High Performance Virtual Teams - Oxymoron or Necessity?

Location:

Seacliff A/B

Track:

Time:

Tuesday, 1:35pm - 2:25pm

Abstract:

Virtual and distributed teams operate by the same laws of human behavior as collocated full time teams. However, virtual teams choose to operate in suboptimal environments which may reduce feedback, delay learning, hinder progress, and obscure dysfunction until it’s too late. This makes it far more important for virtual and distributed teams to understand and operate by the simple laws which underlie all high performance teams. In this session, we will identify key principles for high performance product development teams, and explore which of these we can and cannot control in virtual teams.

Participants are encouraged to prepare by reflecting on the most productive and least productive groups you’ve worked with, including both collocated, distributed, full time, and part time teams. Please come prepared to collaborate, bring a pen, and bring high expectations of yourself, the presenter, and other participants.

Ashley Johnson

Ashley is an entrepreneur, high-performance team expert and senior coach with Industrial Logic. He previously co-founded Gemba Systems and is a frequent conference speaker on such topics as team performance, scaling lean and agile, and the role of leadership in self organizing teams. Ashley guides enterprise clients through lean/agile transformations yielding measurable improvements in time to market and quality. Ashley has a special knack for facilitation and he frequently serves as a "translator," bridging gaps and catalyzing collaboration between executive management, engineers, and customers. Ashley's workshops routinely set outrageous goals for value creation and participants achieve those goals every time. Prior to forming Gemba, Ashley served on the board of the APLN (Agile Project Leadership Network) and played leaderships roles with Valtech Technologies, ObjectSpace, and Novell. At Valtech, Ashley was the leader and driving force behind the dynamic culture of their training division that led to rave reviews from clients. Ashley is passionate about creating value and has personally coached thousands of people across many teams. He has helped numerous organizations achieve high performance teamwork through responsible and intentional collaboration.