Working Virtually: Managing People for Successful Virtual Teams and Organizations

“How are you going to guide, coach, and evaluate your team when you lay eyes on them just four times a year? Take a look at Working Virtually.”?Fortune Magazine

“Managers involved first hand with off-site employees will find Hoefling's advice and checklists most useful.”?Publishers Weekly

Virtual working is a fact of life as companies manage teams of individuals dispersed on sites across the country or around the globe; take increasing advantage of improving technology and software to telecommute and teleconference; and begin to think about the human element in disaster recovery.

The key to successful dispersed working is not technological expertise, but a clear understanding of what it takes to get the enterprise ready for virtual work, and of the skills for bonding individuals into cohesive, high-performance teams across distances and differences.

This book provides that guidance—through work charts, vivid "composite" examples, definitions and actual cases—and shows how the technological tools support and expand the options for collaboration.

It answers such critical questions as "What makes working virtually work?", "How do we start?", "How do you develop new leaders in a virtual environment?", "What skills do virtual managers and team members need?", "How do you determine how ready they are?", "Which technologies are most appropriate for your purposes?", "What’s the impact on existing systems and structures?"

This book is an indispensable practical guide and reference for virtual team leaders, HR managers, CEO’s and trainers. It will also be suitable for professional certification and business courses in organizational development.

Trina Hoefling developed one of the first remote training programs in 1984, and has worked with virtual teams ever since. She is founder and lead consultant of Consult One Group, Denver. She was previously Vice President of Training and Consulting Programs for Telecommuting Success, Inc., a coaching and consulting company for organizations implementing telecommuting and remote work solutions. She is a frequent speaker as national and international conferences.