This month’s recommended reading selections all deal with the functioning, management, and effectiveness of virtual teams. As the number of companies employing virtual workers increases, the need for guidance in this field has as well.
The following book picks offer a wide range of valuable insights, solutions, and tools to help your organization create a strategy for successfully working with virtual teams. Read on…
Book Picks: Develop, Manage, and Maintain Successful Virtual Teams
Virtual Teams For Dummies by Tara Powers
With the number of virtual teams increasing 800% over the past five years, this guide is a must-read. Tara Powers, an award-winning leadership expert, provides the information needed to build and sustain a successful virtual team. She offers solid advice, interviews ,and case studies from well-known companies.
Powers also includes research findings from a year-long study on virtual teams, the skillsets needed for virtual team management, strategies for communication and relationships among team members, and how in-person meetings contribute to a virtual team’s effectiveness.
“Virtual Teams For Dummies provides rock-solid guidance on the essentials for building, leading, and sustaining a highly productive virtual workforce.”
Work Together Anywhere: A Handbook on Working Remotely—Successfully—for Individuals, Teams, and Managers by Lisette Sutherland and Kirsten Janene-Nelson
As telecommuting becomes more prevalent, companies have begun to realize the true benefits of using virtual teams: saving money, accessing faraway talent, and having employees who are productive, independent, and happy because they don’t have to deal with a commute everyday—to name a few.
This guide offers hands-on materials and a plan to ensure your virtual team is successful. Get the steps to create a remote-ready office, run effective online meetings, use positive communication practices, and more.
“Packed with hands-on materials and actionable advice for cultivating camaraderie, agility, and collaboration, Work Together Anywhere is a thorough and inspiring must-have guide for anyone who wants to get ahead in today’s remote-working world.”
Literally Virtually: Making Virtual Teams Work by Lee S Johnsen
Using technology to communicate virtually is commonplace in all aspects of our lives. However, the methods used by a business to handle communication within a virtual team can mean the difference between failure and success.
A remote business has specific needs. Use this book to learn how to build trust with a virtual team, leverage communications technology, handle cultural differences, and create a team with a unified purpose and vision. You will also be introduced to the Long Distance Leadership™ model.
“Literally Virtually is filled with best practices to help you and your virtual workforce members not only survive, but to excel.”
Project Management of Virtual Teams by Sikander Sultan
If you are thinking of starting a career in project management for virtual teams or want to improve your current position, this is a must-read resource that explores key concepts, methods, and techniques to successfully manage a digital project from beginning to end.
Learn about the different types of virtual teams, how to prepare for and create a virtual team, what technologies are available to work with virtual teams, management practices that work with virtual teams, and how to facilitate virtual team meetings.
“By eliminating time and space barriers, virtual teams enable organizations to gather and hire the best talent for a specific task despite the individual’s geographical location.”
Practical Remote Team Leadership: Methods, Tools and Templates for Virtual Leaders by Emanuela Giangregorio
This book provides an essential set of tools for remote managers and virtual team leaders. With these free-to-use tools and templates, remote leaders can successfully manage and lead their distributed teams.
Get current information that will guide you in your role as a distance manager. Learn practical, relevant, and useful strategies to reap the benefits and overcome the difficulties of leading a team remotely.
“Emanuela has created this practical, relevant, and useful guidebook, so you can learn how successful remote leaders overcome the challenges created by virtual working.”
Virtual Team: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide by Gerardus Blokdyk
Learn what you need to organize a project, and be prepared for any virtual team challenge and to properly assess how a team is performing.
Get the benefit of shared past and current successful projects and activities by experienced virtual team practitioners. Understanding the process of self-assessment will ensure maximum results by a virtual team.
Included with the purchase of this guide is access to download the virtual team self-assessment dashboard. Use this dynamically prioritized projects-ready tool to see each step.
“Virtual team self-assessment shows succinctly and clearly what needs to be clarified to organize the required activities and processes so that virtual team outcomes are achieved.”
Note: Quotes are from Amazon book descriptions.
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Posted by: Monica Murphy
