EPI: A Virtual Organization

EPI is a virtual organization. Dube and Pare (2004) define a virtual team as an interdependent group of individuals who predominantly use technology to communicate, collaborate, share information and coordinate their efforts in order to accomplish a common work-related objective. Duarte and Snyder (2006) identified the following competencies and skills for team members: effectively manage projects, network, use technology effectively, can self-manage, create home/workplace boundaries, and have good interpersonal awareness.

Virtual teams reveal the following advantages:
• Allows the organization to focus on what they do best
• Decrease operating/overhead costs
• Increase productivity
• Increase the diversity of perspectives
• Decrease travel and mandatory relocation
• Improve flexibility, work-life balance, and job satisfaction
• Enable organizations to adapt more quickly to the global economy

EPI has realized the advantages of a virtual team. As an organization we are able to focus on what we do best and that is improving individual and organizational performance through training and development programs. EPI has 9 full-time employees, and a variety of contractors who would all agree that we have improved flexibility and job satisfaction. EPI has an office in Golden where we meet periodically for team meetings or to brainstorm client projects. Otherwise, we all work out of our home office and leverage technology to communicate, collaborate, share information and coordinate efforts to accomplish the organizational mission.

If you are considering moving toward the virtual organization, here are some steps we recommend:

1. Join the communications revolution: Use email, buy laptop computers so employees can be more mobile, leverage SharePoint, and adopt social media.

2. Consider new ways of working: Look at various options that provide employee flexibility in where and how work is done.

3. Identify strategic alliances: Finding the right partner(s) is important. EPI and ICC just recently formed a strategic alliance and together we hosted a healthcare reform event and had over 80 attendees. ICC is an outplacement and career transitions service provider.

4. Manage the change: Think about human reactions to change and the investment your people have in the status quo. Employees may feel that a virtual organization may inhibit social aspects of work that they value, so provide open forums using technology for employees to discuss the change to a virtual team and be sure to set expectations clearly.

Collaboration

I wrote a blog post several weeks ago for a non-profit organization regarding collaboration. It was about working with my husband to clean our garage. I provided a step-by-step approach for getting it done and offered suggestions for effective communication. It got me thinking about collaboration at EPI. Collaborating is about working together to get something accomplished where one of the side effects is teambuilding.

I work virtually; our entire team does with the exception of our office manager. This means that most days I work with my computer and phone in my home office. I go to an actual office about once a week and meet with clients as needed. Some weeks I am out in the world everyday and some weeks go by without any face-to-face interaction. As you can imagine, this makes collaboration a challenging adventure.

Our team has made a conscious effort to be an example of what a successful virtual workplace looks like and so collaborating on projects is something we often do. In a traditional office setting I would be able to walk down the hall and ask a coworker questions and get their input. In a virtual environment we need to be a bit more creative.

Some of the things we do that help us to be successful in a virtual environment while collaborating are:

1. Virtual brainstorming: This means one of us may need some input on a project and we send out an email to others for ideas. Things will go back and forth, sometimes for several hours, in between other things, and I think we genuinely help one another.

2. Daily huddle: Each morning we all send out an email with the items that we will be working on that day, where we will be, and what meetings we may be involved in. It is about accountability but it is also about collaboration. If I am developing an online course for a client and one of our designers is working on online template creation, it is a great opportunity for us to chat.

3. Monthly meetings: We do make sure that each month we get together for several hours to talk face-to-face. We share ideas, try to learn something new and get the big picture of the organization.

Of course I would be remiss if I did not say that, like most organizations, communication is still a challenge. On occasion, being in the office together is just more effective. The dynamic of email means that tone can be misinterpreted and I sometimes miss the satisfaction of getting an answer to a question or problem immediately.

Every organization has opportunities for greater successes and collaboration is a key component. How well does your team work together to accomplish the projects and tasks required to be successful regardless of where they sit?

Coconuts of Wakefulness

There’s gold in them thar hills! And there really is. Deep in the mountains outside of Fort Collins, near Red Feather Lake, a gilded spire peeks out from the trees. If you didn’t know it was there, it would be a complete shock; it was jolting enough to us as it was.

As you walk the path from the Shambhala Mountain Center main grounds to The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, the gold glints in and out of the trees, sometimes staying so completely out of sight that it’s easy to believe there’s nothing there but nature. And then you come face to face with an extraordinary building.

A few months ago, my husband and I took a much-needed road trip from Denver to Laramie. In our research about the most scenic route to take, we came across mention of The Great Stupa. We’re not Buddhists, but who wouldn’t want to know more about a stupa in the midst of a 40-year-old Buddhist meditation retreat in the Rocky Mountains?

According to the Shambhala Mountain Center website:

“Stupas are said to promote harmony,
prosperity, longevity, good health, peace, and freedom from ignorance. They subdue fear, corruption, and pollution, and bring blessings to the
environment in which they are built, to those who build them, and to those who visit and venerate them.”

I don’t know how well The Great Stupa is performing with regard to ignorance, corruption, and pollution, but walking in the mountain air for 20 minutes to see it certainly increased our sense of peace and harmony – not to mention wonder.

What does this have to do with learning and development, employee engagement, etc.? I have no idea.Except I do believe that expanding my own horizons benefits not only myself, but those around me. And I did come across the best quote at The Great Stupa, one which I think really does relate to both my personal and working lives:

“In the garden of gentle sanity,
May you be bombarded by the coconuts of
wakefulness.” Chogyam Trungpa, Buddhist meditation master

Seriously, isn’t that a fantastic quote? Not being at the highest level spiritually speaking, I’m not sure exactly what this quote means but that doesn’t stop it from resonating with me. It struck me immediately. You could even say it did indeed bombard me. I think of it as WAKE UP! Look around you. Be self-aware but don’t become crippled by self-awareness; pay attention to the other beings in your universe, whether that’s at work or at home or just driving in rush hour.

Plonk! Plonk! Plonk!