I imagine I am far from alone in working with a team of managers spread all across the country. My problem is - how do I collect behavioural data from them?
I've managed to apply a lot of MT's great advice regarding working in a virtual team, teleconferencing, doing regular one on ones etc. I can't really find a good way to observe my team members behaviour so I can give them effective feedback though. All advice is greatly appreciated.
The setting:
I work for a fairly big NGO, managing a fundraising programme directed towards signing up donors for direct debit on the streets.
I have several team leaders (with 4 to 12 recruiters each) spread all over the country. I talk to them weekly in O3's, and meet each one of them face to face for one day roughly 1,5 months or so. When we meet we talk about the months that has passed, the financal targets, the individual recruiters and so on. A lot of the time I feel like fumbling in the dark though. I want to give effective feedback and I want to roll out coaching, I am not sure how to overcome the geographical distance and the (perceived?) difficulty in observing managerial behaviour.
Feedback in a virtual setting?
I think the big question I have is how do you interact with them now?
You must interact with them somehow and see the results of their work. Do they provide reports? Do you attend virtual meetings with them?
Feedback in a virtual setting?
yup:
weekly one on ones following MT recommendations
weekly team meeting over the phone including overall progress and individual progress for the different teams (+ a quick general what's up)
each week the teamleaders sends a report summing up the week (basically for the salaries: how many hours each recruiter has worked and how many new donor they've recruited)
Then there is of course quite a lot of phoning and mailing outside of that
Feedback in a virtual setting?
RasmusHQ,
Remember, behavior is what you say, how you say it, your body language, facial expressions, and work product.
Granted, body language and facial expressions are the challenge here unless you have video conferencing of some type. You can still draw a lot from what they say, how they say it, and work product. Can you start by focusing on those (positive things first)?
Feedback in a virtual setting?
Chuck, thanks for the quick reply!
In my particular case, body language, facial expressions etc aren't my primary concern, rather my lack of possibilty to observe how they interact with their team.
At the moment the only openings for feedback I see is what you mention - work product, ie number of donors accumulated over the week, average donation, supporter and employee retention etc (I have to say I see this as a result of a pretty complex series of behaviors rather than one specific though) I can give feedback on timeliness, responsiveness and various things they sometimes tell me about how hey interact with their team (is there any good way to probe for more specifics on a regular basis?).
This feels more like being on a broken respirator than breathing though, the expected quantity of 50-100 (as mentioned in the "Giving Effective Feedback -cast")uses of the fb-model/week is hardly reachable.
Feedback in a virtual setting?
Virtual is tough. You do see the emails they write, the budgets they prepare, the reports they write, the schedules they keep, etc.
If they're not socially problematic, don't worry so much about the facial expressions, tone of voice, and gestures. They're probably OK.
You won't be able to give as much feedback as you would if you all sat in the same cube farm. That's your reality, and nothing wrong with that...
One on ones are the most important tool - stay with those and the rest will come.
John
Feedback in a virtual setting?
Thanks for the comforting reply John. I'll renew my effort to roll out feedback with this in mind and eagerly wait for the next episode of "rolling out the trinity"