I recently read a NY Times article by Clive Thompson about the social effects of information sharing through sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter.  Posting frequent small tidbits of information about oneself is often perceived as a useless act.  But Thompson points out some of the really useful social outcomes that can result from these acts of self-disclosure.  I cover the following points:

1. Ambient awareness,
2. Its relevance to virtual team leaders, and
3. How virtual team leaders can create ambient awareness.

Ambient awareness

The article focuses on what is called ambient awareness.  Thompson uses the term “awareness tools” to describe technologies that aid in the dissemination of frequent messages – Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter are three prominent examples, and text messaging would fall in this category as well.  These tools make it convenient to quickly and easily give or get updates with a number of other people.  Although each individual message might have little meaning as a stand-alone, researchers have found that reading frequent updates about a friend will, over time, give an observer a fairly sophisticated understanding of that friend and lead to the development of an empathic relationship. 

Relevance to virtual team leaders

So how can this knowledge be useful to virtual team leaders?  Primarily, we learn from this article that numerous small electronic contacts with others can build relationships when people are away from one another.  Since virtual team members are typically dispersed, awareness tools might be very useful for leaders to help team members grow closer, building cohesion and trust.  Be warned that the use of frequent, small communications may be in stark contrast to the current standard of business communication.  The more people are inundated with too many incoming messages to handle, the more they simply shut down to communication.  But we can confidently recommend the use of numerous small contacts nonetheless, because the quality of each message will be different from most of the impersonal, directive messages that bury people. If you want to get your virtual team in the habit of frequent small contact, role modeling from you as team leader will be much more successful than trying to require contact.  Email is easily accessible and can be used as an awareness tool, though at first it may seem contrary to email customs to send a couple short personal messages a day.  Again, set the tone for this, role model the behavior, and even explain to the team why this can help.

How virtual team leaders can foster ambient awareness

Here are some basic guidelines for a virtual team leader to incorporate the use of frequent short contacts for team building:

• Explain to team members why the use of frequent communications can be helpful.  This will also mean they are looking out for team members’ messages even when their Inboxes are swamped.
• Role model the behaviors yourself.  Requiring or demanding this behavior is unlikely to be successful.
• Figure out what “frequent” means for your team.  The article suggests that 3 to 4 messages a day are sufficient, but you should experiment to find a frequency that keeps your team in touch and growing closer without the messages becoming irritating or disruptive.
• Make sure the contact is two-way.  That is, some of the messages people send should be responses to messages they received from others.  For example, one team member might send a few sentences thanking another for sending some deliverables.  This is to avoid that celebrity effect, where receiving messages is voyeuristic rather than relationship building.
• Some of the messages might be just social, but some should be relevant to or related to the task at hand.  This serves two purposes, as the frequent messages will also keep the project on the minds of people who have other work outside the virtual team.  Such messages might include receipt of documents sent, questions about the task at hand, or brief ideas about the task.
• Make sure the tone of the exchange is supportive.  Again, you as leader can influence the tone quite a bit by role modeling.  Even when a message is task-related, it can sound directive or it can sound supportive and collaborative.  The latter will have a greater positive effect.
• Messages should be considerate of one another without being intrusive.  Perhaps one team members senses that another is having a bad day; asking if the person is okay and sending a sentence of support helps to build the team without intruding on personal business.
• Experiment with several methods of keeping in contact (i.e., several awareness tools).  Email might be a great way to start, though you might initially be working against common email customs (generally it’s unacceptable to send frequent short emails that are personal). Twitter and Facebook (or equivalents) are alternatives to consider.

Conclusion

Clive Thompson’s article illustrates that ambient awareness can be achieved by frequent electronic contact, and can have positive effects on relationships.  This is especially relevant to virtual teams, who often struggle to enable personal contact among members.  But that contact is crucial for team building, trust, and cohesion.  We suggest moving away from the matter-of-fact, directive email that may be the typical communication between team members.  See if your team can gain a better, deeper connection among team members by developing communication in this new way.