

Virtual Team Syndrome
Numerous ICE studies (Teams in Isolated and Confined Environments) reveal that great tension and risk of low performance occurs in virtual teams, especially between headquarters (HQ) and the virtual team (VT). Once out of the honeymoon phase, research shows that the answer to all of these questions below is most often "YES". 1. Is HQ blamed for difficulties experienced in the field? HQ is often blamed for difficulties experienced in the field. Several crew members from a 1995 European space exploration became so frustrated that they consciously used the managers in HQ as an "enemy" to provide an outlet for their frustration.” SOLUTION: NASA used other astronauts to be the HQ point of contact to create empathy. Video conferencing contributed to a better understanding and less chance of deepening the rift. Understanding for anger release can be "a displacement of interpersonal tension to safer, more remote (from the team) individuals outside." 2. Are delays are interpreted as evidence for the VT team having a low priority? Delays are interpreted as evidence for the VT team having a low priority and cause a breakdown in trust. SOLUTION: Leaders should take into account remoteness and time zones before choosing who to respond to. With sometimes only a few productive hours in the day (considering time zone differences), an hour’s delay can mean a day’s delay for some teams. 3. Are questions (meeting deadlines, adhering to schedules) perceived as criticism?. Questions can be be perceived as criticism. Actual criticism can be devastating for group morale and can lead to a breakdown in trust. SOLUTION: Leaders need to choose carefully both the medium, time and method of how they question issues, along with first checking how much emotional credit they have with their teams. 4. Has the creation of a VT degraded a previously effective relationship? Virtual teams can degrade from a previously effective relationship due to the challenges distance can bring. HQ must take the time to comprehend what ICE crews are going through. SOLUTION: Use any opportunity possible to get quality face to face time. 5. Has unity for the VT been created through a common disappointment towards HQ? VTs can become united in their disappointment due to HQ’s lack of assistance, BUT a danger of creating a unified group through focusing on a common enemy is that the group may cut themselves off and go off on their own tangent. SOLUTION: Avoid using combative metaphors that encourage a culture of "Us and Them", as this can backfire. 6. Is HQ perceived as treating some issues as trivial when the field team believes they are not? If HQ treats an issue as trivial when the field workers believe that same issue is important, the field workers might feel that that HQ doesn’t care, resulting in low morale. If HQ and the VT start to see things differently, even words can take on different meanings and be interpreted negatively. SOLUTION: Leaders need to read between the lines to find out what is important for the VT and respect this. 7. Have personal and family matters been exacerbated by working away from home? Expats need to be warned that personal/family matters should be dealt with before they leave home as they may only be exacerbated when away. SOLUTION: Proactive organizations know that a happy family usually means a happy worker. Consideration of the workers’ families and personal challenges is just as important as consideration of the workers themselves. 8. Over time do the field groups form better and have less and less in common with HQ? Researchers have found that trust in virtual teams is always fragile and it decreases over time. High-performing virtual teams are not only able to quickly develop high degrees of trust early on in the project, but also maintain them at high levels. SOLUTION: Move the teams around to help them to get to know each other and learn to trust each other, and trial some role reversals (even if its imagined and/or is scenario planning) to help individuals to see things from each others’ perspectives. Research from sociologists shows that in virtual teams, the level of trust of high-performing teams will increase while that of low-performing teams will deteriorate over time. Conversely, cognition-based trust would be of greater importance in a less acquainted group such as a work group.Tags: enemy, HQ, Virtual Team Syndrome