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Virtual
Team Challenge
Quick Facts:
Purpose: The purpose of the Virtual Team Challenge is to
illustrate how teams work together across distance. Working on a
project, how does a team effectively communicate to strategize, execute,
and perform while working in different locations?
Audience: Cross functional Teams; management teams;
executive teams; virtual teams; global teams; intact teams
Group size: 5-150
Session Length: 3 - 3.5 hours
Location: Anywhere your team is meeting
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 Virtual
Team Challenge
How do you
successfully bring together different work processes or functions across
diverse teams? What happens when these same teams are working virtually?
Sounds a lot like today’s workplace? That’s the intent!
The Virtual Team Challenge tests the best of teams to innovate, execute,
meet aggressive performance measures and integrate diverse work
processes or functions all while simulating a virtual team environment.
Whether or not a team is co-located in the same office or across the
globe, many teams today are required to rely on ‘virtual communications’
to execute solutions. This program is a powerful representation of how
team communication can have a significant impact on overall team
performance.
How does the Virtual Team Building Challenge work?
Using only the materials supplied, each team must create a life size
structure capable of moving a ball bearing (the process) through a
complexity of measures.
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 Complexity:
Number of times the ball changes direction
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Time to Market:
Length of time the ball is in the structure
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Risk-Taking:
Number of times the ball drops to another level while in the maze
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Market Upswings:
Number of upward ascents of the ball from a downward decline
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Momentum:
Straight line distance from the drop point to the ‘customer’
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Quality:
Delivering the process successfully to the ‘customer’
The process gets
increasingly complex when multiple structures must be ‘Integrated’
seamlessly under the pressure of time. Add a few budget cuts that alter
the availability of resources and you have an environment that requires
adaptability to change. Which team(s) will earn the most revenue points
while managing the complexity of these measures and changing dynamics?
It’s not the fastest team that wins – rather the smartest team or the
team that can think ‘outside of the structure’.
From mid-level teams to executive teams, the Virtual Team Challenge
requires team members to think strategically while working across a
virtual team environment. Strong collaboration is a must to bring the
multiple processes or functions together successfully.
Virtual
Team Building Challenge Learning Outcomes:
Each program is tailored to the goals and objectives of the client.
Examples of possible learning outcomes are:
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Working across time,
distance, and technology – building an effective strategy and
plan for execution
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Team collaboration
– multiple teams coming together to ‘integrate’ a diversity of
processes for final execution
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Team roles –
evaluating each team member’s ability and effectively managing team
resources that will drive the team to a successful solution
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Virtual communication
– a collaborative project without ‘seeing’ the other teams progress
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Effective management
of time – managing strategy, innovation, evaluation of
alternatives, execution, measurements and process improvements
within a designated period of time
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Focused communication
– aligning diverse team priorities into an overall integrated system
 Virtual
Teambuilding Challenge Sample Agenda
The program requires a minimum of 3 hours and can extend up to 6 hours
depending on number of teams, level of integration, and complexity of
structures. Each of the phases below will be timed according to the
final program timeline.
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Phase One: Team
Foundation & Briefing
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Phase Two:
Strategy, Design & Planning - Team Leader Meeting at end of Phase
Two
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Phase Three:
Building - A Series of Three Team Leader Meetings
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Phase Four:
Independent Process Execution & Evaluation
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Phase Five:
Process Integration
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Phase Six:
Process Integration Execution & Evaluation
Add-On
Extend
your half-day of training to a full day by helping your team members
understand each other (and themselves) better by learning about their
personalities and styles. The personality work uses the DISC instrument
to enlighten team members with new insights about themselves and how
they operate with others. A wonderful addition to the Virtual Team
Challenge session:
Taking Flight
with DISC
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