; instead, pick three to five deliverables and do them well.
Create a project summary sheet before the project begins.
Clarify when something is due and in what time zone. Give yourself more time for conducting checkpoints and testing in between. Successful virtual managers suggest checking in two or three days ahead of the date when tasks are due.
Use project management software, spreadsheets, and documents. Create scheduled time lines that are broken down into short-term and long-term tasks. Establish and keep schedules for quality reviews and measure the quality of work output.
Reinforce modes of communication for all possible situations.
Forget control. You don’t have any! Virtual members are not like employees—they are like customers. Treat them as such.
Aligning Interests Energizes and Motivates
Do you clearly understand what motivates your team to get deliverables out the door? How can you create a team spirit shared by all? To align team members’ energy, find a way to generate shared values and to stimulate interest in jointly working toward a common objective. As head cheerleader (one of your jobs), explain how joint efforts will achieve something of value. When milestones are successfully met, credit the team’s synergy as the cause of this success.
The team is motivated to reach milestones when its members are part of the initial conversation, that is, during the Team Setup phase. If that is not possible, because business objectives dictate that deliverables, milestones, and specific procedures are determined beforehand, then you, as the team leader, should look for other ways to involve team members in decisions that affect them. In truth, it is impossible to overstate the importance of communicating and involving team members throughout the life of the project.
Tips for Aligning Team Members’ Interests
Create an open and honest conversational work environment. Start by getting buy-in for the team’s direction, as necessitated by business objectives. Plan the work and work the plan. Put in the time, up front, to communicate the importance of alignment and synergy around deliverables. It might require extra time, including conducting phone calls and intense conversations to close the gaps when team members do not work closely with each other.
During Team Setup, or when new projects are ready to be rolled out, create a virtual steering committee as an escalation channel when the team needs realignment or when members feel overworked, frustrated, or burnt out. This body acts as a sounding board, mediating and addressing these issues. It is best to rotate membership to avoid burdening the same people.
When things get out of rhythm and deliverables are steering off track, open communication lines to talk freely about the work/deliverables. Lead this process to self-correct.
Treat team members as unique individuals who develop at their own pace and respond to different work styles and motivators related to their individual experiences and cultures. Learn what motivates the team as individuals and as a group. For example, find out what everyone considers a meaningful way to celebrate completing an important milestone.
Connect with your team often to reinforce goals, vision, and direction, and personalize your communication with each team member.
As one virtual manager in a multinational law firm said, “Basically, I know I have to make everyone establish ownership for our work. I am the project manager, but I don’t own it on my own—it is a team project, everyone contributes ideas and has preferences, and we do it together.”
2. Tracking
Tracking consists of the back-and-forth reporting, updating, and status checking that are vital to the process of producing deliverables that meet quality standards in a timely fashion. When you focus on tracking you are wearing your logistics hat, coordinating efforts from various places and different work units, and monitoring their status. By doing so, you can identify mistakes or problems early on, increasing the likelihood of prompt resolution. Another benefit of tracking is that it prevents team members from distractions caused by multitasking and inattention. The very act of checking in (i.e., asking for status reports) keeps folks on track and focused.
Tracking allows you to follow the team workflow and capture the process to achieve deliverables. The steps may vary from team to team. Although particular requirements may be broken down differently (by months, weeks, days), the main elements of tracking remain the same:
Create measurable metrics.
Produce requirements documentation.
Report on the status at regular intervals.
Of course, the unique challenges in the virtual environment are the miles and time zones that separate you and team members from one another. Everyone on the team needs to agree on the process and provide status updates. The more complicated those processes are, the more the owners need to break those deliverables into smaller increments and establish status reporting so that results can be verified. Remember, on a virtual team, when it comes to daily work activities, people can’t see what their teammates are doing.
Tracking and Reporting Mechanisms
Throughout my consulting work with various teams and in my research, I repeatedly found that more successful virtual teams tackled the issue of tracking logistics early on. They came up with simple, informal ways to quickly report progress updates.
One manager at an e-commerce firm told me that his team members send a weekly report called the PPP: Progress, Problems, and Plans. Each team member highlights the week’s activities by answering three questions:
1. Progress. What did you do during the week? What were your accomplishments?
2. Problems. What issues came up that concerned you?
3. Plans. What do you plan to do about it (to move deliverables along)?
John, a virtual team manager at a software design firm who often managed teams of individuals who were not direct reports, said that managing them was a great challenge because his work was not as high a priority as it would be for a dedicated team. By defining a set of short-term (ninety-day maximum) deliverables, he was able to keep team members on track. He took an aggressive approach and kept the plan short, created a roadmap that was easy to understand, and defined milestones that were focused on results. Individuals gathered quickly, formed their goals, and tackled deliverables immediately. They tracked the following specs:
Business Case (Why am I doing it?)
Responsibilities (What deliverables am I responsible for?)
Basic Schedule
Specific Results
Monthly Review Dates with Senior Management
John found that the three-month approach works very well because (1) projects are highly visible in his organization, (2) deliverables are broken into manageable chunks according to ninety-day plans, and (3) results are easy to track. Besides the motivational elements of a short-term focus, team members received quicker feedback (monthly or biweekly updates with senior management). According to John, the trick is to keep members focused for the short term on clean deliverables, with a quick feedback loop, so it is possible to determine if projects are progressing according to plan. By tracking the work frequently, he can quickly see which projects need help and which ones are more complicated, therefore requiring drastic action (e.g., change in personnel or cancellation of certain subprojects).
In sum, here are the elements of a successful tracking and reporting mechanism:
Charter Statement of Project’s Objective Within Stated Time Frame (e.g., three months)
Clear Business Impact
Strong Project Sponsorship
Skilled Team Members
90-Days’ Commitment from Each Person on the Team
Signoff from Each Team Member’s Manager for This 90-Day Period
Regular Review Dates Throughout
As John said, “Your time frame and rollout schedule are fixed. You have flexibility to vary resources and to project-manage, but the deadline is fixed. I found that people were okay with that. If the project does not go well, at least the end date is in sight.”
Tracking Deliverables on a Spreadsheet and in a Progress Report
Deliverables can be laid out in doable increments in a tracking spreadsheet and a progress report, which should be available for the entire team to access at any time. First, agreement must be reached within the team on how best to break down overall goals into smaller tasks. This can be accomplished by setting quantifiable criteria for each deliverable, spelling out what requirements must be met and how they will be measured. Once you ensure that tasks and detailed substeps are spelled out and all members are on board regarding outcomes and priorities, you are ready to create your tracking spreadsheet.
In the virtual world you need to be extra detailed in your expectations. Verify the metrics; redefine time lines; and, if possible, build in extra time to meet deadlines to allow for unforeseen circumstances, resource constraints, and business changes. Tracking should be an iterative process, as more time and energy need to be allotted to confirm and reconfirm processes and activities.
Tracking Spreadsheet. Figure 6-1 is an example of a tracking spreadsheet that keeps track of the team’s progress by breaking deliverables down to the task level, monitoring steps by team member and skill. Team members have a clear picture of their goals, status updates, and priorities as time progresses.
To work with this template, first identify the overall goals for the team. Next, break down each goal into the specific deliverables associated with it and determine time lines and deadlines required to achieve the goal. Then, for each goal indicate steps, resources, criteria for evaluating quality, potential issues/resolutions, and dates for status checks. With your team members determine start date, end date, and deadlines for each goal. Consider the resources you need to complete the task and assign the person in charge to promote accountabilities.
Figure 6-1. Sample tracking spreadsheet.
Progress Report. The second piece of deliverable tracking involves regular, ongoing progress updates or reports. Regular reporting (e.g., weekly, daily) is an effective way to monitor and measure progress toward team goals—it’s how one keeps track of who needs to do what, and when. To help you stay on track, it is helpful to use a common form that all team members update. A good practice is to have the person in charge of a specific task or deliverable update the rest of the team. It also allows you to prioritize important deliverables according to shifting business realities, and update the team when this occurs. Some virtual teams use Microsoft SharePoint Server and project software or other online tracking mechanisms, while others conduct live meetings or chats to reprioritize. Whatever system you choose to track your results and capture decision making, make sure that all team members adhere to it and agree on how it will be implemented.
Figure 6-2 is a simplified progress template you can use to update your team reports. It is a useful tool during weekly team meetings, which can begin with each member reporting the status of current tasks. In this way, everyone has a chance to communicate, and a written record allows everyone to view progress, thus ensuring transparency.
Best Practices for Virtual Team Tracking
Structure is a must! Create a project specification form that contains tracking and scheduling elements.
Include reporting in your tracking system. Make sure tasks are linked together so that steps can be well organized and easily managed.
Create and prioritize your list to include benchmarks and metrics. To measure your outputs and accomplishments, start by evaluating 1) how you move deliverables forward and 2) how well you educate teammates on how to solve problems themselves.
Figure 6-2. Sample progress report form.
Rely on shared calendars and e-mail/instant messaging for updates and follow-ups between conference calls.
Include specifics in a weekly progress report: report date, project status, project summary, key issues, identified risks, tasks and next steps, decisions required, key future dates, budgeted amount, and accountabilities.
Delegate tasks and check that they are completed. If not, pick up the phone and reach people quickly.
Create systems, processes, and worksheets to document open issues and follow up.
Have the discipline to follow up.
Keep things to the point, and in a simple format.
Attach additional information regarding quality control, feedback, and reward systems, as appropriate.
3. Establishing Frequencies
Once you align deliverables and set up tracking and reporting mechanisms, you are ready to implement the third and final step: establishing frequencies. Frequency is how often you connect with your team and what processes/procedures are in place to do so. Frequency also relates to the routines and checkpoints you establish to review and reinforce progress. Essentially, frequency is the lifeline that allows you and your team to stay connected and equipped to deliver on expected tasks. One of your key responsibilities as a virtual manager is to implement the team mechanisms necessary to establish frequency in the virtual world.
“Make sure you have the right communication routines in place and constantly follow up on them. Use technology. My global team uses SharePoint, which has a list with weekly updates—and anyone can see it anytime.”
—VIRTUAL TEAM LEADER, HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
“Have routines. For example, one of our routines is that at the end of business every Thursday, everyone uploads their deliverables onto a site, so we can all see what’s happening. And on Fridays I look at it, and so does my boss. We can see if we have to make changes for the next week.”
—VIRTUAL TEAM LEADER, FOOD AND BEVERAGE COMPANY
Frequency: How Often Do You Communicate with Your Team?
Successful virtual teams establish regular routines for updates, discussions, and decisions. They conduct regular calls, create expected checkpoints, and contact team members often to avoid loose ends and ensure they overcome potential problems. These are essential practices. Some virtual teams check in with each other weekly, daily, hourly, and sometimes even more often, using a shared online tool (technology is always the enabler). And although the frequency of virtual team communication varies, the point is that virtual teams must communicate more frequently than on-site teams, and you—the manager—must set the tone.
The rate or frequency of your interaction with team members is a key component of a smooth-running team. One of the top trends I noted from interviewing virtual team managers was about frequency of virtual team communication, which varied significantly compared with on-site teams. Virtual teams report faster feedback loops than on-site teams (17 percent more). When asked about frequency of meetings, 90 percent of virtual team managers interviewed said that team meetings were held weekly, while 8 percent said that some type of team-wide meeting occurred three or more times per week, and 2 percent met less than once per week (see Figure 6-3). Given the speed of communication and deliverables time lines on virtual teams, many virtual members reported that their day consisted of numerous phone calls, an overwhelming number of e-mails (sometimes requiring an e-mail management system), and a generally fast pace. The team should be ready for “hypercommunication,” as one respondent called this trend.
Figure 6-3. Team meeting frequency (per week).
A common question, then, is: How often should I communicate with my team? Decisions on what tasks should be communicated to whom, how often, and through what channel depend on various team factors, such as team size, degree of task interdependence (or degree of collaboration needed), as well as spatial and geographic boundaries. How you answer this question will likely change depending on life-cycle stage, since deliverables can change over time and directly impact the frequency needed for your team to operate smoothly. Adapt what works for you and tailor the time frames according to your deliverables. Once you clarify the frequency needs around deliverables, you can communicate these requirements to your team.
As one of my clients says, “It is amazing how much can be accomplished in a quick conference call when you set expectations beforehand and tell everyone what you need to accomplish within that time frame.”
Figure 6-4 is a sample of a completed table representing choices around frequencies.
Figure 6-4. Frequencies of communication.
Best Practices for Establishing Frequency
Schedule regular communication. Frequency of communication depends on the changing needs of projects and individual work styles. One team member may require daily check-ins, while others can self-manage. Work backward from the master plan and create a project spreadsheet, indicating goals, steps, and priorities. Align the frequency of communication with the needs of each phase.
Outline frequency mechanisms for your team to follow. Be very detailed in your expectations and deadlines. Spell them out! Provide an example of timetables you are looking for (e.g., need to discuss by phone; draft it using e-mail; discuss it again, as needed, during phone/web/videoconference). This alleviates a lot of work later on.
Institute routines so that team members and managers alike are clear on expectations (e.g., How often should they update you? What should team members do when someone is out of the office?).
Balance team members’ need for autonomy and the project’s need for collaboration.
Create a shared team calendar so that people are aware of target deadlines for executing deliverables. Share task lists and follow-up reports.
Maintain frequent status check-ins. Make sure you communicate constantly and reach out to team members when necessary.
Give your team members the flexibility to self-correct issues while maintaining a strong focus on results.
Frequency and Completion Rates
We have already established that compared to traditional on-site teams, virtual teams need more frequent communication to get deliverables out the door. Increased check-ins are a good idea. However, people often have different definitions of what a “completed” deliverable might look like. I have heard many instances of different perceptions around completion. Here is one particular situation.
Ron M., a telecom client manager in the United States, supervised an English-speaking group based in India, where the business culture was significantly different in terms of hierarchy and structure. Many India-based teams had a top-down management structure.
One high-profile project involved multiple teams developing new telephone software. Status update calls were regularly conducted with team leads, representatives, and developers. From the first calls, Ron noticed that only the team leads regularly talked during the calls, while the developers who wrote code mostly stayed silent. Despite several cultural-learning initiatives, team leaders in India were very resistant to communicating problems with customers, clients, and managers because they did not want to communicate failure. They rarely gave out bad news and always said, “We are working on it” when problems were pointed out.
One team member often said that he was “done” when asked about a specific issue. At first Ron was relieved—until he realized that “done” meant that he “would do it” and the work was not done at all.
Realizing that the Indian developers and U.S. managers did not share the same understanding of the word completion, Ron began asking more specific questions and asking them more frequently; for example, “What percentage ‘done’ are you?” and “When will you complete the next 25 percent?” By asking more explicit questions, Ron avoided a major work delay. He also added a time line and introduced a spreadsheet to identify frequencies and catch mistakes early. As a result, the team improved communications/frequencies and delivered the new generation of telephone software before the launch date.
Virtual managers are faced with a series of complex issues and circumstances that may prevent the team from getting deliverables out the door. Before the situation gets out of hand, you need to administer/implement CPR. In the virtual space CPR (C = Communication Plan; P = People Plan; R = Risk Management Plan) is a planned, systematic approach to keeping things on track so that small issues do not grow, derailing the team’s efforts. Consider it your deliverables survival kit.
CPR: Communication, People, Risk Management
What does it take for your team to deliver sustainable CPR? It takes designing a relevant and comprehensive tool kit to move deliverables along. Calibrating the elements of this tool kit is no easy task, especially given the paradox that exists in the virtual workplace. Virtual teams call for greater structure than on-site teams, since organizing and sharing information by definition requires structure, yet a flexible approach is needed so that the team easily adapts to complexities/special conditions inherent in the virtual workplace.
Communication Around Deliverables
Effective communication methods allow for the right information to get to the right people at the right time without burdening team members with information overload or excessively complex communication channels. Yet no ideal communication medium exists; each tool and process presents its own strengths and weaknesses. The key to effective collaboration and information sharing is matching the task with an appropriate technology tool. A helpful rule of thumb is to increase the sophistication and richness of the tool/method as the task becomes more complex or the need to collaborate increases. Simpler tools, such as e-mail or phone messages, tend to restrict nuances and prevent contextual clues, especially around elaborate ideas. When information is thus obscured, misunderstandings occur and colleagues may arrive at different assumptions. However, using richer media tools may also present difficulties, since sheer volume of data doesn’t necessarily improve communication.
Deliverables Communications Plan
Make your plan broad enough to coordinate information sharing and collaboration around deliverables. Set rules and norms for how communication tools are used, and how frequently, and make sure that team members agree to their use. Consider these factors, among others: team size, number of locations (and time zones), objective(s), and longevity.
Here are some guidelines on how to organize key criteria. When selecting the appropriate communication tools and processes, consider the following questions:
1. Who Are the Stakeholders? A stakeholder is someone who influences or is influenced by your team’s deliverables. With regard to this plan, the stakeholder is someone who needs to be informed about something as the project takes shape, such as your boss, a colleague, a sponsor, a shareholder, a government official, an executive, a business partner, the press, a customer, a vendor, and of course another virtual team member.
2. Why Are We Going to Communicate? What is the purpose of the communication? Generally, working in the virtual space involves receiving, imparting, disseminating, or sharing information, in addition to making decisions and brainstorming. Sometimes the communication has a social element, as we look to deepen a professional relationship through more personal contact.
3. What Needs to Be Communicated? What type of information will be shared? It may be short data elements, instructions, questions, complex ideas with granular detail, material that requires further explanation, or some combination of these information types.
4. When Are We Going to Communicate? Given a specific set of circumstances, what is the optimum frequency of a specific type of communication (e.g., as needed, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually)? Always consider time zone differences and cultural preferences, and establish routines according to priorities.
5. How Are We Going to Communicate? Complexity, timeliness, and the level of collaboration required all determine the communication medium.
Every organization has its own unique circumstances and challenges; however, the need for solid planning around communication issues is common to all organizations. Let’s say you are a virtual manager for a multinational manufacturer and are charged with delivering a new model within a certain time frame. Your virtual team spans several locations throughout the world and may consist of R&D, manufacturing centers, and developers. Based on the needs these questions uncover, creating a deliverables communication plan provides access to key information for everyone.
Figure 6-5 is an example of what your deliverables communication plan might look like. This template breaks down the elements of communication needed to get the deliverables out the door. As you consider your team, use this plan to customize your own in the space provided.
Tips for Developing Your Deliverables Communication Plan
Build in a feedback loop at the end of every e-mail, phone call, or videoconference, to ensure common understanding.
Propose a time limit for each type of communication beforehand.
Take into account the limits of e-mail to convey complex information and the relative skill of stakeholders to communicate in English (the universal business language).
As much as possible, consider time zones and what days are off-limits during the span of a key project (bearing in mind cultural, family, or work schedules).
People Plan
Virtual teams are formed for a variety of reasons. Some begin life around a specific project and, as the need evolves, become long-term work units spanning several locations. Others result from deliberate organizational decisions to seek the lowest possible labor and resource costs, regardless of location. Whatever the team’s origin, often managers find themselves building and directing members with too little preparation or knowledge. With scant understanding of the unique people dynamics of a globally dispersed workforce, managers are responsible for individuals who are sometimes placed on the team to fill a gap. They do not form a cohesive, productive team, and therefore projects stall and deliverables do not meet quality or budgetary objectives.
Engaging the right people in the right way is a critical component of successfully getting deliverables out the door. Stakeholders include people both internal and external to the organization with influence on the team. Internal people are your virtual team members who are charged with meeting business objectives; they bring a wide array of skills and experiences. External people may include industry experts, sponsors (such as venture capitalists or others funding the project), as well as the audience or market for the product/service. CPR’s focus is on the internal people component—your virtual team members.
Figure 6-5. Deliverables communication plan.
Mapping Your Team. Given varying circumstances, what can you, the virtual manager, do to ensure your team’s success? Work backward. That is, first consider the nature of the deliverables, their deadlines, and associated budgetary concerns. Then, learn as much as you can about the team members; when face-to-face meetings are impossible, be sure to hold a phone conversation with each team member. Take a quick inventory of relevant information, including their expertise, prior experience, and potential risks, if any, associated with their presence (i.e., the person brings poor communication skills). Are there gaps in needed skills? If so, what training or additional resources are needed? A critical responsibility is to elicit top performance from the team, and it’s hard to do that without knowing what motivates each team member. Many studies show that compensation is not the top driver of performance—recognition is. Also, ask people (don’t assume) what mode of communication they prefer. Figure 6-6 is a template to map key information about the individuals on the team so that you can make informed decisions about maximizing their efforts.
Playing Your Role. When you are responsible for a dispersed team, the people-management aspect of your job becomes critical. An awareness of what drives people and what presses their buttons keeps work progressing. Flexibility is important. By observing how the team functions, you can restructure or improve processes to create the best circumstances for collaborative teamwork. Successful virtual managers develop their internal radar to know who needs special coaching and when they need it.
Additionally, those who are sensitive to individuals from other cultures can sometimes prevent small issues from escalating. Chances are your team (or teams) may be tasked with simultaneous activities that require many hands to complete. As one virtual manager in an IT organization said, “People know when you’re just going through the motions. I take responsibility for meeting our department’s goals, but I give everyone else as much leeway as possible in working out how to get there. And I make sure that each individual feels respected.”
Figure 6-6. Mapping team information.
Lastly, it is important to note that although team members are charged with moving deliverables along, you, as the leader, bear the major responsibility for making that happen. What can you do to keep a healthy perspective and to manage stress and the relentless pressures that come with the job?
You start by determining each team member’s most important responsibilities, and organizing them in terms of each deliverable and deadline. For each deliverable, that means addressing the following questions:
Who has authority to make decisions?
In the case of shared responsibility, do colleagues agree about each other’s role, and have they worked out appropriate communication plans?
What are acceptable performance standards?
What is your reward system? Does the team celebrate successes and acknowledge contributions?
Which deadlines and milestones are negotiable and which ones are firm?
Although it is impossible to totally eliminate these concerns and pressures, by following the guidelines for CPR, you will be in a stronger position to tackle common issues in the virtual world.
Risk Management Plan
“Expect the unexpected.” Virtual managers live the truth of this statement, given the uncontrollable variables in the virtual space that add to the challenges of an increasingly complex business environment. Even when threats cannot be foreseen, a risk management process should anticipate those that might possibly arise. Unfortunately, a systematic risk management process is too often overlooked because of time constraints and lack of resources; however, ignoring the need to develop one may lead to wasted time, effort, and resources. Risks arise from many internal sources in addition to external ones. Were original budgets arrived at in haste (and therefore overly optimistic)? Was the team put together without sufficient thought to roles and responsibilities? Are resources inadequate to complete tasks? Have poor communication mechanisms led to conflict, quality issues, and missed deadlines? Has scope creep set in, such that the original project has expanded beyond the team’s comfort zone and ability to execute?
To begin managing project risk, ask these basic questions:
What could negatively or positively affect the project?
What is the likelihood that this situation may occur?
How will it impact the project?
What can be done to mitigate its adverse effects?
The answers to these questions will prepare you for developing a risk management plan.
Identify, Analyze, and Prioritize Potential Risks. Formally or informally ask stakeholders to identify potential threats, both internal and external. As the manager, you need to analyze items by severity and probability to prioritize them. How will they ultimately impact the schedule, cost, quality, people involved, and mix of skills needed? For example, if your deliverable depends on timely software upgrades, is the outsourced vendor reliable? Should you consider a backup? With whom should you be brainstorming to determine the probability of this event occurring, and what measures will you put in place to mitigate it? Review and add to this list regularly.
Assign Ownership for Risk Strategies. Consider who is responsible for which risk and discuss which strategy is appropriate. There are four possible risk strategies, depending on the severity of the threat:
1. Accept. Accept the possibility of X occurring. Do not put corrective action in place; plan to monitor its impact. This works well for small risks.
2. Transfer or Share. Once the issue has been identified, contract with another party to share the risk. This goes to the very heart of how business is conducted in high-risk, costly operations, such as large-scale construction.
3. Reduce or Mitigate. Reduce the likelihood or severity of the risk. Either adjust a process, extend a deadline beyond what was initially considered, or build in extra checkpoints.
4. Avoid. Eliminate or withdraw from the risk. While the project is in its early phases, choose an alternative approach that does not involve that risk. Some projects, by definition, preclude this option as they deliberately invoke high risks in the expectation of high gains. However, this is the most effective technique, if applicable.
Create the Plan. Now you are ready to develop an actual risk management plan. It must consist of these five elements:
1. Prioritize the Risks. List all potential risks in order of descending potential impact (consequence) or likelihood (probability of occurrence). The likelihood of the risk occurring ranges from virtually impossible to absolutely certain, while the consequence varies from negligible to catastrophic.
2. Describe the Threats/Risks. Be as concise as possible, but not so concise that team members cannot identify the issue.
3. Describe the Impact. If the threat were to occur, its potential consequences might affect, for instance, cost, time line, or product quality.
4. Identify the Owner. Name and provide contact information for the team member who is responsible for monitoring and communicating the risk to the team or, if authorized, for responding to the situation.
5. Describe the Response Strategy. Briefly describe actions to be taken in response to the threat. (They involve accepting, transferring, reducing, or avoiding.)
Figure 6-7 is an example of a risk management plan for a high-tech manufacturing firm.
Figure 6-7. Risk analysis matrix.
Tips for Managing Risk
Identify risks/threats that affect objectives (whether positive or negative).
Plan a coordinated application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the impact of unfortunate events.
Make decisions based on the best available information, and take into account the human factors, such as personal characteristics, cultural influences, and skills.
Tailor decisions to your team dynamics and be transparent and inclusive.
Be systematic and structured in your approach.
Respond to change promptly and swiftly.
While responses to handling risk differ, the only ineffective approach is to deny its possibility, and therefore to do nothing.
Realignment: Refreshing Your Team’s Deliverable Management Strategy
Successful teams conduct periodic check-ins to review overall goals/strategy, refine the mission, improve processes, and handle shifting priorities. In virtual teams in particular, reviewing incremental steps is vital. As we know all too well, conditions change and surprises occur, and agile virtual managers must know how to quickly realign the team.
Realignment is similar to “refreshing” your team and performing the maintenance that enables teammates to refuel, tune up, and redirect their energies. Part of the realignment process is motivating members to keep them involved in everyday activities. In an ideal situation, periodic in-person meetings are used to cultivate connections. But if that is not possible, conference calls or webcasts can substitute. For optimal results, set a structured agenda to support the realignment process and focus your team on current priorities.
As a global manager at a pharmaceutical company said, “Realignment involves cycling and recycling through overlapping phases. I must create time for my team to reflect and recycle. This requires periodic gettogethers to see where we stand, discuss current issues and concerns, agree on where we are going [next steps], and decide how to adapt accordingly. Taking corrective action underlies staying on track and allows for the flexibility that permits easier, continuous realignment.”
When realigning your team during an in-person or virtual meeting, first take the time to reinforce what is going right with the team. That is, acknowledge your team’s results and past accomplishments. Then, discuss the changes in the business environment that make adjustments necessary. The structured agenda should be to rescope short-term targets; review, revise, and realign measurable goals; engage in brainstorming activities around opportunities and threats; and agree on follow-up actions and time frames. During the process, also consider new ways to involve your sponsors, stakeholders, and customers.
Checklist: Key Considerations When Realigning the Team
Has the business environment changed? If so, how are you adapting to it?
Have your stakeholders changed their expectations or priorities about the deliverables?
Have you integrated feedback and lessons learned from the progress report? What can the team improve?
What elements need to be realigned?
Are team members in the most appropriate roles—should roles and responsibilities shift?
What distractions exist that may impede collaboration?
Are productive relationships being built? If not, consider what should be done to implement them.
Is learning being transferred across multiple levels and functions?
Are the proper tools in place to manage, plan, and track the work?
What are you doing to reinforce the processes that are working well and adjust the ones that are not?
Postmortems: Lessons Learned on the Front Lines
Postmortems are an integral part of the process of getting deliverables out the door, particularly when approached from the perspective of improving some aspect of the project or a similar one. It’s important for managers and team members to take stock when a project ends and assess what went well and what didn’t, so the next assignment benefits from this knowledge.
How best to do this? First, communicate the reason for conducting this review and what you hope will result from it. Stress the need for honesty, and reassure people that punishments and rewards are not forthcoming.
Following is a list of recommended questions that you should distribute to your team in advance of the postmortem meeting. These questions can generate discussion about what went well (or not), and what the team would do differently moving toward the next milestone. I suggest using what I call a +3/–3 process when evaluating projects and conducting postmortems. Discuss three things that went well and three things that could have been improved. After the meeting, summarize key points in a “lessons learned” list that everyone shares.
Postmortem Questions
What went well and should be repeated/improved in the future?
What was the single most frustrating aspect of working to get our deliverables out the door?
What could we do in the future to avoid this frustration?
Which of our internal methods (i.e., the team Rules of the Road) helped this project along?
Which of our internal methods hindered this project?
What else went wrong and should be avoided in future projects?
If you could change anything/one thing about this project, what would it be?
Do you feel that stakeholders, senior managers, clients, and sponsor(s) participated effectively? If not, how can we improve their participation?
How could we have improved our work processes for creating deliverables?
When evaluating deliverables, keep in mind that mistakes are inevitable, especially in a constantly multitasking world. So it is best to anticipate mistakes and foster an environment that tolerates them. To increase collaborative work, establish an evaluation system that is based on group, not individual, performance. As a leader, make sure you conduct regular check-ins with your sponsors to update progress and to ensure that the team is not drifting. If progress is lagging, add elements to correct the situation. At every opportunity, manage communications, people, and risk (CPR).
One virtual leader at an insurance company sums up the value of the postmortem process: “When we conduct postmortems, I take no chances and make no assumptions when reconfirming my team’s understanding and commitment, as well as tracking progress toward ensuring that deliverables are rolled out successfully. It requires a lot of coordination work since people have different standards, but it is worth it in the end.”
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