Do you ever have those days when go you off on philosophical tangents?  You know, those cold, gloomy mornings when you stare out the window, coffee mug in hand, wondering, “Does a fish know what water is?”, “Is the colour red really universal?”, “Is Robert from marketing a real person?”

We’ve all been there. The truth is it’s hard for virtual teams to always bond on a personal level with other team members…partly (well, mostly) because we may not even know what our team members look like! Without bonding, the results could be dangerous. The University of California, San Francisco, lists some of the common symptoms of a disengaged team:

-          Decreased productivity

-          Conflicts or hostility among staff members

-          Confusion about assignments, missed signals, and unclear relationships

-          Decisions misunderstood or not carried through properly

-          Apathy and lack of involvement

And there’s more:

-          Lack of initiation, imagination, innovation; routine actions taken for solving complex problems

-          Complaints of discrimination or favoritism

-          Ineffective staff meetings, low participation, minimally effective decisions

-          Negative reactions to the manager

-          Complaints about quality of service

And there’s still more! A 2009 article from the Occupational and Environmental Medicine showed that a lack of team spirit can even cause employee depression…

But don’t panic!

Before you scurry off to Google, furiously searching “how to engage virtual teams”—take a breath. We’ve done the work for you. Here are some innovative games that are sure to have your employees amused and engaged in no time.

1)      Virtual Charades – Charades is a great game that builds team spirit, whether in a traditional workplace or a virtual one. If your company usually sets up video conferences for meetings, this is definitely a game that will have everyone working together, solving problems, and having fun along the way. If you’re unfamiliar with the game, Charades requires the player to mime or imitate a certain action or subject which the rest of the team has to figure out. For more information on how to play click here .

 For those who use voice chat instead of video chat, there’s a fun alternative for you too—Voice Charades. For Voice Charades, create a secret list of objects, animals, or famous people. To decide who will go first, enter all team member names onto a site such as Random.org and choose the first name that shows up. Email or send an individual/private instant message to this team member letting them know what they will be acting out. Remember to keep the clues work appropriate and respectful of others. Have fun guessing what/who the person is imitating. Some entertaining suggestions are:

-        Printer sound

-        Al Pacino impersonation

-        Star Wars Light saber

-        Monday traffic

-        Radio anchorman

2)    Spin a Tale– This fun game fosters creativity and helps team members think on their feet. During a meeting, make up the first line of a story. Then ask team members to take turns and add each subsequent line until a whole plot develops! Let the story go along on its own path and deviations. This is the fun part of the game; you never know what perils or fortunes can occur next! The best thing is, even though your team may develop favourites start tags, the story will never end up the same! In other words, you learn how to think innovatively. Here are some ways you can start your tale:

-        I woke up at 9am—that was when we were supposed to Skype in for the meeting…

-        Jared looked over the ledge of his balcony, wondering why the crowd had gathered…

-        The email had no subject line…I hate it when he does that…

-        15 years, 15 days, 15 hours and finally the letter had come…

-        As Sophia hid behind the red SUV in the parking lot, she tried to remember how exactly she had gotten there…and why there was that giant scar on her arm…

3)    Situation Puzzles—Situation puzzles are an exciting way to exercise creative problem solving skills while also building team unity. In a situation puzzle, the team leader states one mysterious sentence such as, “a bell rings, a man dies, a bell rings”*. The rest of the team must now solve the situation by asking “Yes” or “No” questions. As each question unearths new information, the team can creatively build on each other’s thought patterns and ideas until all the loose ends are tied. A great reservoir of situation puzzles can be found here!

*(Click here for the answer)

4)    PowerPoint Game – You will never look at PowerPoint presentations in the same light after this game! This is a great way to get group members thinking on their feet while having loads of fun. To play the PowerPoint game, go online and find a series of complicated or extremely nonsensical PowerPoint presentations (try SlideShare). Then ask team members to improvise a presentation with the slides they’re using. Hilarity is bound to ensue! Go here  for more information about the PowerPoint game.

5)    2 Minute LOL –This is another improvisation game that will get everyone thinking fast, learning about team members and literally laughing out loud. First, divide the team into smaller groups or partners. Then give each group a topic, or let them to choose one. Allow each team about 5-10 minutes to create a set of jokes based on their topic. Make sure they have this discussion in a separate virtual conversation, so that the rest of the team does not hear the punch lines beforehand. When everyone regroups, randomly choose a group to go first, while timing their comedy improvisation for two minutes. Once again, remember to keep all jokes respectful and workplace appropriate. Award the funniest team with a gift card or some other form of prize!

And there you have it—5 amazing ways of engaging your virtual team! Try them out and let us know which game your team liked the best! And if 5 tips aren’t enough, here’s a whole book full of tips! Across the Hall, Around the World is the ultimate archive of virtual team building tips that’s sure to get your team engaged!

Know any other games? Tell us in the comments below!

Your mind fearfully churns the possibilities.

Could it be your neighbour? Perhaps it is the clerk at the grocery store across the street…or is it a stranger halfway across the world? Your mind sinks to a darker place. What if it’s a co-worker?

The sender remains faceless.  You don’t know where to go. You are a victim of virtual harassment.

Virtual harassment disturbs the e-office in the same way workplace harassment disturbs a physical office, but it often goes overlooked. Elizabeth Carll, PhD, from the American Psychological Association, states that virtual harassment traumatizes victims on a much larger magnitude than its non-virtual counterpart. The emotional impact of online harassment, Carll explains, induces “high levels of ongoing stress, anxiety, fear, nightmares, shock and disbelief, helplessness, hyper-vigilance, changes in eating, and sleeping difficulties”.

Carll explains adverse effects are amplified because of the eternal nature of the web. The internet exists everywhere, anyone can see it and the content never goes away. E-harassment victims can therefore feel unable to “escape to safety”, as Carll puts it.

What exactly is e-harassment?

In the simplest words, e-harassment constitutes any form of online communication (whether an action, speech or text), that makes another employee feel uncomfortable or threatened. Sometimes, a joke that may seem harmless to one person, could deeply offend another co-worker.

In fact, in a virtual workplace, the risk of e-harassment can intensify even more. Because team diversity is such an intrinsic part of virtual work, everyone will have a different outlook on certain words and actions based on his or her background and beliefs. The team leader must therefore, identify such differences and make sure no one gets hurt.

Examples of e-harassment

Some examples of e-harassment include sending abusive, threatening or obscene emails or texts. In addition, emails sent in masses can also qualify as harassment—what researchers Louise Ellison and Yaman Akdeniz from the Criminal Law Review call “electronic sabotage”. E-harassment also includes cyberstalking, where the tormentor exposes a victim’s personal information, or abuses the victim’s contact information to subscribe to numerous harmful online sites.

There are an endless amount of things that can create an unsafe virtual work environment for virtual employees. This makes it all the more important for team leaders to consider means of preventing virtual harassment.

 How do I prevent e-Harassment at my workplace?

Safety, safety, safety. All employees should feel safe within the virtual team. Everyone should work without the fear of being harassed and furthermore, work knowing that action will be taken if harassment does occur. Here are some tips that could make your virtual office a safer place :

1)    Create legally enforceable policies –With assistance from an attorney, create (and circulate) a detailed document which clearly communicates harassment circumstances, penalties, complaint procedures, remedies and other important aspects of how your company will deal with this issue. The Canadian Human Right Commission offers a great example for developing anti-harassment policies: http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications/anti_harassment_part3-eng.aspx#39.

2)    Educate your team: Knowledge is power. Explain your policy document in terms everyone will understand and retain. Hold engaging online seminars to address any questions from the team. You can also hold online workshops that promote team cohesion—this will help facilitate a safer and tolerant workplace.

3)      Clear and open communication: Your team members should not be afraid to approach you if they experience any form of harassment. This means you, as the team leader, should be directly available to your team. You may work 9am -5pm, but harassment can occur 24/7.

4)      Virtual Anonymity box—Employees enduring harassment may feel guilt or fear. Create a safe and anonymous space (perhaps an anti-harassment email address), where employees can send questions, concerns and seek advice. This allows continuous support. If the nature of the situation is serious, you can act immediately.

5)      Communicate that you care:  Keep your team up to date with new regulations and definitions of harassment according to your state, province or country. Also send out reminders and newsletters outlining when anti-harassment workshops will be held. Make attendance mandatory.

Here are some useful links that explain e-harassment/harassment legislature based by country (and jurisdiction for the US link).

Canada: http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications/anti_harassment_part3-eng.aspx

US: http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/laws/index.shtml

Australia: http://www.aic.gov.au/crime_types/cybercrime/onlinevictimisation/cyberstalking.aspx

 What are your thoughts on virtual work and the possibility of harassment? What other actions can you think of to prevent it from occurring?

Pop Quiz!

a)      Did LOL ever mean “lots of love” to you?

b)      Do you remember a time before (or during) the Walkman?

c)       Was there ever a point in your life when perming was all the rage?

d)      In your heart, will Pluto always be a planet?
You probably realized by now this isn’t a real quiz. Nor is it a sadistic exercise to make you feel old. But what it should do is show that times have changed—and the workforce has changed with it. As each passing year increasingly necessitates cross-generational interaction, there is bound to be some cultural clashes along the way.

The Princeton dictionary defines culture as “the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization”. In this light, working with someone from a different culture doesn’t always mean working with someone of a different nationality. Cultural differences can boil down to your age.

This might explain why so much tension arises between the Baby Boomer, Generation X and Generation Y cultural groups. That’s right…cultural groups. Each of these generations respects a unique set of values and ideologies. These ideals can begin to conflict if not clearly communicated and understood within the team. So when cross-generational frustrations emerge at the workplace—ask yourself: Is this an issue of cross-cultural miscommunication?

Cross-cultural miscommunication between generations can occur almost automatically. Why wouldn’t it? It is very easy to assume that an employee or co-worker who shares commonalities in language, nationality or education may also share similar outlooks in relation to work ethics, ideas of job satisfaction, motivational incentives and so on. But this is not the case.

For instance, while Generation X workers may find satisfaction in job stability, career growth and financial gain, Generation Y workers often find value in a proper work-life balance and the overall emotional fulfillment of the work. To put it crudely: if it ain’t fun, it ain’t done.

But don’t get it wrong. Generation Y workers will work hard—except their approach to work is what differs from previous generations. A Generation Y worker may even leave a job if it does not offer flexible or negotiable hours. The logic being: why work 8 to 9 hours a day if the work can be successfully delivered by noon? Such thinking patterns should not be interpreted, rather mis-interpreted, as lazy or self-centred by workers and leaders from previous generations. It’s just different.

Different isn’t bad. It is important for virtual team leaders to recognize the great potential Generation Y workers can bring to the workplace. The Gen Y worker’s love of technology, social media, remote working and willingness to prioritize work over salary (as long as the work is fulfilling) makes him or her an ideal candidate for the virtual work environment. However, if a leader’s mindset still dwells in past managerial styles and expectation, it is possible that such talented people could slip right through the company’s fingers (and perhaps, land right into the hands of another, more flexible organization).

To understand and adapt to the new workforce, the most important aspect is to be open. Try to understand the worker as a person—as an individual. Perhaps the Gen Y team member wants to take an extended amount of time off, to travel the world, do charity work, or spend time with his or her aging parents. A team leader willing to adapt to such requests will not only augment worker-leader trust, but also enrich the work experience for the employee, to make it exactly that…an experience, and not just “work”. In return, the Gen Y worker may start to adapt to certain traditional managerial styles out of mutual respect. At the end of the day, tasks are completed and both sides of the team are happy.

So as Bob Dylan would say (a name familiar across all generations!), “Times they are a Changing”…and perhaps our outlooks in the workplace should as well!

How do you cope with Gen Y at your virtual workplace? Let us know in the comments!

But don’t worry. You’re not alone. Ineffective planning plagues many of us. Whether planning a meeting, an event or to lose that post-Holiday paunch (we all know how that one goes), it is necessary to have a clear understanding of how you will achieve your goals in an efficient way. Proper planning requires proper structure.

However, what many fail to recognize is the structure should work for you—not the other way around. This means your goals must be manageable. In fact, what limits you from reaching your goals in the work place is the same thing that limits you from reaching your New Year’s Resolutions year after year.

Psychologist Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire conducted a study on 700 people to understand why some are successful in reaching their New Year’s goals and why most are not. In his study, 78 percent of the participants did not achieve their resolutions. The mere 22 percent who did, often broke down their goals into a series of smaller, realistic steps.

This technique can help you structure work related goals as well. Your plan should be realistic and accurately reflect your abilities. If you know a certain task will take you an hour to complete, do not attempt to finish the whole thing in that half-hour time slot before lunch. It may be more effective to break down the task in a way that suits your working style and speed.

Wiseman also found successful participants did not lash themselves over minor setbacks. We often forget that we are not the computers with which we work (and if you think about it, even computers fail sometimes!). While it is important to recognize the necessary steps to reach your goal, you should also understand some tasks will require more time than predicted. Your plans should therefore, be flexible. There’s a reason we call it a “plan”, and not a “do-or-die-written-in-stone-list-of-commandments”.

So if you take away anything form this article, remember these R and Rs of effective planning:

Realistic—Keep your plans realistic as to what you are capable of achieving in an allotted time.  Break up you goals into attainable steps.

Rigidity—Avoid it. Keep breathing room. As a human being, you need to breathe and include breathing in your plans as well!

Hopefully these tips will help you plan more efficiently at work and who knows—maybe even with your 2012 New Year’s Resolution!

First-job-jitters must be a universal thing. The worst part of it all has got to be that little voice in the back of your head that’s repeating things like, “Oh God, can I really do this?” or “What if I fail miserably?” or “Nope, definitely can’t do this.” And for a recent grad like me, so fresh of the academic bandwagon, the prospect of a first job can be pretty daunting.

It’s 12:45 pm. I’m signed onto Skype, waiting for my manager to give me a virtual call. I’m beginning to wonder how this whole “virtual meeting” thing will work, anyway. I know that big CEO’s and executives do conference calls where everyone in the room stares at the disembodied voice coming from the speakerphone. Is that what it’ll be like?

I guess I’ll have to say it now – it wasn’t like that at all. My palms stopped sweating about three minutes into the meeting and in about half an hour, I was already acquainted with everyone on the team, and listening to current project ideas.

I wasn’t the only one who was having her first day on the job, though. Another recent grad was joining the team and this was her first day, too. A prospective graphic designer had been listening in since the beginning of the meeting; he’d wanted to meet the manager in person before agreeing to the position. By the end of the meeting, though, he was asking questions and already pitching us new ideas for his first project. When the manager asked him if he’d still like to meet her in person, he said no, it’s okay.

As for myself, in the span of two hours, I’d gone from wondering how I could ever fit into this virtual team, to rushing to begin writing my first assignment. And that little voice that made my palms sweat earlier was now drowned out by the ideas floating around in my head.

When you’re working virtually, it may feel like you’re talking to strangers. But very quickly, you become colleagues. “Does the team feel like strangers to you?” asked my manager afterwards over the phone. “No, not at all,” I replied

The idea hadn’t even occurred to me. But it was true, and I almost felt silly for how quickly I responded “no” to that question. I’d never met any of these people before, and only spoke to my manager twice on the phone. But already, I felt like I was part of a team, and I was (cautiously) optimistic about how I would fit into it.

But that’s the power of virtual teamwork, and that’s what Virtual Team Builders does; faceless people on the other end of the line become trusted co-workers, a job description becomes an engaging team experience, and a boss on the other end of the line is not a stranger, at all.

As a virtual team member, I know firsthand that it is easy to think of people as just an email or a voice on the end of the phone. However, when you bring in the personal aspect and humanize everyone, your team gets stronger and produces better results.

For example, during a recent weekly Skype meeting with our virtual team, our manager noticed a lack of energy among us. Taking a strong leadership role, she introduced an activity that would: a) increase energy levels and engagement, and b) bring the team together in a more personal way.
The exercise was called a truth and a lie. Each of us said one thing about ourselves that was true and one thing that was a lie, and the remaining team members had to distinguish the truth from the lie. This exercise created a fun sense of engagement within the team and everyone participated, which was great. It was interesting to hear what the team members had to say: embarrassing stories, ability to speak multiple languages, personal achievements, and the list goes on.

This exercise humanized each virtual team member. We often forget that our team members are not just words in an email or a voice on the other end of the phone; each one has a face and is a real person.

After the short exercise, we continued with the meeting and energy levels were notably increased. Each team member actively participated in the discussions throughout the remainder of the meeting.

Finding creative ways to engage everyone in team meetings will help familiarize everyone with each other, which will strengthen the team and create better results. It might also teach someone something new. So, what have you learned today?

The Internet is now way more then just the WWW or e-mail – with so many new tools popping up, integration is necessary.  Since the Internet is has exponential growth opportunities, we are sure to see more tools continue to hit the market.  Also, Facebook and Twitter are here to stay, so you might as well join the masses and hop on the social media band wagon by connecting your accounts on each site – it will save you the extra time you need when work deadlines need to be met.  On top of these free solutions there are tools like HootSuite Pro that your company may want to consider purchasing, giving more of an all-in-one feel to your social media communication tools.

We should keep one thing clear, and that is the use of social media with your business has one main goal – keeping your communications efficient.  These sites can be great marketing tools, but they can also be great distractions.  If your employees work from home, keep an eye on productivity levels since you can’t keep an eye on their screens – not meeting deadlines can often be a result of distractions both around the house and online.

So all in all, integrating all these communication tools has its pros and cons.  You might want train one employee in as many of these tools and websites so that your company gets the most out of them.  Remember we’ve moved into a new age of the internet, where WWW is no longer limiting companies to just one online profile (ie. their own website), but is allowing for multiple profiles on many social media sites.  And be sure that your web designer has linked each online profile to your website (ie. a LIKE button for your Facebook page in the contact section).

So what else is changing?

Resumes

Elance CEO Fabrio Rosati believes that resumes are next in line for extinction. Digital portfolios are taking over the recruiting process; whether it’s a LinkedIn profile, a professional blog, or a professional service like Elance, employers are going to start looking online for its potential employees.  An online portfolio can link to references, past work, and truly show an applicant’s skills.  Throwing out the paper and jumping online also gives employers a better sense of who you are personally and professionally; it’s hard to judge someone’s character on paper.

Mobility

Communication technology is going to keep improving to accommodate the vast majority of employees working remotely.  While businesses want to accommodate more remote employees, they are also asking for more mobile applications. With jobs becoming more accessible, it’s only natural for technology to follow.  To avoid being stuck at a computer all day, apps for tablets and smartphones are in high demand.

Marketing

According to Elance CEO Fabrio Rosati, companies are going to start investing more and more in social media.  Not only looking at digital portfolios, companies are also extending their marketing tactics into the online world of social media.  Virtual marketing platforms such as web banners, and “digital word-of-mouth” tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Groupon where companies can grab attention of different consumers and clients, and extend that into those clients’ networks. “A big trend with businesses will be to not just market their products to me, but to use social media to market to me and at the same time tap into my network of friends,” says Rosati.

Whether it’s technology, jobs, or networking, the online world is always changing.  It’s important to keep an open mind in order to move forward with the rest of the virtual world.

But just how many people are really using these sites to their full potential?  And are the right people using social media?

Recently a CIO of a social media consultancy was late for a conference.  Upon his arrival, he immediately signed on to his Twitter to see what the other 300 CIOs present had updated.  To his surprise, there was nothing. This CIO argued that IT’s should be the first to familiarize themselves with new technology, and in turn, use it to its full advantage.

The virtual world is continuously changing—new means of communication are always making their way into people’s lives.  Now that social media has entrenched itself in the workplace, every employee should be able to recognize how these different information platforms work.

Twitter is used for quick updates. Users can tag other employees or companies–or anyone really–to let them know what’s going on, for example, what was just discussed in a meeting or at a conference.

LinkedIn is used for professionals to share their work and interact with each other. This function has earned it the nickname “Grownup Facebook” by younger and older generations. But younger professionals use it as well!

Facebook is the most used social media site in North America. Aside from establishing profiles, users can create groups or pages, and attract fans to “like” these groups or pages. Users can send messages, or broadcast updates. It’s kind of like twitter, but a bit more space especially in terms of writing.

For those of you who are not yet on the social media bandwagon, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself.  And even if you are, a quick review can’t hurt!

Last week, The Toronto Star reported on a survey by Career Builder on telecommuting. The survey reveals some interesting statistics, including that 30% of telecommuters admit to working in pajamas. The Star claimed that “The man in the grey flannel pajamas might be the new icon of office life.”

The Star’s dry wit aside, the survey results raise an interesting question about the culture of telecommuting and the anxieties around it. The survey seems more like a fun investigation rather than a serious study (the survey does not differentiate between full-time telecommuters and the guy taking a sick day, the terminology is a little vague), so we can’t draw too many industry trends from it. However, we do know that telecommuters find distractions from children, pets, and errands more than commuters.

The survey does not answer the level to which these distractions affect people’s productivity. It also does not differentiate by type of work, or by the expectations or needs of the company. It is a bit puzzling that no one thought to ask this. In any case, the survey highlights a common anxiety by managers and employers about telecommuters: “how can I know that people are working if I can’t see them? What is our metric for knowing that my employees are being productive?”

The answer to these anxieties takes a multi level approach. First and foremost create Norms of Behavior with your team as suggested by Skerret in The Star’s article. This will ensure that your team members have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. Our second piece of advice is that if work gets done, then your employees are productive. If an employee can produce quality output on time, then an employer knows they’re doing their jobs.

Finally, if deliverables are being met on time then you need to trust your team members. All too often we see managers who micromanage because they are unsure of whether their staff is working. If an employee fails to deliver, then the manager needs to start managing that person more carefully. The Career Builder survey lists five helpful guidelines on making sure telecommuting employees work productively which are also very helpful.

There’s a tendency for employers to be suspicious of telecommuting: that an employee is more likely to waste time at home. However, we suggest that the employee who wastes time at home watching television is probably the same one that would waste time in the office on flash games and Farmville. In fact, most people who work remotely are very productive and motivated.

Telecommuting as a business practice is not going to stop, nor should it. The virtual workforce is expanding, and Gen-Y, the new face of the world’s workforce is particularly attracted and suited to it. It is true that as more and more people work from home, a cultural shift will have to be established, and workers will have to be able to separate work and private lives more and more. However, shifts aren’t bad things, and you have Virtual Team Builders to help you through it.