VT MiniBook Chapter 3

This chapter details the critical need for a virtual team to establish a clear purpose. Here we create models of how to do that using examples from companies that are proving equal to the challenge.

Companies excel when their virtual teams share common purpose at all levels of the organization. Eastman Chemical has taken two decades to create teams that cut across space, time and/or organization boundaries, and won a Baldridge award in the process. Purpose is the glue for virtual teams.

We use the word "purpose" to stand for a range of terms from the abstract to the concrete---from vision, mission and goals to tasks and results. We untangle these concepts by ordering these terms and relating them to one another . Any organization can adapt this very framework and language for its own internal use.

Purpose flows naturally from the abstract to concrete:

Vision: The font of inspiration, the source that generates the source of work.

Mission: The simple statement of what the group does, its reason for being, expressing its identity.

Goals: The midpoint between lofty visions and tangible, practical results. Most effective when few in number.

Tasks: How the work is done, the activities themselves.

Results: The concrete outcomes of purpose.

Working out purpose creates a two-fold problem for virtual teams:

Crossing boundaries of space, time and organization further complicates already complex communication. Virtual teams need dense and frequent communication.

Once developed a virtual team must make its purpose and plan explicit in symbols, words, diagrams, tools and handbooks. The plan must also stay updated and flexible.

The New Authority: There are three historic sources of authority and a brand new one coming out of the Information Age:

Charisma and tradition led Nomadic Age cultures.
Force ruled the Age of Agriculture.
Rule of law dominated the Age of Industry.
In the Age of Information shared purpose is the new authority

By aligning around shared purpose, virtual teams create bonds among their members that are much stronger than those formed in traditional organizations.