Bringing TOPkit Digest to You
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Contents of this Digest:
- Video Tip: Working Virtually with a Team?
- Announcements: Register! TOPkit Workshop 2021 and Innovation Summit 2021
- Top Tips: Virtual Team Coordination
- From the Community: How We Work in Teams Has Changed
- Top Community Topics
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Working Virtually with a Team?
Effective Communication and Collaboration |
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Harvard Business Review offers some tips for effective virtual team communication and collaboration. This is great advice for anyone engaging in remote collaboration, whether providing virtual consultations to faculty, working on team members on faculty development activities, or partnering with a colleague to author supplemental content.
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Virtual Team Coordination
Top Tips for Optimizing Your Virtual Team |
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In thinking of how to coordinate virtual teams for optimal performance, consider that these team members, while particularly well-suited for virtual work, are simultaneously ramping up their guidance to faculty members or contributing to faculty development programs. Under these circumstances, how can you best coordinate virtual teams?
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#1 - Create virtual team working agreements. Build consensus for agreement for group work among all team members, such as when to start and end meetings on time, testing web connections prior to meeting, and what communication tools to use for corresponding with each other.
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#2 - Foster rapport and trust by building relationships. Building cohesion among virtual team members is challenging, as informal communication can be stifled and miscommunication can occur. Be transparent about the complexities, plausible solutions, as well as the vision and mission of your project efforts. Strategically use icebreakers, backgrounds and filters, and engagement strategies offered by Hill (2020).
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#3 - Use virtual technology in meaningful ways. Consider various methods for technology use for decision-making, brainstorming, and solving problems. Ask your team members for their preferences for how the team could best collaborate with each other and about the project. Determine when to use chat, video conferencing sessions, email, Slack, OneNote, or task boards. | |
#4 - Communicate clearly, authentically, frequently. Consider which communications channels best facilitate your message to specific groups of stakeholders. Listen intently to collect pertinent information from stakeholders about your project. Clarify roles and responsibilities, as miscommunication may occur.
#5 - Leverage skills, characteristics, and collaboration. The virtual format can leverage human resources across time and space, including geographical location. No longer are you limited to who is physically available to fill roles on your team. Team members can accomplish tasks both asynchronously or synchronously in collaboration. Consider also when to delegate or foster shared leadership.
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Amanda E. Major, EdD, PMP, CPLP, Instructional Designer and Project Manager, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida (Amanda.Major@ucf.edu)
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How We Work in Teams Has Changed
Adapting to Pandemic Realities and Virtual Work |
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COVID-19 global pandemic has thrust many faculty development teams into the world of virtual work. The way team members worked with each other had to change. Each person reacts differently as they adapt to not only the new style of working with virtual teams but also to the realities and demands of the pandemic. Results of a poll about the situation show how the virtual workforce adapted. Read about adapting to pandemic realities and virtual work.
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Amanda E. Major, EdD, PMP, CPLP, Instructional Designer and Project Manager, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida (Amanda.Major@ucf.edu)
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References for Top Tips:
Berente N. & Howison J. (2019). Strategies for success in virtual collaboration: Structures and norms for meetings, workflow, and technological platforms. In: Hall K., Vogel A., Croyle R. (Eds.) Strategies for Team Science Success. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20992-6_43 (Check your library for access.) Dittman, D. R., Hawkes, M., Deokar, A. V., & Sarnikar, S. (2010). Improving virtual team collaboration outcomes through collaboration process structuring. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 11(4), 195–210. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database. (Check your library for access.) Grajek, S. (April 24, 2020). EDUCAUSE COVID-19 QuickPoll results: The technology workforce. EducauseReview. https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/4/educause-covid-19-quickpoll-results-the-technology-workforce Hill, C. (March 27, 2020). Zoom team building activities for conference calls. Team Building Hero. https://teambuildinghero.com/virtual-team-building/ Watkins, M. (June 27, 2013). Making virtual teams work: Ten basic principles. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten
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Content Coordinator and Contributor
Amanda E. Major, EdD, PMP, CPLP, Instructional Designer and Project Manager, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida (Amanda.Major@ucf.edu) Editors
Bren Bedford, MNM, Web Project Analyst, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida
Samantha Richardson, B.A. English, Communications Specialist, Pegasus Innovation Lab, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida
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