Virtual Connection would like to begin a virtual Best Practice Exchange. We want to create a learning community that shares information on how to improve the effectiveness of virtual work. We hope that you will pass along your success stories so we can share them with others.

If you know of others who will benefit from participating in this virtual learning community, please pass on their email address to us here.

Tip of the Month

Problem:
We have been planning a face-to-face meeting for the last two months for our team so we can meet the new team members who joined as a result of a recent acquisition. The retreat is in the U.S. but team members will be coming from Asia and Europe. We just heard that because of the SARS situation all travel to and from Asia has been cancelled. What do we do, cancel the retreat?

Solution:
Do not cancel the retreat. It is essential for team members to meet one another with extended time. Adapt the agenda for a video conference or a web conference. Make sure that you still include 'team building' activities even though the retreat is now virtual. Here are some ideas:

1. Have each person on the team share a personal idiosyncrasy that others need to know in order to work more effectively together. Here are some idiosyncrasies some participants shared in a recent retreat we facilitated: "I show up 5 minutes early for meetings and expect others to do the same. I obviously have an issue with timeliness." "I like to make decisions as quickly as possible. Sometimes others need to persuade me gently that the group is not ready to make a decision yet." "I feel isolated working in my home office. It would be nice to hear from team members more frequently."

2. Play pictionary or play pantomime quiz - use break out rooms for small group audio conferences. Create a Jeopardy game using corporate product information, key stakeholder names etc.

3. Getting to Know you Activity: Compose questions such as the following: My favorite place to vacation is; My favorite thing to do in my leisure time is; Because I was born in….it has influenced who I am; the one adventure I would like to have before I am too old is; these are fun ways to have the team get to know one another on a more personal basis. This builds relationships and helps to build trust.

4. Have team members send photos via email to be posted on an internal web site or used during the web conference. Seeing one another is helpful to enhance relationship building.

Results:
By holding the retreat virtually, you can move your business agenda forward while also continuing to build a high performing team.