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Showing posts from January, 2014

Manage Communication

Manage Communication Eight Steps to Manage Virtual Teams   There are some special techniques that can be used to manage these virtual teams. Establish team objectives. The team members need to know and understand what it is that they are doing together. If people only understand their own role and their own work, they will always just be individual contributors. Remind everyone they are a team.   If the team members think they are all working independently, they will act independent.  If they know they are part of a team working on common objectives and deliverables, they will tend to feel better about their work and be more active in their collaboration with other team members. Obtain the right technology. The technology is there to support virtual teams - there is really no reason to be without it. This includes fast access to the Internet, audio conferencing, videocams, collaborative software, shared directories, etc. Look for opportunities to “socialize.” Team members loca
Manage Communication Eight Steps to Manage Virtual Teams   There are some special techniques that can be used to manage these virtual teams. Establish team objectives. The team members need to know and understand what it is that they are doing together. If people only understand their own role and their own work, they will always just be individual contributors. Remind everyone they are a team.   If the team members think they are all working independently, they will act independent.  If they know they are part of a team working on common objectives and deliverables, they will tend to feel better about their work and be more active in their collaboration with other team members. Obtain the right technology. The technology is there to support virtual teams - there is really no reason to be without it. This includes fast access to the Internet, audio conferencing, videocams, collaborative software, shared directories, etc. Look for opportunities to “socialize.” Team members loca

Training Value

Four Steps to Determine the Value of Training Many businesses struggle with the question of whether they are getting their money's worth in sending employees to training. This question can be applied to project management training as well as any other type of business training. You know the cost side of training too well. But how do you tell what the business value is? The most common way to determine business value today is to ask the trainee whether he or she thinks the class was valuable. This is very touchy-feely and doesn't give you much information to go on, but it is probably the most that most companies ask in terms of follow-up. There is a process for more rigorously determining the value received for your training dollars. These ideas are not for the faint of heart. They take more preparation and they take more of that most precious commodity - time. But see if it makes sense, and whether the results of this process will give you a much better feel for the value that

Training Value

Four Steps to Determine the Value of Training Many businesses struggle with the question of whether they are getting their money's worth in sending employees to training. This question can be applied to project management training as well as any other type of business training. You know the cost side of training too well. But how do you tell what the business value is? The most common way to determine business value today is to ask the trainee whether he or she thinks the class was valuable. This is very touchy-feely and doesn't give you much information to go on, but it is probably the most that most companies ask in terms of follow-up. There is a process for more rigorously determining the value received for your training dollars. These ideas are not for the faint of heart. They take more preparation and they take more of that most precious commodity - time. But see if it makes sense, and whether the results of this process will give you a much better feel for the value that