Applying Tools for Maximum Impact

Abstract

Early on, we mentioned that technology won’t solve all problems related to virtual teams. In fact, basic meeting management and project management skills and techniques are actually more important than trying to use the most sophisticated tools. For example, if you don’t have a meeting agenda with specific topics to discuss, identified decisions that need to be made, and owners for action items, the best virtual meeting tool is not going to automatically do those things for you. At the same time, if we didn’t have the tools we have today, virtual teams would not be possible, and the speed of business would be driven by how many face-to-face meetings we could squeeze into our schedules. Identifying and using the best tools for each situation is a key to maximizing the effectiveness of every virtual team. In many cases, people often start by selecting a tool, try to use it for every situation, and end up frustrated or confused. This is not surprising, since it’s like going to the kitchen, pulling out a bag of flour, and thinking, “Now what can I do with this?” rather than deciding you want to bake some bread and what you really need is bread flour. Let’s look first at what we want to do and then identify the most appropriate tool for that task.