Building trust and collaboration in a virtual team Judith A. Holton Introduction With the acceleration of communications technology, we now find ourselves living and working in an increasingly global virtual environment. Organizational development professionals are beginning to consider how virtual communications technology will influence the way in which we work together ��� whether it will enhance or hinder organizational effectiveness. Virtual team work is a subject of increasing interest (Belbin, 1981 1993 Geber, 1995 Grenier and Metes, 1995 Hutchins, 1996 Kostner, 1994 Townsend et al., 1996). The need to understand better and purposefully design technology supported systems for organizational communications and ������community building������ is an area deserving further study. The challenge to team building in a virtual environment is that of creating avenues and opportunities for team members to have the level and depth of dialogue necessary to create a shared future. Particularly important is the need to ensure that adequate time is devoted to strategies and systems for generative conversations as well as creating shared meaning and a commitment to a culture of collaboration. Experimenting with a variety of team building techniques designed to promote the development of deep dialogue may provide the groundwork for assessing the application of these techniques to the unique dynamics of virtual teams, where issues of cultural diversity, geographic distance and member isolation can increase the challenges to effective collaboration. The ability to work collaboratively is recognized as a core competency of a learning organization. It is trust, however, which truly denotes the collaborative dynamic of a learning organization (Handy, 1995a). Trust develops through frequent and meaningful interaction, where individuals learn to feel comfortable and open in sharing their individual insights and concerns, where ideas and assumptions can be challenged without fear or risk of repercussion and where diversity of opinion is valued over commonality or compliance. Caring talk, personal conversations and story telling are forms of discourse which can establish a mood of support and encourage self- disclosure and the sharing of feelings. These can also enhance group trust and make other, The author Judith A. Holton is Executive Consultant, Office of Planning, Development and Research, Human and Corporate Services, Holland College, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. E-mail: jholton@hollandc.pe.ca Keywords Teams, Team building, Work organization Abstract Organizations are increasing their reliance on virtual relationships in structuring operations for a global environment. Like all teams, virtual teams require a solid foundation of mutual trust and collaboration, if they are to function effectively. Identifying and applying appropriate team building strategies for a virtual environment will not only enhance organizational effectiveness but will also impact positively on the quality of working life for virtual team members. Electronic access The research register for this journal is available at http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emerald-library.com/ft 36 Team Performance Management: An International Journal Volume 7 . Number 3/4 . 2001 . pp. 36���47 # MCB University Press . ISSN 1352-7592

more critical kinds of conversation possible (Comstock and Fox, 1995). Encouraging shared interests, common values and mutually satisfying solutions are essential to leveraging the potential of knowledge workers (Quinn et al., 1996). Collaborative learning, as the basis for effective organizational team building, requires a level of personal familiarity, intimacy and trust, allowing team members to listen to one another with respect and understanding (Comstock and Fox, 1995). For most newly forming teams, achieving this level of personal interaction is not an easy or a natural state. We are socialized to reduce conflict, frequently through compliance or compromise. When working in teams, however, it is through the respectful encouragement and consideration of diversity that we achieve creativity and innovation or ������breakthrough thinking������. Once a team learns to recognize, respect and use its diversity, it can truly expect to achieve the optimum interdependence characteristic of a high performance team. Establishing trust is fundamental to the successful formation and growth of any new work team (Glacel, 1997 Awe, 1997 Senge et al., 1994). Increasingly, researchers are recognizing the importance of assessing not only a team���s technical skills but also its competency in such areas as team building, group dynamics, conflict resolution and group communications skills (Cianni and Wnuck, 1997). The importance of humour, ritual and ceremony in bonding group members is also well documented (Bennis, 1997 Bolman and Deal, 1991). In a virtual team, where many of the traditional ways in which humans establish bonds through physical contact and socializing are absent or at best limited, the importance of building trust assumes pivotal importance (Handy, 1995a 1995b). Sophisticated communications technology can enhance the ability of teams to collaborate but will not substitute for team maturity (Cianni and Wnuck, 1997). The ideal situation would therefore seem to be that in which an established and well performing team adds virtuality to its operational dynamic. Increasingly, however, virtual teams will form without the advantage of prior face-to-face team building opportunities but with the added challenges of geographic isolation, time zone differentials and cultural diversity. Such diversity within a team, however, appears to have the potential to increase opportunities to be innovative, creative and stimulating, if trust can be established within the membership (Dyer, 1995). Research indicates as well that there may be benefits in terms of a diverse group���s ability to generate decision- making alternatives and to cooperate, once the group has been together for a while (Milliken and Martins, 1996). Ensuring, therefore, that teams are encouraged to spend sufficient time and are supported in their efforts to establish high levels of interaction and trust may very well determine the future success of the virtual organization. The attention paid to both the importance and the complexity of effective team building gives some indication of its central role in strategic organizational development over the past decade (Belbin, 1981 1993 Katzenbach and Smith, 1993 Scholtes, 1991 Schrage, 1990 1995 Senge et al., 1994). Developing the ability to effectively collaborate becomes critical, as we continue to move toward a global, knowledge-based economy. The power base in the information age is indeed the ability to organize, create and distribute information to others. As such, knowledge work productivity is directly related to effective interpersonal relations including how people feel about each other, on what they focus attention, the methods they use to make decisions and the expectations they set for themselves (Pasmore and Purser, 1993). The consequences of virtual work are, therefore, by-products of social designs rather than technology alone (Kling and Jewett, 1995). How one creates trust within a team of individuals working across distance, time zones, cultures and professional disciplines is a challenge that an increasing number of organizational leaders will face. The selection and effective utilization of communications tools designed to initiate and develop meaningful dialogue among virtual team members is the critical first step in opening team members to that level of genuine conversation, or deep dialogue, essential to building trust and effective collaboration (Senge et al., 1994). Dialogue plays a key role in facilitating collaborative learning and transforming mental models within a group (Schein, 1995). It is social learning at its best (Comstock and Fox, 1995). Deep dialogue becomes a vehicle for creating ������sacred space������ through 37 Building trust and collaboration in a virtual team Judith A. Holton Team Performance Management: An International Journal Volume 7 . Number 3/4 . 2001 . 36���47