INTERVIEW: The Art of Virtual Teamwork SKF's quarterly publication, EVOLUTION, profiles Yael this month! "The information age has allowed businesses to bring together team members from across the planet to work on common projects. Yael Zofi helps these 'virtual teams' avoid the potential pitfalls and cooperate successfully."

1. Y
ael Zofi clearly remembers visiting
Disney’s Future World in Florida as
a 9-year-old child and being fascin­
ated by a performance in which
actors depicted the future. In it, a
woman prepared a meal by issuing commands to
her ­kitchen appliances, all the while talking to her
husband at his office on a flat-screen TV.
Nearly four decades on, the virtual world is a
reality, and Zofi’s job is to help companies achieve
business success as they travel down the ever-
changing technological highway.
A virtual management expert and the author
of the book A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams,
Zofi says that with the rise of globalization, virtual
teams are reshaping the way we do business. Rather
than working in the same office in the same city,
today’s teams can be dispersed around the world,
often coming together only in a virtual space.
“Email has taken over from phones, and confer-
ence calls have replaced conference rooms,” ­she
says.
Along with the many advantages of being able
to work together electronically at any time have
come challenges. “The challenge for managers is
learning to do business when team members don’t
Theartofvirtual
Profile | YAEL ZOFI
teamworkTheinformationagehasallowedbusinessesto
bringtogetherteammembersfromacrossthe
planettoworkoncommonprojects.
YaelZofihelpsthese“virtualteams”avoidthe
potentialpitfallsandcooperatesuccessfully.
necessarily see each other,” Zofi says. “Building
the skills to be able to connect at the human level
via technology is critical.”
Zofi, who is based in Brooklyn, New York, began
her career in the late 1980s, managing health-care
and human resources teams. She later became a
consultant for Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers
and JP Morgan, where she coached top executives
and teams to “connect and collaborate more effec-
tively to achieve their business goals”.
A firm believer in the fact that teams who ­connect
effectively with one another are more motivated
and work more productively, she began work in
1995 as an assistant professor at New York Univer-
sity, lecturing on leadership and team development.
In 1998 she launched AIM Strategies, Applied
Innovative Management, her own management
consulting firm of which she is today CEO.
Over the past seven years the focus of Zofi’s work
has shifted, and she is now regularly called on to
train virtual teams and teach them skills to conduct
more effective virtual meetings.
“I do think we have an incoming generation to
the workforce who are much more capable of using
all this new technology,” she says. “But they may not
be as effective at connecting on the human level.”
Text ELLEN CONNOLLY Photos Axel Öberg
16 evolution.skf.com #2 2014

3. Profile | YAEL ZOFI
You don’t want poor
planning or ­problems
with technology to
thwart a meeting.
Successful virtual meetings are a key aspect
of virtual management. Zofi says there are four key
factors for holding them.
The first factor is preparation, which includes
testing new technology well before a meeting
occurs. “On a virtual call you might have partici-
pants in London, Asia, Australia and New York,
and so some will have to take the call or Web
conference after hours,” Zofi says. “You don’t
want poor planning or problems with technology
to thwart a meeting, as it can take a long time to
coordinate participant schedules again due to time
­differences.”
The second is participation and engagement.
Zofi recommends appointing a virtual manager, or
“connector”, who will link the various members of
the team, make everyone clear on their roles and
responsibilities, and keep an eye on the end goal.
The third is respect and sensitivity. Teams must
show respect and sensitivity to members based on
cultural differences, possible language barriers and
also different technology. Dominating personalities
should be managed, as should “silent riders”, those
who may disengage.
The fourth is prompt feedback. “Alwaysfollow
upbypublishingnotesfromthemeetingandprovid-
ingfeedback,”Zofisays.“Thetimesavedandthe
potentialconfusioneliminatedbythisstep,particu-
larlyincross-culturalsettings,isimmeasurable.”
Zofi, who interviewed more than 150 virtual
team managers and members for her book, believes
the greatest challenge for virtual teams is to be able
to bond and build relationships, and in turn meet
common objectives. “You need to set up virtual
situations that replicate the ‘water cooler conversa-
tions’ that people normally conduct in the corridor
about family, hobbies or current events,” she says.
“A connected team will operate, commit, coordi-
nate and conduct business more effectively.”
Zofi says it’s a mistake to believe that simply
putting the technology in place to allow for virtual
meetings will lead to successful cooperation.
“Youcanhavethelatesttechnologybutifyoudon’t
havethathumanconnection,themeetingwillfail
andtheteam’scommitmentwon’tbethere,”shesays.
As virtual teams become more commonplace,
people will need to manage them effectively. Lead-
ing virtual team meetings requires learning new
strategies, tools and skills, particularly with the
increasing use of Web conferencing, which com-
bines audio and visual elements.
“I joke that in the future I’m going to be ­writing
the opposite book – not how to manage virtual
teams, but how to manage on-site ones,” Zofi says.
Yael Zofi says a
human ­connection
is vital if ­virtual
groups are to
function well.
Yael Sara Zofi
Lives: Brooklyn, New York
Family: Husband Ted and daughters Maya and Ella
Education: Columbia University (master’s), Rutgers University (busi-
ness school) and American University National Training Laboratory
(advanced post-graduate studies)
Books: Author of four books, including A Manager’s Guide to Virtual
Teams
Interests: Travel, arts, dance, sailing, hiking, biking, outdoor sports.
18 evolution.skf.com #2 2014