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Discussion on Executing OCM Initiatives in Virtual Environments

Former Member
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With far flung teams and tight budgets, more and more initiatives are being executed in virtual environments.  Moving to a virtual working environment, where there is little to no face to face interaction, creates unique challenges for OCM initiatives.   People tend to react to people and a voice on the phone or image on a screen is not as effective as face to face interaction.  This is definitely true for virtual teams, particularly when the individuals involved are working together for the first time.   The challenge becomes even greater, when working across multiple cultures and multiple time zones.  Even with the best collaborative technologies, and they are getting better, it can be difficult to develop high performance working relationships virtually, but it can be done. 

To illustrate the challenge, think of the last important conference call discussion that you attended.  Now think of the last face to face workshop you attended.  Which was more effective?  In which situation did you feel more “connected”?   Which session most effectively produced the desired results in a timely manner?

To address these challenges, I always try for at least an initial face to face “kickoff” session to provide limited face to face time, but it is not always possible.  As an alternative, for one global project where I was the OCM Lead, we alternated team calls with one-on-one calls with the country OCM Leads.  The one-on-one calls helped develop my working relationship with the individual team members.  The advantages of the one-on-one calls include having the undivided attention of the other party (no multi-tasking) while providing a chance for them to ask and answer questions that were focused on their environment.    The OCM global team calls provided a virtual environment that allowed the team members to interact and build trust.  During the team calls all of the country leads heard the latest information, discussed what was working well in their areas, shared their concerns, coordinated their efforts to provide consistent messaging for stakeholders, and helped to shape the global OCM efforts. 

I would be curious to compare experiences and techniques with others who are working on OCM initiatives in a virtual environment.  What challenges have you faced?  How have these challenges been addressed? 

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

Former Member
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Hi Caryl,

I definitely agree with the face to face meeting for a start being very beneficial. Incl. social elements. Building personal rapport is very important.

A few points I found helpful:

- take turns with being in the "bad" time zone for virtual meetings, i.e. it should not always just suit the US with Europe and Asia to suffer from inconvenient times

- simple thing: make sure everybody is aware of time differences and how they change around daylight saving switch

- build awareness for English native speakers so they realise what is easy and what is difficult for others to understand

- when a variety of accents and levels are present in a conf call, it's easy to create frustration,when people don't understand each other and stop asking. Facilitators should summarise every few minutes. Online minute taking shared life on the screen also helps to avoid surprises, when the minutes are sent.

- Online collaboration tools help a lot. We use a Confluence wiki. Important to establish a simple set of rules how to use it

- Some kind of virtual water cooler for social chats or quick project related questions - as simple as a Skype group chat

- monitor comms - it is too easy for people to pretend to have nothing to discuss and skip meetings. Encourage regular and ad hoc virtual meetings and phone / Voip over email

- celebrate together. Successes as well as personal events like birthdays.

- if your company culture comprises after work activities, then do encourage them in the virtual team as well. E.g. online games - ideally one including Voice, but at least a chat, so it's not just task focused

Former Member
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Hi Sven,

Thank you for the additional suggestions.  Let's keep the discussion going. 

Caryl

Answers (1)

Answers (1)

Former Member
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Caryl:

Thanks for starting this discussion. I am certain what you describe will continue to be the norm.

Here are some thoughts on this subject, having both worked on and led virtual teams.

1. Attendance: Something very frustrating, and which may impact the tone of the call a bit, is many people talking over each other when the moderator asks "Who do we have on the line?" This seems to take an unnecessary amount of time, as several people will speak at once, then many have to repeat themselves, etc. I'd like to suggest using the SAP Connect Tool to "sign in," or, if it's a conference call only, have the moderator go around once a proper number of "beeps" have occurred and "call" attendance.

2. Webcams: Most devices (PCs and IPads) have webcams built in. If an older PC, a remote webcam connected by USB is very inexpensive. Perhaps the OCM Lead should set an expectation that periodic calls will be held via webcam. This doesn't have to be every call, and it shouldn't be a surprise, but maybe the team should engage every second or third call with webcam. This increases accountability as the person must be "visible" v. just on the phone, which allows for much of the multi-tasking you describe. I don't think the moderator should be inflexible; for example, someone travelling or who otherwise needs to access the meeting by phone only.

3. I would guide as many of the deliverables, action items, etc. out of email as possible. Even when setting up dedicated Inbox folders for projects, etc., email tends to get overlooked or combined with other, unrelated emails. I would suggest starting off and emphasizing the use of SAP JAM for all deliverables and project team communication.