Creating the Environment for High Performing Distributed Teams

The organizational workforce has always been a complex landscape. The varying personalities, demographics, and needs have challenged organizations to be legal, fair, and just, while simultaneously competing for market share and profit margins. Although these conditions are not mutually exclusive, due to the global reach for market share and use of supporting technologies, workforces have grown increasingly diverse over the past three decades. Organizations have looked to their Human Resource (HR) division to support business strategy, growth, and development. While a few have stepped up to accommodate, many HR divisions have struggled to support business needs in perhaps the greatest time of flux in modern day business. This is creating a serious issue for most organizations who recognize the competitive way forward is through effective Human Resource Development (HRD). Business success has always been about the people and it will continue to be so. Therefore, organizations struggling to develop their workforce to perform in complex, highly distributed situations will continue to lag (often far behind) the effective workforces of their competitors. This chapter offers best and next practices from HRD leaders accommodating the needs of their businesses.