White Paper: Collaboration Framework – Improving Productivity of Virtual Teams

In August 2009, Kiva Collaboration performed an onsite assessment gauging how ENLASO manages a globally distributed translation production process. Download: http://bit.ly/1HkI89

Collaboration Glossary

Glossary
Collaboration Framework – For a manager, understanding your long range plan, revenue drivers, cost-cutting areas, market conditions, and business objectives is necessary in order to successfully manage collaboration for virtual teams. A collaboration framework ensures you understand the knowledge and tools your staff is using by illustrating relationships among people, processes, and knowledge within one key business process. The framework is based on identifying four elements:
• A single business process, and understanding how it works
• Every event, identifying where people need to act in that process
• Roles that consume information in the process
• Information that is needed to take action
A collaboration framework puts these elements in relation to each other, creating needed context to understand who needs what information, and when they need it. That context helps make a big difference when it comes to delivering information through software and the Internet, or fostering collaborative efforts.

Virtual Distance – “Virtual distance” refers to various kinds of distance, any one of which may impact a team by diminishing trust, communication, and shared vision. Beyond simple physical distance, consider the impact of time differences and organizational boundaries that create distance on a project team. Operational distance is the distance that arises from daily busywork, like email. Time spent with the team is reduced and psychological gaps grow between team members. Affinity distance is a result of cultural disconnects, emotional disconnects, social issues and differing values where team members lack a shared work history. In their book “Uniting the Virtual Workforce,” Lojeski & Reilly, (John Wiley & Sons, 2008) argue that as virtual distance increases there are negative effects:
• 50% decline in project success
• 90% drop in innovation effectiveness
• 80% plummet in work satisfaction
• 83% fall off in trust
• 65% decrease in role and goal clarity
• 50% decline in leader effectiveness

LEAN Office Principles – LEAN office principles are a method for eliminating waste and improving quality adapted from manufacturing and production. LEAN originated with Toyota and is used extensively by Boeing and other firms; many organizations now apply these manufacturing principles to the office environment seeking improved quality, speed and a reduction in wasted effort.

Global Managers – The Internet and globalized business demand Global Managers who work well with distributed teams and are sensitive to value differences, incentive systems, and work styles inherent to staff of different cultural backgrounds. Global Managers encourage customers to interact with product solutions by sharing requirements, case studies, communications and feedback with customers. Global Managers work to turn company business processes inside-out using the Internet, involving customers in the product lifecycle. They understand how to utilize and integrate technologies to enable customers to interact with the solution infrastructure; this is how Global Managers work to improve credibility and foster market demand.

- Alden

Five Tips to Make Your Virtual Meetings a Success

Develop an agenda and plan the process for your meeting.

This will help you ensure that you select the appropriate technology to support your process (link appropriate technology to agenda items).  This will also help you facilitate the meeting, and track the meeting’s success.

Build some informality or fun into the agenda.

Add a short ice breaker, game or activity.  Develop ways to nurture a feeling of social presence and inclusion, or “being there”.

Vary interaction styles.

Variety is the spice of life!  Even the most creative minds can be dampened by a repetitive process.  Try different techniques at your meetings for attaining similar goals.  Mix electronic and verbal interaction modes during the meeting if possible.

Actively facilitate the meetings.

If some team members haven’t spoken, ask if they have anything to contribute before closing out discussion.  If the meeting is conducted in a language that is not native to all team members, provide a “think break” for non-native members to get their thoughts together.

Implement Best Practices for meetings using different technologies

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.  There are best practices around technology usage, many of which are common sense.

Please email us to find out more:  info@kivacollaboration.com

- Caroline