case study on virtual team

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How to Manage Virtual Teams

Dispersed teams can actually outperform groups that are colocated. to succeed, however, virtual collaboration must be managed in specific ways..

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Teams are the typical building blocks of an organization: They provide companies with the means to combine the various skills, talents and perspectives of a group of individuals to achieve corporate goals. In the past, managers used to colocate team members because of the high levels of interdependencies that are inherent in group work. Recently, though, more and more companies are beginning to organize projects over distance, with teams increasingly consisting of people who are based in dispersed geographical locations, come from different cultural backgrounds, speak different languages and were raised in different countries with different value systems.

Over the past 10 years, various studies have investigated the differences in performance of colocated and dispersed teams, quietly assuming that members of the latter never meet in person and members of the former work together in the same office throughout a project. But dispersion is not only a matter of degree; it is also a matter of kind. Most teams are dispersed on some level. They can be spatially separated (from “across the hall” to “scattered worldwide”), temporally separated (spanning different time zones), configurationally uneven (for example, five members in one location and two in another) and culturally diverse. And as past research has repeatedly shown, even the smallest degrees of dispersion, such as working on different floors in the same building, can greatly affect the quality of collaboration. 1 In our own study, we have investigated the performance of 80 software development teams with varying levels of dispersion, including those with members in different cities, countries or continents. Such geographically distributed teams have commonly been referred to as “virtual” teams, 2 but that label is something of a misnomer, because these groups are very real with respect to the work they can accomplish. We found that virtual teams offer tremendous opportunities despite their greater managerial challenges. In fact, with the appropriate processes in place, dispersed teams can significantly outperform their colocated counterparts.

The Bright and Dark Sides of Dispersion

A team’s level of dispersion is neither preordained nor fixed; rather, it is an organizational design parameter that companies can set and adjust. When making such decisions, managers should take into consideration the various pluses and minuses of separation.

Not surprisingly, several studies have found that collaboration across distance is more difficult than in a colocated environment. Potential issues include difficulties in communication and coordination, reduced trust, and an increased inability to establish a common ground. In contrast, proximity tends to promote more frequent communication and the development of closer and more positive interpersonal relationships. Indeed, the regular physical presence of coworkers improves people’s feelings of familiarity and fondness, and frequent informal interactions serve to strengthen social ties. Conversely, physical distance decreases closeness and affinity, which then leads to a greater potential for conflict. Distance also brings with it other issues, such as team members having to negotiate multiple time zones and requiring them to reorganize their workdays to accommodate others’ schedules. In such situations, frustration and confusion can ensue, especially if coworkers are regularly unavailable for discussion or clarification of task-related issues.

On the other hand, dispersion potentially has substantial advantages. First, in order to accomplish increasingly complex activities such as research and development, companies (particularly larger ones like IBM, General Electric or SAP) tend to cluster their competencies in different centers of excellence, which are often scattered geographically although part of an international corporate network of operations. SAP Aktiengesellschaft, for instance, has its global headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, but has built up large R&D centers in India, China, Israel and the United States in order to reduce costs and leverage their global know-how in software engineering. Within each of these competence centers, the depth of expertise tends to be very strong, while the diversity of functional backgrounds is relatively weak because of specialization. Managers can take advantage of this organizational structure by assembling employees from different locations in such networks to create a team that can optimally integrate the different pools of expertise to perform a particular task. 3

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Second, companies can take advantage of the increased heterogeneity that is inherent in the nature of dispersed teams. Virtual teams tend to incorporate higher levels of structural and demographic diversity than do colocated teams, and both types of diversity can be highly beneficial. 4 Structural diversity is a direct consequence of having team members from multiple locations associated with different business units and reporting to different managers. Such diversity can be highly valuable for teams, because it exposes members to heterogeneous sources of work experience, feedback and networking opportunities. 5 In addition, virtual team members are often diverse in nationality. Although such diversity may complicate team dynamics, it can also enhance the overall problem-solving capacity of the group by bringing more vantage points to bear on a particular project. 6

Image courtesy of SAP.

Performance of Dispersed vs. Colocated Teams

Most past studies have found that dispersion hurts performance. 7 Often, dispersed teams fail to perform important processes effectively and are therefore unable to realize their potential. But given the fact that virtual teams have become an increasing reality for many companies, it behooves managers to understand how to maximize the benefits of dispersion while minimizing its disadvantages. Thus, our research investigated two fundamental questions: (1) When do virtual teams outperform colocated ones? and (2) how should companies manage dispersed teams? To answer these questions, we studied software development teams from 28 different labs in countries including Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India and the United States. From that broad survey, we found that the key drivers of performance are certain crucial team processes that, for example, help coordinate work and facilitate communication among members. In fact, we found that virtual teams with such processes can outperform their colocated counterparts, and that was true even for colocated teams with the same high levels of those processes.

In general, team processes can be classified into two categories: task-related — including those that help ensure each member is contributing fully; and socio-emotional — including those that increase the cohesion of the group. Our study found that those processes that are directly task-related are the most critical for the performance of dispersed teams. Specifically, virtual teams that had processes that increased the levels of mutual support, member effort, work coordination, balance of member contributions and task-related communications consistently outperformed other teams with lower levels. Moreover, dispersed teams that had high levels of task-related processes were notably able to outperform colocated teams with similar levels of those same processes despite the physical separation of their members. In other words, the overall effect of dispersion is not necessarily detrimental but rather depends on the quality of a team’s task-related processes. That said, dispersion carries significant risks: Those teams with poor task-related processes suffered heavily with increased dispersion. The bottom line is that the quality of task-related processes appears to be a significant factor in deciding whether dispersion becomes a liability or an opportunity.

Beyond task-related processes, organizations must also ensure that team members commit to the overall group goals, identify with the team and actively support a team spirit. In other words, social-emotional processes are important too. Especially in teams with physically dispersed members, interpersonal differences are a greater threat to the team’s social stability because of the greater difficulty in resolving conflicts across geographic boundaries. Such difficulties can, in turn, demotivate members from contributing fully, thus jeopardizing team performance. Social processes that increase team cohesion, identification and informal communication can prevent that by helping to establish and maintain interpersonal bonds that enable a group to better cope with conflicts. In our study, we found that social processes were able to boost the performance of virtual as well as colocated teams. We had no indication, however, that virtual teams with favorable socio-emotional processes outperformed colocated teams with similar levels of the same processes. Our belief is that, although socio-emotional processes were not a differentiating factor, they likely facilitated more task-related processes (and hence indirectly enhanced the performance of virtual teams) through, for instance, increased knowledge transfer and better resolution of team conflicts.

The Dos and Don’ts of Managing Dispersion

To boost the performance of its teams, a company needs to implement the appropriate mechanisms for boosting both socio-emotional and task-related processes. Particularly for virtual teams, managers need to pay special attention to task-related processes that will capitalize on the specialized knowledge and expertise of such groups. The following key lessons can help companies maximize the performance of their virtual teams:

Don’t underestimate the significance of small distances. Our research shows that performance is noticeably lower for teams with people located in the same building but on different floors when compared with teams where all members are on the same floor. This was true regarding both effectiveness (that is, the quality of team output) and efficiency (in terms of time and cost). Interestingly, teams with members in the same building but on different floors also performed worse than teams with greater degrees of dispersion, including those that had members spread across a city, country or even continent. In fact, the only teams that fared worse were the intercontinental teams, with a significantly higher level of intercultural diversity and temporal dispersion (spanning many time zones).

At first glance, those results might seem odd, but consider. Teams with members in the same building, albeit on different floors, do not usually consider themselves as being dispersed and, hence, may easily underestimate the barriers to collaboration deriving from, for instance, having to climb a flight of stairs to meet a teammate face to face. In contrast, groups that are dispersed across a country or continent are more aware of their situation and may make extra efforts to improve such vital processes as task-related communication and coordination. One manager of a leading worldwide software company in our study stated that team leaders regularly underestimate the significance of small distances. They tend to treat team members located on different floors or in an adjacent building as being in direct proximity, failing to acknowledge the negative effects of even such comparatively small distances. A team leader from the same company commented that sometimes “colocated” teams spread across his laboratory use electronic communication technologies such as e-mail, telephone and voicemail just as much as globally dispersed teams do — a sign that people might be allowing short physical distances to become larger obstacles than they should. To prevent that from happening, companies such as Cisco Systems, BMW and Corning have designed their office layouts to maximize interpersonal interactions. At Cisco Systems Inc.’s sites in Germany, for example, only three people have their own individual offices. All of the other 850 employees work in an open-space environment that provides ample opportunities for “hall talks” and other informal interactions.

Emphasize teamwork skills. Clearly, one of the key reasons for organizing a dispersed team is to draw on the superior knowledge that resides in remote locations. But many companies make the mistake of staffing such teams primarily (if not solely) on the basis of people’s expertise and availability. Instead, managers must also consider social skills — a major prerequisite for good teamwork — as a much more pivotal part of the catalog of requirements. In other words, it’s unrealistic to bring together individuals from different locations with the expectation that they will automatically know how to collaborate in a virtual environment. Groups with increasing levels of dispersion are also progressively more dependent on their level of teamwork, specifically, their ability to perform key processes such as mutual support, communication and coordination. In order for virtual teams to achieve their greater potential (and take advantage of their functional and structural diversity), members must first and foremost be able to establish a basis for the effective exchange of their varying capabilities — all of which requires teamwork-related skills as a critical ingredient. Otherwise, the virtual team could very likely perform worse than a colocated group. Thus, managers need to consider teamwork skills as a necessary attribute when selecting the members of a virtual team.

Promote self-leadership across the team. Beyond social skills, managers need to ensure that dispersed teams have broad-based leadership capabilities. When a group is closely colocated, an individual leader can more easily detect any deficiencies in teamwork and address them with a hands-on managerial style. An interpersonal conflict, for example, might be resolved by talking in person with the different parties in an informal setting. Such an approach is largely nonexistent in virtual teams. Geographic dispersion and cultural diversity make it difficult for any individual leader to ensure that the team is functioning effectively. Even though the advanced use of the latest information and communications technologies can help, they are no magical panacea for managing people across countries and time zones. “We are often not able to overcome the cultural problems,” admits one team leader in the study. “And only very experienced team leaders can handle these challenges and lead these teams to success.” For a virtual team to succeed, members generally need to be aware of the difficulties of dispersed collaboration and find effective ways to overcome those obstacles on their own. This highlights the need for people to be more self-sufficient in how they manage their own work because the team leader is less in a position to help. Consequently, companies that are serious about virtual collaboration must target their HR efforts not only at designated team leaders but also at team members so that those individuals can develop the skills necessary to work in a virtual setting.

Provide for face-to-face meetings. Periodic face-to-face meetings of dispersed team members can be particularly effective for initiating and maintaining key social processes that will encourage informal communication, team identification and cohesion. A project kick-off meeting, for example, can be used to bring everyone together in one location for several days so that people can develop a shared understanding of the task at hand and begin to identify with the team. These processes, in turn, will support task collaboration during the project. The time and expense necessary to provide such opportunities for face-to-face interactions then become an investment that can lead to large returns if the virtual team is able to take full advantage of its diverse expertise and heterogeneity. Companies should also remember that informal interactions can be just as important as formal ones — if not more so. One experienced team leader in the study, for instance, asserted that projects should include one essential initial step: “to go out for a beer with all team members in order to establish a common ground before starting the collaboration.”

Foster a “global culture.” Our research suggests that a global mind-set, in which people see themselves as part of an international network, helps provide an environment that is conducive to dispersed teams. Accordingly, managers and team members need to recognize and frame their company as such, communicating the international nature of the organization’s operations and markets. Various human resource strategies can help foster that mind-set, including temporary staff assignments at foreign locations and inter-cultural training. Nestlé, General Electric, IBM and SAP — all known for the global reach of their business activities — provide good examples of how to actively foster a global employee mind-set. Managers at Nestlé S.A., for instance, are expected to move to another country every three or four years so that they can learn about the specifics of each of those markets and develop a global mind-set from their experiences. Such practices advance the development of diversity-friendly attitudes and the ability to work in different contexts, which in turn help employees cope with the challenges of distance when working on virtual teams. At General Electric Co., a steering committee oversees the company’s global R&D efforts, and employees are assigned to different locations worldwide in order to facilitate the development of an informal network across all four main R&D sites in the United States, China, Germany and India.

Conventional wisdom suggests that the performance of teams suffers with increasing levels of dispersion. Because of that, managers have typically viewed dispersion as a liability rather than an opportunity. But dispersion can provide substantial benefits if companies can take advantage of the diversity and varied expertise of team members at different locations. In fact, our research shows that virtual teams can outperform their colocated counterparts when they are set up and managed in the right way. In other words, a company can’t just assemble a dispersed team of top-notch talent and hope for the best; it also needs to ensure that the group has the necessary socio-emotional and task-related processes in place. Only then can virtual teams effectively integrate dispersed knowledge to take advantage of their cultural and structural diversity, thereby avoiding some of the drawbacks of dispersion while reaping its benefits.

About the Authors

Frank Siebdrat is a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in Munich, Germany. Martin Hoegl is a professor and holds the Chair of Leadership and Human Resource Management at the WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany. Holger Ernst is a professor and holds the Chair of Technology and Innovation Management at the WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management.

1. See, for example, T.J. Allen, “Managing the Flow of Technology” (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1977).

2. J. Santos, Y. Doz and P. Williamson, “Is Your Innovation Process Global?” MIT Sloan Management Review, 45 (summer 2004): 31-37.

3. S.D. Eppinger and A.R. Chitkara, “The New Practice of Global Product Development,” MIT Sloan Management Review 47 (summer 2006): 22-30.

4. J.N. Cummings, “Work Groups, Structural Diversity and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization,” Management Science 50, issue 3 (2004): 352-364; and D. van Knippenberg and M.C. Schippers, “Work Group Diversity,” Annual Review of Psychology 58 (2007): 515-541.

5. J.N. Cummings, “Work Groups,” Management Science 50, no. 3 (2004): 352-364.

6. D.C. Hambrick, S.C. Davison, S.A. Snell and C.C. Snow, “When Groups Consist of Multiple Nationalities: Towards a New Understanding of the Implications,” Organization Studies 19, no. 2 (1998): 181-205.

7. M. Hoegl and L. Proserpio, “Team Member Proximity and Teamwork in Innovative Projects,” Research Policy 33, no. 8 (2004): 1153-1165.

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Anastasia stefanuk, prasanta shee, jerry hopkings, hugo messer, successful virtual teams know teamwork | redbooth, successful virtual teams know teamwork | redbooth com, managing a dispersed team | technology scouting & open innovation | prescouter, why remote teams are the future (and how to make them work), mr. hathaway, victorpenfold, nader ale ebrahim, torpedersen20, hilde weisert, mary mcguire.

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The success behind virtual teams: The ultimate guide

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Virtual teams and the future

What are the different types of virtual teams, what are the advantages and disadvantages of virtual teams.

How to create a virtual team in three easy steps

How to be the leader of a virtual team — seven tips for success

Four tips for choosing the right technology for your virtual team, should a virtual team meet in person, the six most common challenges for virtual teams, the three most successful virtual teams, running successful virtual teams doesn’t have to be complicated.

Virtual teams and dispersed teams became the norm in 2020. The way we work changed forever when 2020 came along and forced many of us to take part in the world’s biggest work-from-home experiment .

This past year was a giant experiment testing both communication technology and human resources. Our concept of work-life balance was also tested. 

In this guide, you will learn:

• The most common types of virtual teams
• The main benefits of virtual teams
• How to resolve the most common challenges that arise from virtual team management 
• And how to set up and lead a successful virtual team. 

A virtual team, or remote team, is a group of people who collaborate using virtual collaboration and communication tools. 

Members of a global virtual team are remote workers, often located in different geographical regions. 

While the trend towards virtual teamwork had already been growing in the years leading up to 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process .

In 2021, 66% of workers in the US are working remotely at least once a week , and a virtual environment has become the new reality for many people who previously worked in a co-located team.

And the trend is here to stay — according to 451 Research, 64% of companies say the increase in remote work will be a permanent change. 

The fears that virtual teams would be less effective than traditional teams seem to have been unfounded, as 69% of enterprises say at least 75% of their workforce can work effectively remotely.

What’s more, 78% of employees are happy with these changes. They give them greater flexibility and they save time and money on commuting. 

And according to GitLab, 62% of respondents said they would consider leaving a co-located company for an organization with a company culture of remote work . 

To build a successful virtual team, it’s essential to build trust and facilitate communication. Knowledge-sharing is also critical to building a successful virtual team. This is even more important due to the recent lack of in-person interaction. 

It’s possible to build several types of virtual teams depending on the lifespan, objectives, and roles of the virtual team members. Here are six of the most common.

1. Networked teams 

These teams comprise multifunctional members who share their expertise and knowledge on a topic or project. 

Membership is flexible. New members joining and existing members leaving when their role is complete. 

2. Parallel teams 

These are teams formed for a short period of time to achieve a specific goal. 

Their members are usually coworkers from the same organization who make recommendations for a process or system.

3. Product development teams 

These are virtual teams whose goal is to develop a new product, system, or process.

4. Service teams 

In a service team, each member of the team works independently, as they are often in different time zones. 

5. Management teams 

Members of a virtual management team discuss organizational strategy and day-to-day management issues. It's just like a co-located management team.

6. Action teams

Action teams are usually temporary teams. They're formed to resolve an immediate problem and dissolved once the issue is fixed.

For those accustomed to working in co-located teams, virtual teams can take some getting used to.

Virtual teams don't allow for water-cooler conversations or spontaneous coffee breaks. They also don't allow for in-person or break-time brainstorming sessions. This means we have to adapt the way we work and collaborate with our colleagues .

But is it worth the effort of adapting our teams and systems to remote work?

Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of virtual teams.

Pros of virtual teams

The image below shows the top benefits that remote employees perceive working in a virtual team.

( Image Source )

Remote workers value their lack of commute , saving money , and the ability to take better care of their families as the top benefits of virtual teams.

Virtual employees also report reduced stress and anxiety and improved mental and physical health. This is all essential for virtual team effectiveness.

People also perceive the ability to travel, work or move as a benefit of working in a virtual team, as well as reduced office politics.

According to research by GitLab, 52% of virtual employees say they are more productive , while 48% believe they work more efficiently .

Plus, remote work provides opportunities for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses , who make up 14% of the virtual workforce.

Cons of virtual teams

Like anything, virtual team management also presents some unique challenges. 

One of the biggest is the reliance on technology for virtual communication and managing work. Tech issues are inevitable but can cause delays and disruptions in a workday.

Virtual team members don’t have much opportunity to get to know one another. This can lead to miscommunication and a  lack of effective collaboration .

Virtual leadership is also a challenge for managers. Especially if your virtual employees lack effective communication skills. 

If you’re ready to start building your virtual team, follow these three steps to start you on the path to success.

1. Start with the right people

The best way to get the right people in your virtual team is to create the team from scratch. 

You can identify suitable candidates using behavioral interviewing techniques and personality tests.

Some of the qualities to look for in virtual team members include:

• Emotional intelligence
• Strong communication skills
• Autonomy in their work
• Sensitivity to other cultures

If you take over a team, assess the strengths and weaknesses of the members. Then, design a training program to address any gaps.

2. Get the size right

Small teams of around three to five people are generally more efficient.

They are also easier to manage, so if you have a large team, consider dividing it into smaller sub-teams.

3. Clarify the roles and responsibilities

Make sure your virtual team members are aware of their roles and responsibilities, as well as those of their teammates.

Managing virtual teams comes with a unique set of challenges.

If you’re a virtual team leader, implement these seven tips to make sure your virtual team stays happy, efficient, and productive.

1. Ensure effective communication

Set up regular check-ins, such as a weekly virtual meeting. This will facilitate better communication among virtual team members.

2. Use the right tools

An instant messaging service such as Slack is essential for any virtual team.

Consider investing in a project management tool. It will centralize your team’s communication, documentation, and collaboration. 

3. Build trust

As a team leader, it’s essential for you to build your virtual team’s trust in you. You do this by being transparent, honest, and sincere in your communication.

It’s also important to help your team bond. This will increase trust between members and encourage effective collaboration. You can build trust through things like virtual team-building activities , too. 

4. Set goals

Help your team set goals for themselves as well as contributing to the team’s objectives. This will give them a sense of ownership in their work.

Also, make sure all team members are aware of team targets and how they’re measured.

5. Make your virtual team feel supported

Working remotely can be lonely, so it’s essential to make your virtual team feel supported .

Hold regular one-to-ones and have an open-door policy to make sure they know you’re available if they need you.

6. Give regular feedback

Giving your virtual employees regular feedback on their work can help keep their motivation levels up.

It’s also the key to detecting any potential problems before they snowball.

7. Take care of your team’s well-being

Many people are suffering both mentally and physically as a result of the pandemic, which has a negative impact on our work.

Add to that the loneliness and isolation that many experience working from home, and it could spell disaster for your virtual team members.

Prioritize your team’s well-being by organizing regular check-ins and redistributing workloads as necessary.

With so many technology solutions available for virtual teams, it can be difficult to know where to start.

Follow these four tips to choose the right solution for your team.

1. Think about your team’s needs

What does your team need to perform their work effectively and efficiently? Consider polling them to find out.

2. Look for user-friendly software and integrations

When choosing a software solution, make sure it has an easy-to-use interface and integrates with the tools your team already uses.

3. Use collaboration and communication tools

Look for tools that make interactions as human as possible. For example, the ability to create virtual meeting rooms.

The image below shows the five most popular collaboration and communication tools in the US:

4. Consider project management software

Invest in software that improves workflow management and team collaboration. This will help you avoid confusion and information silos.

Meeting in person through events, meetups, and summits allow people to get to know each other and share ideas. This can build trust among members and boost virtual team performance.

For example, at BetterUp, one of the ways we facilitate team-building is through our twice-yearly, company-wide retreat. 

It was one of the reasons Great Place to Work and FORTUNE ranked BetterUp as the eighth-best place to work for Millennials in 2019 .

The image below shows the most common challenges remote workers faced in 2020.

Let’s take a look at some possible solutions to these challenges.

1. Collaboration with coworkers

To increase team efficiency and reduce errors, use communication and project management tools. 

Hold regular virtual meetings to make sure everyone is on the same page.

2. Interruptions

To minimize interruptions, designate an area of your home to set up as your home office. Ask your family or roommates to avoid disturbing you during working hours.

You might want to find a place where you can go and work outside your home, whether it’s a coworking space or a cozy cafe.

If you’re a virtual team leader, consider providing colleagues with equipment to reduce interruptions, such as noise-canceling headphones.

3. Sticking to a routine

If you struggle with sticking to a routine while working on a virtual team, try creating a schedule around your working hours.

Aim to wake up, go to bed, and eat your meals at the same time every day, as this will help you stick to your work routine.

Managers who notice their teams struggle with time management may want to enforce set working hours.

4. Stopping at the end of the day

Decide what time you will start and end your workday. Then, make sure your colleagues are aware of your working hours, especially those in other time zones.

As a leader, you could set up an automatic notification to send to your teammates when it’s time to log off.

5. Loneliness

If you’re a virtual team leader, host virtual get-togethers and coffee breaks. This will help with colleagues and direct reports from feeling lonely.

6. Poor wi-fi connection

Virtual team managers should consider reimbursing internet costs for virtual employees. This can help boost productivity.

We’ve hunted down three examples of the most successful virtual teams so you can replicate their success. Let’s take a look at how they do it.

What they do : Google was one of the first companies to offer work-from-home options when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020. 

They will be testing hybrid models as staff begins to return to the office throughout 2021.

How they do it : With 135,000 full-time staff worldwide, Google makes staff well-being a priority.

They also set team norms and have regular team meetings and check-ins. They encourage teammates to be present and acknowledge one another’s achievements.

What they do : AirBnb also closed their offices at the start of the pandemic and are offering remote work options to all employees until August 2021.

How they do it : Airbnb provided employees $500 to invest in home office and ergonomic equipment. 

They also offered flexible work options and the opportunity to temporarily relocate with $500 of Airbnb credit. 

3. AppDynamics

What they do : AppD believes in hiring top talent, regardless of location, so employees have the option to work in one of the main offices, a satellite office, a coworking space, or from home.

How they do it : They provide remote workers with customized home office equipment. They carry out ergonomic testing to make sure employees are set up for maximum comfort and productivity.

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Virtual teams can be a win-win for both remote workers and their employers. This is especially true if you know how to prevent or mitigate the main challenges of running them.

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

6 winning strategies to improve team dynamics

When the leader’s cup runs dry: how burnout undermines mission and how to fix it, what is groupthink and how do you avoid it, 8 strategies to collaborate effectively in the workplace, put team conflict to work with these constructive tips, what the abilene paradox is and ways to minimize it, 30 communication feedback examples, what makes a good team, and how can you build one, self-disclosure at work: strengthening team bonds and communication, similar articles, the ultimate guide to motivating a team — and why it matters, data shows since pandemic team performance hinges on this leader skill, why face-to-face communication matters (even with remote work), build the dream team you need. 9 steps show you how, 35 fun virtual team-building activities for your employees in 2024, spice things up with these icebreakers for virtual meetings, what are self-managed teams (and how can you create them), virtual coaching: the benefits of coaching without constraints, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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2 Case study: virtual team-working

You may have some experience of working in a virtual team. Alternatively you may know someone who works in this way and have heard them talk about some of the benefits and also some of the issues that can arise.

Take a look now at the case study of Lauren and consider why she has made the decision to work at home and why some of her colleagues decided against this.

Case study 1: Lauren

Lauren works for a global publishing company. Four years ago she was office-based but when her local office (in Reading, England) was closed to make financial savings, Lauren was one of a group of workers who did not want to relocate to the main office located some 150 miles away. As she had worked for the company for 15 years, they were not keen to lose her experience and knowledge. Along with Lauren, a number of experienced employees were offered home-working as an alternative to relocation.

While some of the Reading team did not feel this would suit them and decided to look for other work in the area or accepted relocation, a handful of Lauren’s colleagues decided to try working from home. Since then the company has closed three more offices and even more employees have taken up the home-working option.

A photo of a business meeting. In the room are four people sat at a table which is facing four screens. On three of the screens are people who are joining in on the meeting from different locations.

Activity 1 Your thoughts on virtual team working

While you may not have had a similar experience to Lauren, you can probably imagine what thoughts you would have if this happened to you. Take a moment now to consider:

• What benefits did the option of home-working offer the company?
• Why do you think some of the workers felt that they did not want to take the option of home-working?
• How would you have felt in this situation?
• What choice would you have made if you were Lauren and why?

There are no right or wrong answers here. How you would feel in a situation like this is largely a guess. Unless it actually happens, you will never know for sure. In the next section, we will explore in more detail some of the issues with working from home and you may already have thought of some yourself. Oft-quoted reasons for not choosing to work from home include lack of office space, the need to keep home life and work life separate, and concerns about your ability to motivate yourself without the team environment. You may have come up with others.

Alternatively you may have thought that if you were given that option, you would have liked to try working from home.

Frequently-cited advantages of virtual team-working and working from home for the employee include:

• flexibility
• increased job satisfaction
• reduction of travel time and associated costs.

Concerning the benefits from the employer’s perspective, virtual working offers:

• reduction of office space and associated costs
• ability to retain experienced staff
• increased diversity and global reach (Figure 3)
• ability to cover different time zones
• ability to recruit the ‘right’ employee even if they don’t want to move to the area the company is located in.

There may be others that you could add to these lists. You may notice that there are items common to both lists for example, cost reduction.

Despite the numerous advantages of virtual team-working there are also disadvantages. You will consider these next.

Communication, Collaboration and Leadership in Remote Teams

If TEAM stands for T ogether Ev eryone A chieves M ore, we can certainly say this is true for the #GCSC team ! We are a totally virtual team practicing just what we preach! We have been working as a team for a year and have not yet managed to meet up in person, not even once! While we haven’t yet met in person, we still have a fantastic team dynamic, absolute trust in each other and each one of us takes full ownership of both their individual and team responsibilities.

What are global virtual teams?

At this point in 2021, the vast majority of us know what a global  virtual team (GVT) is. The term ‘Emergency Remote Team’ was coined to describe teams forced into the remote setting, teams that would otherwise work in a co-located context. These teams differ from deliberate remote teams, consisting of “ interdependent individuals who predominantly use technology to communicate, collaborate, share information and coordinate their efforts in order to accomplish a common work-related objective” . 

This definition, at first glance, may seem simpler than it is! Over the past two decades, numerous studies and authors have deliberated over how to define what a “virtual team” is, with much disagreement over both the degree of ‘virtuality’ and the term ‘team’. Some authors define virtual teams as “groups of geographically and culturally dispersed co-workers using a combination of communication and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task”. Others put less emphasis on the team’s geographic and cultural dispersion and define them as “a group of people who work interdependently with a shared purpose across space, time and organization boundaries using technology”. Regardless of which definition you prefer, there are several commonalities that virtual teams have and that we’ve all been enjoying – to a greater or lesser extent – over the past year.

What Opportunities do GVTs bring?

Over the past months, you’ve probably been either singing the praises of virtual teams or bemoaning the fact that they’ve been invading your private life and disrupting your work-life balance. Maybe at this point we should out ourselves as non-believers in work-life balance, but instead true believers of work-life integration. Work takes up far too much of our time (and energy) to consider it as separate from our lives, which is why we much prefer to think in terms of having ‘work’ well integrated into our lives. Okay, we are still working on the ‘well’ part of that equation, but you know what we mean! 

Depending on the organizational context and setting, there are a number of benefits that GVT’s bring. The first benefit, that the interculturalists among us like to refer to, is the fact that virtual teams contribute to diversity of thought, problem-solving, innovation & creativity, while at the same time bringing new perspectives. Additionally, Duarte & Synder (2006) point to the fact that organizations can adapt more quickly to the global economy, help leverage talent, improve work-life balance and job satisfaction, as well as reduce travel and mandatory relocation. All of which contribute to an organization’s agility, resilience and ability to effectively navigate fast-changing environments. While the reduction in travel is perhaps not something interculturalists are singing and dancing about, for obvious reasons, the environmental impact of reduced travel is certainly significant.

What characterizes effective GVT’s?

Authors such as Brown et al (2006) would have us believe that effective virtual teams understand their shared goals and objectives, know what is expected of them, have the technology they need to accomplish their tasks, know how to use it, and are motivated to use the technology to perform their jobs well. This says nothing of the team leader, who is often crucial in leading the team in the virtual environment, which let’s face it is not an easy task! When we think about the #GCSC team, we would have to add how important effective communication is (synchronous and asynchronous) and also having a strong team dynamic: both we consider as a prerequisite for success. As members of the #GCSC team, the Global Case Study Challenge is actually only one of our many daily job-related activities. Individually we all have several other commitments, which is why it’s hugely important for us to be totally transparent and open about where the #GCSC is on our list of priorities at a particular time. The fact that we actually achieve this level of transparency is due to a fantastic sense of commitment to the project, our willingness and interest in engaging with each other (both professionally and personally), and a determination at an individual and group level to take ownership of the project. In short, we’re totally passionate about what we’re doing and completely convinced of its value and impact!

A recent study (2020) by Buffer on the State of Remote Work among 3500 participants showed that a humongous 97% of remote workers would recommend remote work to others. Among the top three benefits identified of working remotely were the ability of having a flexible schedule, the flexibility to work from anywhere and not having to commute. Among the top challenges were the collaboration and communication, loneliness and not being able to switch off! As a team, we think we can verify all of the above.

How can virtual teams develop trust?

Well, trust building is clearly easier in teams, which are passionate about their common goal and are open and curious enough to get to know their team members. This also partly requires a team leader with the drive to leverage the strengths of each individual member of the team . In our case with the #GCSC, we start off all our meetings with a ‘check-in’ to pick up on how everyone is doing – work-wise and personally. Initially we purposefully scheduled time for this, but soon our check-ins burst the seams of our timeframe…which was ok if we had time! If all four of us had a free schedule after our meetings this was great, if not we had to be very clear about our timeframes. This is also why it’s so incredibly important for virtual teams to plan for team-building time regularly. This can be a simple coffee-call or dinner-call, some fun ice-breakers during a meeting, or simple pre-meeting check-ins. When people on a team all work in the same place, the level of social distance is usually low(er). Even if they come from different backgrounds, people can interact formally and informally, align, and build trust… just by meeting at the coffee machine, watercooler or copy machine! They arrive at a common understanding of what certain behaviors mean, and they feel close and congenial, which fosters good teamwork. Coworkers who are geographically separated, however, can’t easily connect and align, so they experience higher levels of social distance and struggle to develop effective interactions. This is why it’s so important to consider enough time to build relationships and trust with your team, e.g. using the check-in technique during meetings or organising virtual team buildings. Be creative!

How can global virtual teams build trust?

Consider the following simple but effective tips from the Huffington Post .

1. Timeliness. What constitutes a timely reply to an email? Do emails with certain subject lines take priority? What is the “end of the business day” for teams across different time zones? Establishing expectations can help the team benchmark communication performance. The goal is to get teams to trust that teammates will reply in a timely manner to emails, voicemail, and deadlines. 

2. Completeness. Are responses to requests sufficient? This includes deadlines, next steps, or specific instructions for follow-up. Managers can provide templates for instances where they feel responses are inadequate.

3. Reliability. Consistent quality, timing, and interaction build trust with virtual teams. Teams work best when they can count on one another to regularly deliver high levels of performance. 

We can only reinforce the points above from our personal experience with the #GCSC team that these three elements are crucial in trust building! Team cohesion is high and we all contribute, not always equally… but fairly, to the success of the project.

To sum up, the success of our #GCSC is based on the flexibility as a team; relies on the fact that we are goal & relationship driven; hinges on us having clearly aligned common goals as well as transparent individual goals, is dependent on us having a high degree of internal trust and a clear communication plan (Whatsapp, slack, trello…), and it requires us all to be tech-savvy!

#GCSC Recommendations for GVTs

• Devote time to developing relationships
• Focus on trust
• Create team charter/rules (communication and other rules)
• Create an agenda before each meeting and stick to it
• Send summary notes after meetings and to-dos linked to individuals
• Rotate time-zones where possible, to include everyone
• Encourage active participation during meetings
• Consider and deal with language issues (accents, language levels, power and language issues)
• Encourage asynchronous discussions

… and don’t forget about the fun in your GVT work!

Brown, Huettner, and James-Tanny (2006) : Managing Virtual Teams: Getting The Most From Wikis, Blogs, And Other Collaborative Tools, Jones & Bartlett Learning, online here .

Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2006). Mastering virtual teams: Strategies, tools, and techniques that succeed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

David B. Nast (2017): Trust and Virtual Teams, published with the Huffington Post

Buffer & AngelList (2020): State of Remote Work report

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16 Team Building Case Studies and Training Case Studies

From corporate groups to remote employees and everything in between, the key to a strong business is creating a close-knit team. in this comprehensive case study, we look at how real-world organizations benefited from team building, training, and coaching programs tailored to their exact needs.  .

Updated: December 21, 2021

We’re big believers in the benefits of  team building ,  training and development , and  coaching and consulting  programs. That’s why our passion for helping teams achieve their goals is at the core of everything we do.

At Outback Team Building & Training,  our brand promis e  is  to be  recommended , flexible,  and  fast.  Because we understand that when it comes to building a stronger and more close-knit team, there’s no one-size-fits-all formula. Each of our customers have a unique set of challenges, goals, and definitions of success. 

And they look to us to support them in three key ways:  making their lives easy by taking on the complexities of organizing a team building or training event; acting fast so that they can get their event planned and refocus on all the other tasks they have on their plates, and giving them the confidence that they’ll get an event their team will benefit from – and enjoy.

In this definitive team building case study , we’ll do a deep dive into real-world solutions we provided for our customers.

4 Unique Team Building Events & Training Programs Custom-Tailored for Customer Needs 

1. a custom charity event for the bill & melinda gates foundation  , 2. how principia built a stronger company culture even with its remote employees working hundreds of miles apart , 3. custom change management program for the royal canadian mint, 4. greenfield global uses express team building to boost morale and camaraderie during a challenging project, 5 virtual team building activities to help remote teams reconnect, 1. how myzone used virtual team building to boost employee morale during covid-19, 2. americorps equips 90 temporary staff members for success with midyear virtual group training sessions, 3. how microsoft’s azure team used virtual team building to lift spirits during the covid-19 pandemic, 4. helping the indiana cpa society host a virtual team building activity that even the most “zoom fatigued” guests would love, 5. stemcell brightens up the holiday season for its cross-departmental team with a virtually-hosted team building activity, 3 momentum-driving events for legacy customers, 1. how a satellite employee “garnered the reputation” as her team’s pro event planner, 2. why plentyoffish continues to choose ‘the amazing race’ for their company retreat, 3. how team building helped microsoft employees donate a truckload of food, 4 successful activities executed on extremely tight timelines, 1. finding a last-minute activity over a holiday, 2. from inquiry to custom call in under 30 minutes, 3. a perfect group activity organized in one business day, 4. delivering team building for charity in under one week.

We know that every team has different needs and goals which is why we are adept at being flexible and have mastered the craft of creating custom events for any specifications.  

When the  Seattle, Washington -based head office of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – a world-renowned philanthropic organization – approached us in search of a unique charity event, we knew we needed to deliver something epic. Understanding that their team had effectively done it all when it comes to charity events, it was important for them to be able to get together as a team and give back  in new ways .

Our team decided the best way to do this was to create a brand-new event for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which had never been executed before. We created an entirely new charitable event – Bookworm Builders – for them and their team loved it! It allowed them to give back to their community, collaborate, get creative, and work together for a common goal. Bookworm Builders has since gone on to become a staple activity for tons of other Outback Team Building & Training customers! 

To learn more about how it all came together, read the case study:  A Custom Charity Event for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation .

Who said hosting an impactful training program means having your full team in the same place at the same time? Principia refused to let distance prevent them from having a great team, so they contacted us to help them find a solution. Their goals were to find better ways of working together and to create a closer-knit company culture among their 20 employees and contractors living in various parts of the country. 

We worked with Principia to host an  Emotional Intelligence  skill development training event customized to work perfectly for their remote team. The result was a massive positive impact for the company. They found they experienced improved employee alignment with a focus on company culture, as well as more emotionally aware and positive day-to-day interactions. In fact, the team made a 100% unanimous decision to bring back Outback for additional training sessions.

To learn more about this unique situation, read the full case study:  How Principia Built a Stronger Company Culture Even with its Remote Employees Working Hundreds of Miles Apart .

We know that employee training that is tailored to your organization can make the difference between an effective program and a waste of company time. That’s why our team jumped at the opportunity to facilitate a series of custom development sessions to help the Royal Canadian Mint discover the tools they needed to manage a large change within their organization. 

We hosted three custom sessions to help the organization recognize the changes that needed to be made, gain the necessary skills to effectively manage the change, and define a strategy to implement the change: 

• Session One:  The first session was held in November and focused on preparing over 65 employees for change within the company. 
• Session Two:  In December, the Mint’s leadership team participated in a program that provided the skills and mindset required to lead employees through change. 
• Session Three:  The final session in February provided another group of 65 employees with guidance on how to implement the change. 

To learn more, read the full case study:  Custom Change Management Program for the Royal Canadian Mint .

When Greenfield Global gathered a team of its A-Players to undertake a massive, challenging project, they knew it was important to build rapports among colleagues, encourage collaboration, and have some fun together.

So, we helped them host an Express Clue Murder Mystery event where their team used their unique individual strengths and problem-solving approaches in order to collaboratively solve challenges.

To learn more, read the full case study:  Greenfield Global Uses Express Team Building to Boost Morale and Camaraderie During a Challenging Project .

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we were proud to be able to continue supporting our customers’ goals with virtual team building activities and group training sessions.

With remote work being mandated as self-quarantine requirements are enforced on a global scale, companies began seeking ways to keep their newly-remote teams engaged and ensure morale remained as high as possible.

And MyZone was no exception. When the company found themselves feeling the effects of low employee morale and engagement, they noticed a decrease in productivity and motivation.

To make matters even more difficult, MyZone’s team works remotely with employees all over the world. This physical distancing makes it challenging for them to build a strong rapport, reinforce team dynamics, and boost morale and engagement.

The company was actively searching for an activity to help bring their employees closer together during this challenging time but kept running into a consistent issue: the majority of the team building activities they could find were meant to be done in person.

They reached out to Outback Team Building and Training and we were able to help them achieve their goals with a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery team building activity.

AmeriCorps members are dedicated to relieving the suffering of those who have been impacted by natural disasters. And to do so, they rely on the support of a team of temporary staff members who work one-year terms with the organization. These staff focus on disseminating emergency preparedness information and even providing immediate assistance to victims of a disaster.

During its annual midyear training period, AmeriCorps gathers its entire team of temporary staff for a week of professional development seminars aimed at both helping them during their term with the company as well as equipping them with skills they can use when they leave AmeriCorps.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic got underway, AmeriCorps was forced to quickly re-evaluate the feasibility of its midyear training sessions.

That’s when they reached out to Outback. Rather than having to cancel their midyear training entirely, we were able to help them achieve their desired results with four virtual group training sessions: Clear Communication ,  Performance Management Fundamentals ,  Emotional Intelligence , and  Practical Time Management .

Find all the details in the full case study: AmeriCorps Equips 90 Temporary Staff Members for Success with Midyear Virtual Training Sessions.

With the COVID-19 pandemic taking a significant toll on the morale of its employees, Microsoft’s Azure team knew they were overdue for an uplifting event.

It was critical for their team building event to help staff reconnect and reengage with one another. But since the team was working remotely, the activity needed to be hosted virtually and still be fun, engaging, and light-hearted.

When they reached out to Outback Team Building and Training, we discussed the team’s goals and quickly identified a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery as the perfect activity to help their team get together online and have some fun together.

For more information, check out the entire case study: How Microsoft’s Azure Team Used Virtual Team Building to Lift Spirits During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Indiana CPA Society is the go-to resource for the state’s certified public accountants. The organization supports CPAs with everything from continuing education to networking events and even advocacy or potential legislation issues that could affect them.

But as the time approached for one of INCPAS’ annual Thanksgiving event, the Indiana CPA Society’s Social Committee needed to plan a modified, pandemic-friendly event for a group of people who were burnt out my online meetings and experiencing Zoom fatigue.

So, we helped the team with a Self-Hosted Virtual Code Break team building activity that INCPAS staff loved so much, the organization decided to host a second event for its Young Pros and volunteers.

For INCPAS’ Social Committee, the pressure to put on an event that everyone will enjoy is something that’s always on their mind when planning out activities. And their event lived up to their hopes.

For more information, check out the entire case study: Helping the Indiana CPA Society Host a Virtual Team Building Activity That Even the Most “Zoom Fatigued” Guests Would Love .

When Stemcell was looking for a way to celebrate the holidays, lift its team members’ spirits, and help connect cross-departmental teams during the pandemic, they contacted us to help host the perfect team building activity.

They tasked us with finding an event that would help team members connect, get in the holiday spirit, and learn more about the business from one another during the midst of a stressful and challenging time.

So, we helped them host a festive, virtually-hosted Holiday Hijinks team building activity for employees from across the company.

For more information, check out the entire case study: Stemcell Brightens Up the Holiday Season for its Cross-Departmental Team with a Virtually-Hosted Team Building Activity .

We take pride in being recommended by more than 14,000 corporate groups because it means that we’ve earned their trust through delivering impactful results.

We’ve been in this business for a long time, and we know that not everybody who’s planning a corporate event is a professional event planner. But no matter if it’s their first time planning an event or their tenth, we  love  to help make our customers look good in front of their team. And when an employee at Satellite Healthcare was tasked with planning a team building event for 15 of her colleagues, she reached out to us – and we set out to do just that!

Our customer needed a collaborative activity that would help a diverse group of participants get to know each other, take her little to no time to plan, and would resonate with the entire group.

With that in mind, we helped her facilitate a  Military Support Mission . The event was a huge success and her colleagues loved it. In fact, she has now garnered a reputation as the team member who knows how to put together an awesome team building event.

To learn more, read the case study here:  How a Satellite Employee “Garnered the Reputation” as Her Team’s Pro Event Planner .

In 2013, international dating service POF (formerly known as PlentyOfFish) reached out to us in search of an exciting outdoor team building activity that they could easily put to work at their annual retreat in  Whistler, B.C . An innovative and creative company, they were in search of an activity that could help their 60 staff get to know each other better. They also wanted the event to be hosted so that they could sit back and enjoy the fun.

The solution? We helped them host their first-ever  Amazing Race  team building event.

Our event was so successful that POF has now hosted The Amazing Race at their annual retreat for  five consecutive years .

To learn more, check out our full case study:  Why PlentyOfFish Continues to Choose ‘The Amazing Race’ for Their Company Retreat .

As one of our longest-standing and most frequent collaborators, we know that Microsoft is always in search of new and innovative ways to bring their teams closer together. With a well-known reputation for being avid advocates of corporate social responsibility, Microsoft challenged us with putting together a charitable team building activity that would help their team bond outside the office and would be equal parts fun, interactive, and philanthropic. 

We analyzed which of our six charitable team building activities would be the best fit for their needs, and we landed on the perfect one: End-Hunger Games. In this event, the Microsoft team broke out into small groups, tackled challenges like relay races and target practice, and earned points in the form of non-perishable food items. Then, they used their cans and boxes of food to try and build the most impressive structure possible in a final, collaborative contest. As a result, they were able to donate a truckload of goods to the local food bank.

For more details, check out the comprehensive case study:  How Team Building Helped Microsoft Employees Donate a Truckload of Food .

Time isn’t always a luxury that’s available to our customers when it comes to planning a great team activity which is why we make sure we are fast, agile, and can accommodate any timeline. 

Nothing dampens your enjoyment of a holiday more than having to worry about work – even if it’s something fun like a team building event. But for one T-Mobile employee, this was shaping up to be the case. That’s because, on the day before the holiday weekend, she found out that she needed to organize a last-minute activity for the day after July Fourth. 

So, she reached out to Outback Team Building & Training to see if there was anything we could do to help – in less than three business days. We were happy to be able to help offer her some peace of mind over her holiday weekend by recommending a quick and easy solution: a  Code Break  team building activity. It was ready to go in less than three days, the activity organized was stress-free during her Fourth of July weekend, and, most importantly, all employees had a great experience. 

For more details, check out the full story here:  Finding a Last-Minute Activity Over a Holiday .

At Outback Team Building & Training, we know our customers don’t always have time on their side when it comes to planning and executing an event. Sometimes, they need answers right away so they can get to work on creating an unforgettable experience for their colleagues.

This was exactly the case when Black & McDonald approached us about a learning and development session that would meet the needs of their unique group, and not take too much time to plan. At 10:20 a.m., the organization reached out with an online inquiry. By 10:50 a.m., they had been connected with one of our training facilitators for a more in-depth conversation regarding their objectives.

Three weeks later, a group of 14  Toronto, Ontario -based Black & McDonald employees took part in a half-day tailor-made training program that was built around the objectives of the group, including topics such as emotional intelligence and influence, communication styles, and the value of vulnerability in a leader.

To learn more about how this event was able to come together so quickly, check out the full story:  From Inquiry to Custom Call in Under 30 Minutes .

When Conexus Credit Union contacted us on a Friday afternoon asking if we could facilitate a team building event for six employees the following Monday morning, we said, “Absolutely!” 

The team at Conexus Credit Union were looking for an activity that would get the group’s mind going and promote collaboration between colleagues. And we knew just what to recommend:  Code Break Express  – an activity filled with brainteasers, puzzles, and riddles designed to test the group’s mental strength. 

The Express version of Code Break was ideal for Conexus Credit Union’s shorter time frame because our Express activities have fewer challenges and can be completed in an hour or less. They’re self-hosted, so the company’s group organizer was able to easily and efficiently run the activity on their own.

To learn more about how we were able to come together and make this awesome event happen, take a look at our case study:  A Perfect Group Activity Organized in One Business Day .

We’ve been lucky enough to work with Accenture – a company which has appeared on FORTUNE’s list of “World’s Most Admired Companies” for 14 years in a row – on a number of team building activities in the past. 

The organization approached us with a request to facilitate a philanthropic team building activity for 15 employees. The hitch? They needed the event to be planned, organized, and executed within one week. 

Staying true to our brand promise of being fast to act on behalf of our customers, our team got to work planning Accenture’s event. We immediately put to work the experience of our Employee Engagement Consultants, the flexibility of our solutions, and the organization of our event coordinators. And six days later, Accenture’s group was hard at work on a  Charity Bike Buildathon , building bikes for kids in need.

To learn more about how we helped Accenture do some good in a short amount of time, read the full case study:  Delivering Team Building for Charity in Under One Week .

Learn More About Team Building, Training and Development, and Coaching and Consulting Solutions 

For more information about how Outback Team Building & Training can help you host unforgettable team activities to meet your specific goals and needs on virtually any time frame and budget, just reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.  

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 From corporate groups to remote employees and everything in between, the key to a strong business is creating a close-knit team. That’s why you need to do team-building sessions as much as you can.

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Three red flags to watch for.

Being happy and positive at work can be a win-win for employees and organizations. But what happens when your boss practices toxic positivity? No matter how bad or stressful the situation is or how difficult the circumstances, they convince themselves that simply acting happy or thinking positively will change the outcome — then spread this toxic positivity to their teams. By doing so, they put the responsibility on individuals to try to survive and persevere in broken and dysfunctional environments, without addressing the root causes at hand. How can you tell the difference between a boss who is optimistic, thinks positively, and coaches and inspires their team and one who practices toxic positivity? The author presents three red flags to watch for.

“Let’s add another million dollars to the forecast this year,” said our vice president excitedly. In our team meeting, he stood up and shouted, “We can do this! I believe in you! Let’s get it done!” while clapping his hands. Walking around the conference room, he alternated between patting team members on the back and offering fist pumps.

• Mita Mallick is the author of Reimagine Inclusion , a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller. She is currently the head of DEI at Carta. She is a LinkedIn Top Voice, cohost of The Brown Table Talk  podcast, and her writing has been published in Fast Company, The New York Post, and Adweek.

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Property Portal Marketing Case Study: Staying Safe and Preventing Post-Update Bugs with Patchstack

Patchstack user since: June 2023

Raise your hand if you’ve applied a security update to one of your sites, only to see that something got broken in the process.

Hand raised? Don’t worry – it’s a WordPress rite of passage. However, that doesn’t mean you should avoid updates and risk exposing your site to plugin vulnerability attacks. 

Simply do what the Property Portal Marketing team does: use Patchstack and give yourself time to test the update in peace.

The problem with WordPress updates and security

Property Portal Marketing creates and maintains websites for overseas real estate agents. Like many developers, the team has had issues with attacks . 

Sometimes, they couldn’t easily find the backdoor used to launch an attack. At the same time, they were more than aware that plugins caused 97% of all security bugs – bugs that attackers are dying to exploit.

They updated plugins manually as soon as possible. Unfortunately, compatibility became a huge issue. Since WordPress doesn’t check for compatibility with new plugin versions , the sites in PPM’s roster used to get broken.

As Christopher Thompson, founder and CEO of Property Portal Marketing, explains:

“A lot of the time, with auto-updates, it messes up something else on the site which causes us and our clients a lot of headaches, and, of course, if you just leave the plugin without any protection, it opens a back door for a hacker to come in, upload files, and do whatever they want to do with the site. We had to find a way of protecting those plugins while still being able to have a functioning site.”

That’s when they discovered Patchstack. 

How does the PPM team use Patchstack?

Since Patchstack provides real-time protection whenever there is a vulnerability in one of the installed plugins, the issues with attacks on Property Portal Marketing’s client websites have stopped - so far, so good!

Knowing their clients’ sites are safe, PPM doesn’t have to rush to update . 

Instead, they can test the updates first and ensure nothing will break on the websites. The websites stay up and, thanks to Patchstack, are protected from attacks.

Okay, but how exactly does the Patchstack protection work?

Patchstack doesn’t alter your website code . It forms a protective layer around your website with virtual patching , checking specifically for attacks that want to exploit specific vulnerabilities. 

Then, it issues highly-targeted security rules to keep you safe until you can update the plugin.

Does Patchstack affect my site performance or speed?

No! Patchstack is lightweight, with PHP processing times of 0.11 milliseconds . And since the rules are deployed only when there is a vulnerability to be exploited, it doesn’t take up a lot of website resources.

Staying functional, staying safe

For a very long time, developers felt like they had to either compromise on the side of security or functionality. Fortunately, that’s no longer the case. 

If you choose your plugin stack correctly and use Patchstack to ensure you have time to test updates, you can have beautiful, powerful, and safe websites.

Give your clients the world’s fastest vulnerability protection. Explore Patchstack or book a demo. 

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• Announcements
• Copilot Studio

Microsoft Copilot Studio: Building copilots with agent capabilities

Omar Aftab , Vice President, Conversational AI , Tuesday, May 21, 2024

At Microsoft Build 2024 , we’re excited to announce a host of new powerful capabilities in   Microsoft Copilot Studio —t he single conversational AI tool you can use to create your very own custom copilots or extend Microsoft C opilot experiences with your own enterprise data and scenarios.

The first of these are c opilots that can now act as independent agents— ones that can be triggered by events— not just conversation— and can automa te and orchestrate complex, long-running business processes with more autonomy and less human intervention.

For instance, consider the potential of a copilot that can react when an email arrives, look up the sender’s details, see their previous communications, and use generative AI to trigger the appropriate chain of actions in their response. From understanding the intent of the email, to look ing up the sender’s details and account , see ing their previous communications, checking inventory,   responding to the sender asking for their preferences, and then taking the appropriate actions to close a ticket — orchestrating and shepherding an entire process over days.  

With such capabilities, copilots are evolving from those that work with you to those that work for you. They can be designed to handle specific roles or functions, such as IT, marketing, sales, customer success, and finance across various industries, including travel, retail, and financial services.  

With these new capabilities, here are some examples of the kinds of copilots our customers can build:  

• IT help desk .  IT support is complex, involving tickets, order numbers, approvals, and stock levels . O pening and closing a ticket can be a long-running task that spans days. A copilot can now handle this process, interfacing with IT service management applications, resolving IT tickets with context and memory, creating purchase orders for device refresh, and reaching out and getting managers approvals — all independently .
• Employee onboarding . Onboarding new employees is often expensive and slow. Now, imagine you’re a new hire. A copilot greets you, reasons over HR data, and answers your questions. It introduces you to your buddy, provides training and deadlines, assists with forms, and sets up your first week of meetings. Throughout all of this, the copilot is in touch, guiding you through the weeks -long onboarding and account set up processes.  
• Personal concierge for sales and service . Balancing exceptional customer experience while meeting ambitious revenue goals can be challenging. When a copilot serves guests, i t can use the memory of previous conversations with guests to remember their preferences, make reservations, handle complaints, and answer questions related to the products and services on offer. The copilot learns from its interactions and proposes new ways of handling customer scenarios. By doing so, copilots can increase upsell and attachment rates, driving revenue for the resort while simultaneously enhancing guest experience, satisfaction rates, and repeat business.

Let’s dig deeper into a few of the underlying capabilities that make all this possible:

• Asynchronous orchestration of complex tasks . The first is the ability to use generative AI- powered   planning and reasoning to manage complex, multi step, long-running tasks. For example, reacting to a new order means determining the need to verify inventory, trigger ing the right payment processes, pinging a supervisor for approval if the amount is above a certain threshold, and replying with a confirmation. Many of these events can take hours—or even days— to complete, but the copilot will run through them , maintaining the necessary state and context to do so.
• Memory and context . One of the frustrating things about support has traditionally been having to repeat information: who you are, what your policy number is, what your address is. There is no continuity of conversation. Copilots will now learn from previous conversations from the users and utilize this knowledge to continually personalize interactions . A copilot may not need to ask you for your laptop model or your address when you call again for the same issue. Conversations will thus become long-running, contextual, and deeply personalized.
• Monitor, learn, and improve . Copilots can now learn and adapt, offering monitoring and teaching capabilities to make their interactions better. Each copilot records a comprehensive history of its activities, providing transparency into its performance, including user interactions, actions taken, and feedback received, and you can see what decisions it made — and correct and teach them — with just a few clicks.

• Delegation with confidence and guardrails . When developing copilots with agent capabilities, establishing clear boundaries is paramount. Copilots operate strictly within the confines of the maker-defined instructions, knowledge, and actions. The data sources linked to the copilot adhere to stringent security measures and controls, managed through the unified admin center of Copilot Studio. This includes data loss prevention, robust authentication protocols, and more.

The se advanced new capabilities in Copilot Studio are currently accessible to customers participating in a limited private preview  where organizations such as Centro de la Familia are excited to explore agent capabilities that support teachers and case workers, allowing them to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time working with children, ultimately leading to better child outcomes . Based on feedback from program participants, we will continue to iterate and refine these capabilities for broader access in a preview planned for later this year .  

Additional innovations with Copilot Studio

There’s a lot more to share at Microsoft Build with Copilot Studio, and we’ll touch on just a few of our new capabilities here. To learn more — just sign up and try it out for yourself here .

It’s easier than ever to create c opilots .  With Copilot Studio, creating and testing copilots is now incredibly simple. You can create your copilot with our brand new conversationally driven experience — simply describe what you want it to do, and what knowledge you want it to have, and Copilot Studio will create your very own c opilot. You can then immediately test it out, add additional capabilities, such as your own actions, APIs, and enterprise knowledge — and then publish it live with a few clicks.

Connect all your enterprise data with Copilot c onnectors .   Customers want copilots connected with data from their own enterprises business systems and apps. Copilot connectors enable anyone to ground their copilot in business and collaboration data. This makes it possible for copilots to use various data sources, including public websites, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Dataverse tables, Microsoft Fabric OneLake (coming this calendar year), Microsoft Graph, as well as leading third-party apps. You can even create your own custom generative prompts to configure how a copilot handles a response from an API or connector.

Here are a few examples of how Copilot connectors can transform copilot experiences for specific personas or functions:

• Legal and Compliance . Navigate complex legal landscapes with a Copilot extension that queries specific legal datasets, ensuring controlled and compliant responses without overwhelming users with extraneous information.
• HR Helper . Assist employees with accessing essential resources for benefits and PTO policies, and even book time off directly through Copilot.
• Incident Report Coordinator . Workers can locate the right documentation, report incidents, and track them efficiently, all within the context of the chat.

Starting in June 2024, developers can access the preview for Copilot connectors and stay informed on updates here .

Conversational analytics (private preview) : One of the most common asks from customers has been the need for deeper insight into what their copilot is doing, how generative AI is responding, when it was unable to give the right answers and why — and recommendations on what to do to improve it.

Templates : If simply describing your copilot to build it wasn’t easy enough, Copilot Studio will now also include a variety of pre-built copilot samples for departments and industries. Some templates — such as Safe Travels for comprehensive travel support, Organization Navigator for organizational clarity, Kudos Copilot for fostering recognition, Wellness for employee health insights — are available now, with many more releasing in the coming months.

Enhanced security and controls (public preview ) : Administrators can now configure advanced settings beyond the default security measures and controls. With Microsoft Purview , Copilot Studio administrators gain access to more detailed governance tools, including audit logs, inventory capabilities, and sensitivity labels. They will be able to review comprehensive audit logs that cover tenant-wide usage, inventory (with API support), and tenant hygiene (such as data loss prevention violations and inactive copilots), enabling them to effectively monitor business impact. Both creators and end-users will be able to view sensitivity labels when responses are generated using AI-powered answers based on SharePoint documents.

With all the amazing innovations, numerous organizations are using Copilot Studio to build transformative generative AI-powered solutions. Check out this story from Nsure on how they are using Copilot Studio:

Get started today with Copilot Studio

This is just a glimpse of all the exciting innovation around copilots and Copilot Studio — we have a host of exciting new capabilities to share in our sessions at Build. So, join us in watching the sessions below, and try out Copilot Studio yourself and build and share your very own copilot in minutes.

Watch the sessions at Microsoft Build:

• “ Microsoft Build opening keynote ”
• “ Next generation AI for developers with the Microsoft Cloud ”
• “ Shaping next-gen development: the future of Copilot in Power Platform ”

Deeper dives:

• Breakout: “ What’s new with Microsoft Copilot Studio ”
• Breakout with demos: “ Build your own copilot with Microsoft Copilot Studio ”
• Breakout with demos: “ Build Microsoft Copilot extensions with Copilot Studio ”
• Demo (live only): “ Build your own Copilot extension with Microsoft Copilot Studio ”

Coordinating Global Virtual Teams: Building Theory from a Case Study of Software Development

• Conference paper
• Cite this conference paper

• Gaye Kiely 17 ,
• Tom Butler 17 &
• Patrick Finnegan 18  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 6051))

Included in the following conference series:

• International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering

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3 Citations

Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) enable organizations to operate across national, economic and social, and cultural boundaries. However, this form of teamwork presents issues for traditional project management coordination mechanisms. There is a significant body of research on these challenges. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the specific impact these issues may have on coordination mechanisms in GVTs. This paper seeks to address this gap by applying a theoretical model drawn from extant research to explore the coordination mechanisms used by a software development GVT in a Fortune 100 telecommunications manufacturer. The study employs a mixed methodology grounded theory approach to examine the effect that specific virtual team issues have on the effectiveness of team coordination mechanisms. It then develops a refined conceptual model to guide future research on GVTs involved in software development. The findings also inform practice on the problems encountered in ensuring the effective coordination of such teams.

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Virtual teams and software project management success in a developing country: an empirical study

Structuring Successful Global Virtual Teams

Software quality and development speed in global software development teams.

• Global Virtual Teams
• Coordination Mechanisms
• Software Development
• Project Management

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Gaye Kiely & Tom Butler

University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Patrick Finnegan

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Kiely, G., Butler, T., Finnegan, P. (2010). Coordinating Global Virtual Teams: Building Theory from a Case Study of Software Development. In: Pernici, B. (eds) Advanced Information Systems Engineering. CAiSE 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6051. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13094-6_23

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