Via David Goldstein’s blog

Virtual teams are here to stay. Some teams work well while others seem to fumble or fail.

Dr. Karen Lojeski and Dr. Richard R. Reilly provide a useful framework to identify factors that could determine the success virtual teams.

They define

“Virtual Distance as the perceived distance between two or more individuals, groups, or organizations that is brought on by the persistent and pervasive use of electronic versus face-to-face
communications.”

The 11 Factors That Comprise the Virtual Distance Index are:

Physical Distance Factors

Geographic Distance: The degree to which team members are separated by physical distance.

Temporal Distance. The degree to which team members are separated by time zone differences or work schedule differences.

Organizational Distance. The degree to which members of the team work for the same organization or for multiple organizations.

Operational Distance Factors

Team Size. The number of members the team includes.

Face to Face. The extent to which the team meets face to face versus electronically, especially at critical junctures in the project or through the course of work.

Multitasking. The extent to which members are facing competing demands from multiple projects and have multiple deliverables due at the same time.

Technical Skill and Support. The extent to which members are able to use the technology tools at their disposal, and their access to technical support in using those tools.

Affinity Distance Factors

Cultural Distance. The extent to which team members share cultural values, similarities in communication style, and attitudes toward work.

Interdependence Distance. The extent to which team members feel interdependent on one another for their own success.

Relationship Distance. The extent to which team members have worked together before or know some of the same people socially.

Social Distance. The extent to which each team member’s status is derived from his or her hierarchical position in the organization and contribution to the team or the work effort.

While issues such as Cultural compatability and technical skill and support have received a fair share of attention, other factors identified play a dominant role in a virtual team’s success yet often are rarely factored while setting up virtual teams for specific projects or initiatives.

“The degree to which members of the team work for the same organization or for multiple organizations”, “the extent to which team members feel interdependent on one another for their own success” or “the extent to which members are facing competing demands from multiple projects and have multiple deliverables due at the same time” are issues that need to be studied while setting up virtual teams. Much is at stake to ensure that virtual teams succeed in organizations.

Winning the Devil’s bargain from strategy+business highlights the ways in which employees are having to cope with balancing their personal values, organizational expectations and the “desire to succeed”

To use the words of the author, Elizabeth Doty, Are “ethical bumps in the road a part of the game of business”

She talks to 38 business people to understand how they reconcile the differences and what strategies do they adopt to succeed? The five strategies to cope fall under the following broad categories:

This post is from this month’s newsletter - ‘Building a Culture of Health’

If you don’t have time for anything else, be sure to take 5 minutes and watch this video of Dr. Cornish at theTED conference

“The rest of the world is eating, living and dying like us.” No, it is not the title of the talk but something from the talk that has stayed with me.

It is imperative for organizations to look at “Employee Wellness”

The increasing amount of business travel, job related stress and longer work hours have resulted in lack of time and inclination for physical activity, unhealthy food habits and lifestyles. This has an impact not only on health costs but other hidden costs such as lower productivity as a result of “presenteeism” that is when an employee comes to work but could be less productive because of flu, back pain, and migraine etc.

Dr. Dean Ornish says, “diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, hypertension are all completely preventable for at least 95% of people just by changing in life-style and diet.” He has since documented results showing reversal even with prostate cancer patients.

To read the entire article, go
here

The article points out to several resources that can serve as a starting point for those wishing to ‘Build a Culture of Health’

I have wanted to post this for a while now.

While ?innovation? has been widely acknowledged as the need of the hour, the key to survival, little thought is paid to the work place and its importance in stimulating creativity. If at all, we have some great reception areas and conference rooms but beyond that mostly Dilbertesque cubicles.

Jiri Vanmeerbeeck?s scooter desk comes like a breath of fresh air…makes you want to sit down? converse, read a book, work on your laptop. It is ergonomically friendly too.

Jiri , the founder/creator says ?Utilia is based on exploring new needs at the borders of home and office.? and stresses that the scooter desks are ?for occasional use; fun comes first. They are no replacement for a desk.?

Index 2005 where it earned a nomination, lists several interesting and fun uses for the scooter desk.

I liked the uses listed under the semi-public spaces most.

reading magazines in waiting rooms

hostess checking in passengers at the airport

To continue from the previous post:

Neil’s observations on change,people’s response to it and the inherent issues associated with implementing change:

Ok, so I got a few things wrong too ? or simply chose to ignore what I already knew well from having worked on dozens of innovations in consumer electronics and office systems over the years:

When I first read about Gate 3 WorkClub, I was drawn to the colourful, well lit work space. I thought the concept was brilliant, thoughtfully designed for the New Age worker!

Heath Row describes Gate 3 eloquently in his post, ? Gate 3 is absolutely wonderful: an open, well-lit, colorful workspace peppered with different work zones — quiet, private, shared — meeting and conference rooms, a brainstorming area sequestered by whiteboards, shared services, support staff, and a wide-ranging creative client base of members. The kind of place I’d want to work if I didn’t work in the Fast Company office — or out of my home.?

I wished we had it here in Singapore!

Yet, this story does not have a happy ending…atleast for now.

Neil Goldberg the founder of Gate 3 has decided to close it. He has brilliantly summarised his learnings from the experience. Thank you Neil for allowing me to share it here:

Before admitting to too many mistakes (which are plentiful) I will first claim that much of the foresight that drove this project was largely correct. To summarize

Valuable lessons for organizations who believe design of a workplace and employee contribution are strongly linked.

An interesting study by Ellen Galinsky of Families and Work Institute called ?Leaders in a Global Economy? on how men and women in 10 multinationals have dealt with primarily the following two questions:

The findings throws up some very interesting aspects of what is becoming a priority for people at work and who ultimately are more successful.

While 61% of the respondents were what one would call ?work-centric?, nearly 32 % put the same priority on their lives on and off the job (dual-centric). Some of these could also be tri-centric (work, home and a third area- a hobby / community work)

What difference does it make to be dual-centric?

While Dual-Centric people actually work about 5 hours less per week compared to work-centric people, there is no difference to visible success indicators such as compensation, number people they supervise or their reporting level.

In addition:

So what should organizations be doing?

Be able to design appropriate ?work-life balance? policies and more critical, create an environment to encourage people to be ?dual-centric?.

So, if multi-tasking was not enough, this age demands we be multi-focused in mutli-areas too! (with similar levels of competence!)

Read the summary
here

Here is a post I have been wanting to blog for a while now.

Working in organizations should also be about having fun which in the mad rush to meet the ever pressing deadlines gets forgotten.

Here is how Cheskin, a consulting and research firm tries to combine meetings and have fun. They try a day of meetings with a day of skiing. Read the entire post in Christopher Ireland?s own words. (BTW, whose perspectives I enjoy reading)

I particularly like the title, ?This day owes us nothing? and on why it should be done; ?Yes, we could have added about $500 to our bottom line if we didn’t do this. And yes, it’s hard to find a way to be fair and inclusive with this type of activity. But neither of these costs compare to the benefits of a day when work and play combine effortlessly.?

How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life , a book brought out by Gallup press uses simple metaphor of a dipper and a bucket, to enable you to increase the positive moments in your work and your life while reducing the negative.

According to the book:

Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it’s empty, we feel awful.

Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people’s buckets — by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions — we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from others’ buckets –by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions — we diminish ourselves.

You can read the excerpts here:

While most of us do not question the fact that a positive outlook makes a great difference in our lives, what happens is that we are so caught up with the pressures of our day to day lives that taking time out to appreciate others takes the back seat.

Of course most of us think we are the very samaritans that spread cheer and warmth all around..

Here is a reality check on your positive impact

It has statements like:

.

• Deepa