ABSTRACT
The quality of team communications is the single greatest success factor of any project, whether the team works together or apart. And despite this, many teams let their communications methods “evolve” over time, rather than investing time up front to create a thoughtful, well-orchestrated team communications plan. With members geographically dispersed, scattered across time zones and cultures, virtual teams must map out how members will communicate, for what purpose, with whom, and when, right up front. That’s because they have so few windows of opportunity for real-time conversations. And if communications go awry, it’s far harder and takes considerably longer to make reparations. (Absent a clear plan, it’s a matter of when communications go awry, rather than if.)
Creating a team communications plan is best done face to face, either when the team starts up, or at a critical juncture when the team must work in lockstep to ensure that key deliverables are met. It pays to revise an existing communications plan when a significant number of team members are new, or are rejoining the team, especially if they come from different cultures than most other team members. If face to face is not possible or practical, then allocate sufficient time during your early team calls (or other types of real-time conversations) to do communications planning.
