Interesting article. Probably should have posted it to my Life and Technology blog, but it's kind of appropriate to opportunity and business development too.
Link: The Future of Work Weblog.
Professor's Gratton's article reports on a research study she and her colleagues recently conducted to identify "best practices" that contribute to the productivity and performance of distributed teams. In brief, she offers eight specific guidelines:
1. Invest in an online resource where members can learn quickly about each other.
2. Choose a few team members who already know each other.
3. Identify "boundary spanners" and ensure that they make up at least 15% of the team.
4. Cultivate boundary spanners as a regular part of company-wide practices and processes.
5. Break the team's work up into modules so that progress in one location is not overly dependent on progress in another.
6. Create an online site wher a team can collaborate, exchange ideas and inspire one another.
7. Encourage frequent communication. But don't truly to force social gatherings.
8. Assign only tasks that are challenging and interesting.
9. Ensure the task is meaningful to the team and the company.
10. When building a virtual team, solicit volunteers as much as possible.
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