Runion Meryl - Perfect phrases for virtual teamwork: hundreds of ready-to-use phrases for fostering collaboration at a distance

Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases
for Fostering Collaboration at a Distance

Meryl Runion with Lynda McDermott

Copyright 2012 by Meryl Runion. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978-0-07-178384-2
MHID 0-07-178384-9

e-ISBN 978-0-07-178385-9
e-MHID 0-07-178385-7

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This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Y ears ago, during a time when I was struggling to manage a dysfunctional team at work, my wife and I took our children to the circus. In one of the circus acts four acrobats balanced on a high wire, while three stood on their shoulders, two atop them, and finally one woman balanced at the very top of the remarkable human pyramid. They maintained their balance in this fragile formation as they walked the length of the wire.

I showed a photo of that performance to my team and asked my quarrelsome team members, Who is the most important member of the team shown in this photo? One noted that the woman has the most vulnerable position, another noted the strength of the acrobats forming the base of the pyramid, and still another noted that the second tier requires strength and particular balance. Finally they came to the unmistakable conclusion that each persons role is essential to the team performance.

We are each driven by three psychological needs: autonomyour need to decide for ourselves, competencyour need to succeed at appropriate challenges, and relatednessour need to care for others and have others care about us. When we work alone, we exercise our autonomy and increase our individual competency. The challenge of a team is to balance autonomy with relatedness. We need to make the leap to interdependent forms of the three needs: autonomythe team decides, competencytogether we can succeed at much greater challenges, and relatednesswe learn from and accommodate others as we work to influence others and ensure everyone on the team succeeds.

Being a member of a team that clicks and pulls off a significant and difficult task is a powerful, satisfying, and memorable experience. Teams that dont click are a drag. This book provides insights and phrases that can help ensure your team forms quickly, establishes meaningful goals, and fully engages everyone in meeting those goals.

While your ego is shouting, Be reasonable, do it my way, I hope your intellect is open to the possibility that involving more people can increase the inspiration, energy, experience, creativity, resources, viewpoints, and scrutiny for accomplishing the task at hand. This book provides the tools, techniques, and actual phrases that can open egos to the marvel of teamwork.

Virtual is our new normal. I visit my infant granddaughter using FaceTime video conferencing. My only contact with Meryl is e-contact. Applying the skills in this book can help make your virtual teams as vibrant and effective as the most cohesive face-to-face team.

Good luck as you make the leap to teamwork.

Leland Beaumont
emotionalcompetency.org

W hen I start a project, I never know who might appear to make what kind of priceless contribution. Informal contributors virtually always show up in surprising creative ways, just when I need them. My thanks for this project go first to my virtual friend and colleague, Leland Beaumont, whose extensive experience in effectively leading high-powered teams helped guide the phrases on these pages. His input was consistently insightful and relevant, and often laugh-out-loud funny.

My second shout-out goes to Diane Windingland, whose critical eye helped me see where my voice became rigid and needed to loosen and lighten up a bit.

Thanks to Angela Thompson, whose unwavering support helped me through challenges that threatened to take me down and out. Everyone should have an Angela in his or her lifesomeone who sees your best and brightest and inspires you to rise to the courage of your convictions.

Annette Marquis offered valuable input on technology while in the middle of a Hurricane Irene blackout. Bev Kelley gave concrete examples of how virtual teams operate in educational institutions. Evan Hodkins helped me find the soul of virtual teams. Many generously shared their virtual communities and information exchanges with me and answered questions about how virtual teamwork happens, doesnt happen, and how theyd like it to happen in their industries and organizations.

Creating this book has been transformative, and I was blessed by an entourage of superstars who walked alongside me. I am grateful to each and every person who contributed virtually and otherwise.

Guess whos surviving and thriving in the competitive global economy? The individuals and organizations that use virtual teamwork and virtual collaboration to their full potential. If you merely tolerate virtual teamwork as a necessary evil, you dont qualify. Todays thrivers embrace the value-added benefits of virtual teamwork, not just the cost-cutting benefits. Theyre juiced by the possibilities virtual collaboration offers and leverage online collaboration opportunities.

Even if virtual teams and virtual teamwork have been forced on you, you still have a choice. You can go kicking and screaming. You can try to manage virtual teams and off-site employees in the same way that worked (or didnt work) with your face-to-face or collocated teams. You can conduct business with virtual colleagues by passive-aggressively resisting the call to get on board with tools and systems that others leverage. You can go moping and griping and drag down momentum and spoil the fun and effectiveness for the rest of us.

Or you can shift your attention to the new dynamics of virtual collaboration and flourish. Its your call. If youre ready to make virtual teamwork a personal and organizational competitive advantage, or if youre already on board and need phrases to help, this book is for you.