Virtual Team Building & Training Tools for Global Team Members
Anyone on a global virtual team knows the challenges that cross cultural communication represents. While technology makes it possible to work with colleagues around the world, intercultural communication still presents unanticipated obstacles. Team members need to understand each other’s styles and cultures if they’re going to be able to build trust and collaborate. The global and virtual team training track and courses helps teams to create that environment of trust, collaboration and cross cultural understanding.
The tools that make up the self-guided virtual team management track serve as a catalyst for dialog among team members, promote team building for virtual teams and help individuals manage the complexities they will face in managing cross cultural teams virtually.
This track, which focused on global and virtual cross cultural team management helps build necessary skills for virtual communication by:
1. Sensitizing team members to intercultural communication differences
2. Making members of a virtual team aware of their own communication
and work style preferences.
3. Giving team members skills to adapt their behavior to be most effective in cross cultural team management at work.
CASE STUDY: Global and Virtual Team Effectiveness Training
To support a major new global product initiative, a global financial information company was opening offices in Asia, Europe and Latin America where team members had to talk with each other about complex technology issues. Almost all communication between team members was virtual, being a combination of teleconferences and emails. Only team leaders had face-to-face contact. As a result, they faced enormous cross-cultural communication challenges, resulting in frustration, resentment and mission failures.RW3 CultureWizard performed a thorough needs assessment, and tools from the Global Teams track were deployed in conjunction with a blended learning program. Individuals used the personal cultural profile assessment in the Culture Calculator and Global Teams Tool to understand their own cultural preferences and compare them to their colleagues from different cultures. The teams learned to appreciate each other’s different approaches, anticipate where challenges were going to occur, and preemptively develop standards for team communication and interactions.
Likewise, RW3 provides various other tools such as ‘Tools for Global Members’ to ensure cross cultural management, ‘Tools for Business Travelers’ that provides them cultural competency training, and also ‘Tools for International Assignees’ that provides expatriate training to individuals traveling abroad. Read More
Relevant Tools:
- Cultural Awareness Training Tool
- Global Teams Tool
- TeamPlace
- Country Profiles
- Virtual Teams Tool
- WorkingWith Series
