Virtual Team building

Hi Kwaku,

Personally, if at all possible it is worth the investment to get everyone together for some form of induction ...

If however, you are unable to do this then there are some great web applications for getting to know colleagues, on a peer to peer basis I don't think you can beat Skype, which is free and even now I note that there are over 37 million people online.

Within the APM we have been making good use of web conferencing tools such as Adobe Connect for example John Thorpe (example presentation) has played an active role on the Benefits Management SIG, as well as presenting at a number of events ... which has worked out pretty well. (mind you I wouldn't mind popping over to Vancouver)

Again with the APM's Benefit Management SIG we previously held a breakfast / supper event with our Australian equivalent (AIPM). So this sort of thing is possible - but not always optimal.

I also think that there are some really useful lessons to be learned from the Biggerplate mindmapping site, which providers an environment for the World community of Mindmappers to share learning and knowledge ...

I guess it goes without saying that the APM's site provides some excellent resources for virtual Team Building - access to Project Management experts is only ever a few clicks away and the ability to access and contribute to the body of knowledge promotes positive team building behaviour.

Merv