“Virtual” Accountability

Virtual teams are becoming more and more prevalent as organizations assemble teams that are officed in different parts of the country and strive to reduce costs associated with travel, relocation, and office space. The environment has become even more complex with the move towards utilizing home offices, building a global presence and outsourcing select functions. Managing dispersed teams operating across time zones, geographical borders, cultural differences, and organizational functions presents new challenges, especially when it comes to establishing and maintaining accountability. When people only meet in person a few times a year, they must learn to embrace and cultivate a new dynamic that fosters their accountability in this virtual world. Here are a few suggestions:

-Don’t go Below the Line and feel victimized by the difficulties associated with communication, interaction, collaboration and accessibility that are inherent in the virtual world. Assume accountability for making it work and take steps to See It, Own It, Solve It and Do It when it comes to establishing and maintaining accountability for getting things done. (See, Chapter Two of The Oz Principle for suggestions).

-Be aware of the bias toward “accountability by proximity”—the tendency to manage accountability with those who are most proximate to us and to not manage it with those further away from us in the Expectations Chain. Establish periodic Alignment Meetings with people you work with throughout your Expectations Chain, in addition to your normal work meetings. This is important because, in a virtual workplace, you can’t just walk down the hallway and have a conversation.  These are cyberspace “time outs” where you not only talk about “what” needs to be done, but “how” you are doing it—managing the way accountability is being applied in the relationships (See pages 21-25 in How Did That Happen?)

-Make more of a point to seek feedback. Remember, feedback creates accountable people and accountable people seek feedback. In the virtual world, if you don’t ask for it, you probably won’t get it. Use video chats to facilitate feedback. There is no substitute for seeing another person in the flesh, albeit virtual flesh. IM, email and the telephone can work, but are less effective. (See Chapter 7 in Journey to the Emerald City)

-Use the complimentary assessments offered on www.partnersinleadership.com to help gather feedback from your virtual co-workers. They can serve as “check-ins” to how things are going.

Whether you are co-located with your team or not, maintaining positive accountability connections is essentially to getting things done through others. “Virtual” accountability can be created and maintained, but requires some of these extra steps we have suggested. However, when you do make the effort to establish and maintain accountability for your key expectations, people will respond and the impact on results will be notable.