Virtual Organizations / Virtual Training … Our New Reality?

Over twenty years ago, I was involved in building a virtual organization.  A few years into it, an analyst from Giga Information Group (now part of Forrester Research) interviewed me.  The analyst knew I was working virtually and inquired whether my company could validate the value and techniques for managing distributed groups.  Unfortunately, we could not provide hard data – just hard-core experience.

Giga’s position on managing geographically distributed organizations was that it can be effective but more difficult than managing traditional organizations.  Twenty years ago, Giga believed that “virtual” teams were here to stay as complements to face-to-face meetings and as a reasonable means of providing expertise when travel is impossible.

I’m not sure I would concur that managing a virtual team is more difficult, but rather that it requires a different and new skill set for senior managers charged with this task.  Twenty years ago I suggested that virtual teams are more than just “here to stay” as complements.  I believed virtual organizations would become even more prevalent in our society—erasing global boundaries more completely than we ever anticipated.  It’s nice to look back and find I was right!

Our organization is one which went full circle.  We started out virtual, then slowly began to co-locate in offices, until we owned two office buildings, where everyone reported for their daily work.  Then gradually, we started reverting back to letting employees work one or two days from home to what we have now, an office that is almost always empty with most employees working on-site at client organizations or working from their homes.  Face-to-face meetings complement our virtual meetings.

Now, I’m asking myself the same question about virtual learning. Is it here to stay long-term as the predominant method of learning?  I know what is driving the need to do more learning online and in shorter clips.  It is not only the savings from travel, eliminating the need to be “out of the office,” or the freedom to learn on your own time … more importantly, it is understanding the needs and lifestyle of millennial workers.  While I have totally supported virtual working and saw it as a new reality, I am not so sure about virtual learning.  After years of being in the training business, I am not finding the evidence that learning in two-hour chunks, split up over several weeks is even half as effective as face-to-face application of learning in teams with real people and real personalities. I recognize that the subject matter affects the effectiveness of this type of training.  Factual and technical training might be more successful, but soft skills training not so much.  It is interesting to me that at one point we offered asynchronous training attached to our instructor-led training for future reinforcement after the classroom training was completed.  Not one student ever utilized the online, asynchronous training … even though it was free! 

The internet has changed our lives in many ways, many of them positive. However, there has been a downside.  We’ve gotten so used to working virtually, meeting people virtually, and communicating through social media, that we have lost some very important social interaction skills.  These skills are paramount when managing people, whether onsite or virtually.  For this reason alone, I hope that, in this case, virtual training complements our instructor-led, in-person training, where there are “war stories” and live scenarios that reinforce the learning experience, along with shared laughs and the other human interactions that bond teams.

What are your thoughts? Has online learning been as effective for your organization?  I’m curious to see if my age and learning style is affecting my judgment!