Page 251 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

230 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

lunchrooms where people can congregate, perhaps gym facilities
where people can work out, and meeting rooms for, well, meetings.
Everything is held inside the container, like water in a jar. In this
container, relationships are more likely to develop with people who
are located closest to you, and even working on a different floor means
working relationships are likely to also be more distant, serendipitous,
and connections less likely.
The container for a virtual team is much different. There is no
physical shell to constrain where people interact. In fact, distance has
no impact on relationships at all. Instead, like the atom, other natural
forces keep energy contained and powerfully focused. Like the atom,
when the balance is off, destructive results can occur. Like the atom,
the possibilities for interaction and new combinations with virtual
teams are almost endless. It’s symbolic that it’s the electric charge of
the atom and the electronic technology of the virtual team that helps
keep each together.

what Contains a Virtual team?
At the center of a virtual team is its purpose. Everything revolves
around that. Close, trusting, synergistic, and interactive relationships
targeted at measurable results keep the team from spinning off in dif-