Dr. Ginger Levin Successful Motivational Techniques for Virtual Teams

Virtual project teams have undergone accelerated growth during the past decade. In many organizations virtual teams are recognized as a strategic resource for organizational success. In these teams, team members deliver results that always meet, and sometimes exceed, customer requirements. Team members view one another as essential for the team's overall success. There is shared alignment of differences and similarities among team members.

A variety of factors contribute toward virtual team success. After presenting a definition of virtual teams, and one of project success, this presentation focuses on five key factors for success on virtual project teams. An approach to consider in determining key team roles and responsibilities, building on work done by David McClelland in terms of one's need for achievement, affiliation, and power as tailored to the project environment, is described. The presentation stresses the importance of a team charter and collaborative leadership and concludes with a brief overview of a maturity model for project teams.

Dr. Levin is a senior consultant in project management with more than 30 years experience. Her specialty areas include maturity assessments, development of training programs in project management, the Project Management Office, virtual teams, metrics, and project portfolio management. She is also a Lecturer for the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in its Master of Science in Project Management program and serves as the University's Program Specialist in Project Management. Prior to her work in consulting, she held positions of increasing responsibility in the Federal government, working for agencies including the U.S. General Accounting Office, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Transportation.

She received her doctorate in public administration and information systems technology from The George Washington University, where she received the outstanding dissertation award for her research on large organizations; a M.S.A., with a concentration in information systems technology, also from GWU; and a B.B.A from Wake Forest University. She is certified as a Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute.

She has served as project manager for numerous efforts for Fortune 500 and public sector clients, including Bank One, US Food and Drug Administration, General Electric, New York City Transit Authority, and many others. Dr. Levin developed Project Framework™, ESI International's project management maturity model; its assessment methodology consisting of questionnaires, interviews, and document reviews; the maturity assessment scoring method; and also a training program for potential assessors. She contributed toward the development of the Project Management Institute's Organizational Project Management Maturity Model as an industry standard and has been certified by the Project Management Institute as an OPM3 Assessor. She has conducted project management maturity assessments for several Fortune 500 companies, including development of project management improvement programs.

Dr. Levin is the co-author of Project Portfolio Management, The Advanced Project Management Office: A Comprehensive Look at Function and Implementation, People Skills for Project Managers, Essential People Skills, PMP® Study Guide, PMP® Challenge!, Achieving Project Management Success Using Virtual Teams, The Business Development Capability Maturity Model, and Metrics for Project Management.