Leading Virtual Project Teams

The second decade of the 21st century brought unprecedented challenges to traditional workplaces forcing the advance of working from home (telework) due to a global virus pandemic. Individuals with little or no background or training in e-leadership, virtual project management, or virtual team management suddenly found themselves in the environment of virtual work. Leading Virtual Project Teams, Second Edition addresses the challenges that today’s virtual project management environment poses to traditional methods of leadership and communication. Leadership for successful virtual team management is different from traditional, collocated project team management. Being familiar with appropriate e-leadership styles for virtual project teams and the transition toward new leadership styles, communication techniques for virtual project teams, and e-leadership competencies is an important part of managing projects and human resources in successful organizations today. The second edition also examines: Virtual meeting techniques Inclusive language Managing virtual relationships Why virtual work is now more important The work-at-home environment By recognizing how virtual teams are different from traditional teams, those managing virtual projects may be able to offer benefits to their organization by providing positive, successful leadership and exceptional communications, resulting in better project deliverables and products. This book provides an approach that explores all facets of e-leadership—from how traditional leadership theories and models can be applied by 21st century leaders to providing methods by which the virtual project manager can enhance virtual project communications to meet the needs of our modern global business world. It features project management checklists and templates and includes business cases, best practices, and tools and techniques for virtual project management communications.

In a 1945 speech, Winston Churchill stated, "We are shaping the world faster than we can change ourselves, and we are applying to the present the habits of the past." Was Churchill predicting the future of project management? Have we changed how we communicate and lead projects? Have leadership and management theories and models evolved to keep pac

A proliferation of new technologies has lulled many into thinking that we actually have to think less about how we communicate. In fact, communicating and collaborating across time, distance, and cultures has never been more complex or difficult. Written as a series of bulleted tips drawn from client experiences and best practices, Leading Effective Virtual Teams: Overcoming Time and Distance to Achieve Exceptional Results presents practical tips to help leaders engage and motivate their geographically dispersed project team members. If you’re a leader of any type of virtual team and want to help your team members collaborate more effectively, then buy this book. You will learn how to: Build trust and cultivate relationships, virtually, across your team Design and facilitate virtual meetings that are focused and engaging Influence without authority Motivate and galvanize a virtual team for top performance Blend asynchronous and synchronous communications for better virtual collaboration Navigate cross-cultural and generational differences in the absence of vital visual cues Assess skills, strengths, aptitudes, and preferences from afar Handle other tough issues that can trip up virtual teams The ideas in this book are based on Nancy Settle-Murphy’s decades of experience working as a change management consultant, facilitator, and trainer for project teams around the world. Designed to be read section by section in any order, this book shares approaches and techniques to help you address some of the toughest challenges virtual team leaders face, including keeping team members engaged from afar.

Leading any team involves managing people, technical oversight, and project administration, but leaders of virtual teams perform these functions from afar. Leading Virtual Teams walks you through the basics of: Connecting your people to each other--and to the team’s mission Surmounting language, distance, and technology barriers Identifying and using the right communication channels Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives--from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.

The future of work is virtual, with dispersed teams, telecommuting, remote working and virtual meetings becoming the norm across sectors and industries around the world. However leading virtual teams requires a new set of skills and a facilitative leadership approach, Virtual Leadership is here to help. At its best, virtual working can be productive and creative, tapping into the best people wherever they are and bringing skills and experience together efficiently and at low cost. But it can also lead to isolated and disengaged workers, ineffective communication, and uncoordinated and even counter-productive activity. Virtual Leadership provides practical strategies, tools and solutions for the key issues involved in managing at a distance. How can I provide leadership, motivation and vision through virtual channels? How do I make virtual meetings effective, engaging and productive, and ensure actions are followed through? How do I create engaged and cohesive teams across distance, cultures and languages? How do I stop virtual team members silently checking out, distracted by local challenges and offline issues? With diverse case studies and examples, this is the essential guide to making a difference as a leader of virtual work.

The second decade of the 21st century has brought unprecedented challenges to traditional workplaces. The global pandemic has forced the advance of working from home and telework. Individuals with little or no background or training in e-leadership, virtual project management, or virtual team management suddenly found themselves in the environment of virtual work. Leading Virtual Project Teams, Second Edition addresses the challenges that today’s virtual project management environment poses to traditional methods of leadership and communication. Leadership for successful virtual team management is different from that for traditional, collocated project team management. Explaining appropriate e-leadership styles for virtual project teams and the transition toward new leadership styles, the book is filled with communication techniques for leading virtual project teams. It helps project managers develop e-leadership competencies needed to successfully deliver projects in today’s organizations. The second edition also examines: Virtual meeting techniques Inclusive language Managing virtual relationships Why virtual work is now more important The work-at-home environment By recognizing how virtual teams are different from traditional teams, those managing virtual projects may be able to offer benefits to their organization by providing positive, successful leadership and exceptional communications, resulting in better project deliverables and products. This book provides an approach that explores all facets of e-leadership—from how traditional leadership theories and models can be applied by 21st century leaders to providing methods by which the virtual project manager can enhance virtual project communications to meet the needs of our modern global business world. It features project management checklists and templates and includes business cases, best practices, and tools and techniques for virtual project management communications.

In a 1945 speech, Winston Churchill stated, "We are shaping the world faster than we can change ourselves, and we are applying to the present the habits of the past." Was Churchill predicting the future of project management? Have we changed how we communicate and lead projects? Have leadership and management theories and models evolved to keep pace with today's business environment? Leading Virtual Project Teams: Adapting Leadership Theories and Communications Techniques to 21st Century Organizations addresses the challenges the virtual project management environment poses to traditional methods of leadership and communication. It introduces new approaches for adapting existing leadership theories to e-leadership as well as progressive tools and techniques to improve virtual project communications. The book begins by examining the factors affecting the movement from traditional work environments to virtual organizations. It considers the challenges of leading multicultural, global organizations and reviews what e-leadership means. Illustrating the application of both traditional and new leadership models and theories to virtual project management, the book includes best practices for: Managing and motivating the multicultural team Communicating in a distributed work environment Avoiding social isolation Cyber-bullying in the virtual environment and e-ethics Cultural management issues Explaining how traditional leadership theories and models can be applied to contemporary projects, the book details methods virtual project managers can use to enhance virtual communications. The final chapter describes the e-leadership skills and competencies project managers will need to ensure sustainable success in today's competitive business environment. This book provides the virtual project manager with the tools and techniques to improve e-leadership and communications. Complete with case studies that illustrate real-world applications to the virtual challenges presented in each chapter, the book is a suitable text for educational institutions looking to increase understanding of project management leadership and communications outside the traditional project environment.

Clear, proven solutions for virtual project management challenges Projects Without Boundaries offers project managers a clear framework for bringing both project management practices and project team leadership principles to the virtual space. Written by a team of authors with years of experience managing nationally and internationally distributed teams, this book provides a suite of best practices, checklists, and actionable strategies for managing a project and building a high-performing team in a virtual and multicultural environment. Real-world examples illustrate the application of the concepts discussed, and the Virtual Project Readiness Assessment facilitates both team evaluation and transformation planning for virtual project management improvement. Each chapter focuses on the critical challenges encountered while managing virtual projects and details proven solutions that improve a virtual organization, boost project performance, and facilitate positive outcomes. Globalization and technological advances have merged to create dynamic, productive teams that work together from around the globe; this opportunity can bring great difficulty for project managers, who must negotiate hurdles that do not exist on traditional projects. This book provides ready-made solutions specific to distributed and multicultural teams, to help you achieve the full potential of the global talent pool. Overcome common challenges of virtual projects with distributed teams Navigate complex team dynamics to ensure effective collaboration Work seamlessly across borders, time zones, and cultures Determine optimal virtual communication and collaboration tools Apply traditional project management practices in a virtual setting A team fails or thrives on the strength of its management. Fitting the group's needs, expectations, personalities, and skills into a cohesive whole is seldom simple — and distance adds an additional layer of complexity. Projects Without Boundaries provides expert guidance on keeping it together, with proven practices, tools, and virtual team leadership strategies.