Trends and Issues in Extension

From Knowledge Jolt with Jack comes this article from a researcher named Niki Panteli on trust in virtual teams. How do you build up trust without face-face interactions? Jack (from Knowledge Jolt) notes that:

Trust comes out of regular interaction, shared context, shared vision, the belief that we are striving for the same goal, etc.  Beyond physical, face-to-face interactions, none of these are precluded by the concept of virtual teams.  The issue with virtuality is that in the traditional way we manage these things, there is no opportunity or capacity to build these aspects into the teams.

I would agree.  To me a focus must still be on doing what you say you will do.  I ‘ve spent  some of this week on trying to get started on Thomas Davenport’s Thinking for a Living. So far, so good. The book’s subtitle shows the focus of the manuscript: How to Get Better Performance and Results from Knowledge Workers. Davenport also notes the difficulty in developing social capital in virtual settings.

Implications: Given all the financial constraints and new technologies that are being thrust upon Extension Professionals, we will need to find ways to develop trust and work in virtual teams. The opportunity in virtual teams is a the ability to leverage resources from other geographic areas.