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Developing Teams in a
Virtual Environment:
A Generative Approach
Ignacio Pavez1 and Ernesto Neves2
Abstract
At the beginning of 2020, the operations of the Finance Hub of the Americas (FHoA)
at pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) were suddenly forced to shift
entirely from face-to-face to remote work. To handle this challenge, an FHoA
team started a team development process aimed at strengthening teamwork in virtual
environments. The intervention was grounded in the principles of generative leader-
ship and dialogic organization development. Through a scholar-practitioner collabora-
tion that focused on identifying the drivers of the successful transition to remote
work, we build a three-step process of team development using the metaphor of
organic growth: (1) sowing, (2) nurturing, and (3) flourishing. Using GSK’s example,
we illustrate how this process became a simple but powerful strategy to help
teams thrive in a virtual environment. The core of the process uses generative ques-
tions to configure a structured but adaptable process that can be easily implemented
in different contexts and situations.
Keywords
dialogic organization development, generative leadership, generative questions, team
development, team building, virtual teams
In 2020, most organizations around the world were forced to shift from face-to-face to
remote work. COVID-19 radically changed organizational dynamics, having a huge
effect on teamwork (Feitosa & Salas, 2020). Experts suggest that this is the beginning
1School of Business and Economics, Universidad del Desarrollo, Av. Plaza 680, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
2Re-Genera Consulting Group, Domingo Bondi 1369, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
Corresponding Author:
School of Business and Economics, Universidad del Desarrollo, Av. Plaza 680, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.
Email: ignaciopavez@udd.cl
Practitioner Corner
The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
2023, Vol. 59(1) 177–181
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/00218863211053881
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mailto:ignaciopavez@udd.cl
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of a tremendous change, because the number of people who work remotely will
increase exponentially in the coming years—Global Workplace Analytics estimates
that 25–30% of the US workforce will work remotely by the end of 2021, up from
only 3.6% before COVID-191. To help organizations succeed in the transition to
remote work we describe a strategy to develop virtual teams, which is built upon a
scholar-practitioner collaboration that combines the experience of Author 2 in
leading virtual teams in multinational companies (for more than a decade) with the
research by Author 1 on team development. We illustrate the proposed strategy
through the lessons learned by a team of the Finance Hub of the Americas (FHoA)
at the international pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the FHoA to transition to remote work in less than
a month. To handle this challenge, an FHoA team (supported by Author 2) started a
team development process aimed at strengthening teamwork in a virtual environment.
They based the process on the principles of generative leadership and dialogic organi-
zation development, approaches that give primacy to language, narratives, dialogues,
and questions to create self-organized or emergent change (Bushe & Marshak, 2014;
Dunham, 2008). Throughout a year of successful implementation, Author 2 and the
FHoA team identified a set of practices that help increase their cohesion and coordina-
tion, facilitating their transition to virtual teamwork. Author 1 helped make sense of the
intervention process to identify what could explain its success. After assessing the
process together (including Author 2’s similar experiences), it became clear to us
that the intervention activated the generative capacity of the team, which we concep-
tualize as a team’s ability to design its future, expand its current ways of acting (e.g.,
creating and enacting new ideas, narratives, and practices), and cultivate the social
tissue that enables it to develop.
Based on this idea, we build a framework for virtual team development based on a
three-step process using the metaphor of organic growth: (1) sowing, (2) nurturing, and
(3) flourishing. We ground this process in the power of generative questions. Namely,
questions that (1) open up new possibilities for action—opening, (2) capture the atten-
tion of the listener—anchoring, and (3) explore new meanings and assumptions about
reality (in this case teamwork)—deepening (Vogt et al., 2003). Table 1 shows how
each of the components of a generative question helps direct the team through the pro-
posed three-step process. We now describe how the process unfolded at FHoA.
First, we learned that leaders and team members must realize that we live in a world
of meaning-making (Weick, 1995). This is not a novel idea, but we have seen that it is
hard to practice for executives when they hold a mechanistic view of organizations.
When the FHoA team leader integrated this idea (i.e., became part of the leadership
mindset), we observed that he became aware of the generative capacity of his team
and understood how the power of dialogues and questions can help shape new and
better realities. A key leadership behavior that helped spark the FHoA team’s genera-
tive capacity was to sow questions that enabled the creation of a new symbolic envi-
ronment, one that embraced the features of remote work in a creative and positive
manner. Table 1 summarizes the five questions that worked for GSK, helping the
team connect to a shared purpose, generate shared accountability, establish common
178 The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 59(1)
Table 1. A Three-Step Process to Develop Virtual Teams: Lessons Learned at GSK.
Step1: Sowing Step 2: Nurturing Step 3: Flourishing
Leadership
behavior
Sowing questions that
would enable the
creation of a new
symbolic environment.
Nurturing new narratives
about what it means to
be an effective team in a
virtual environment.
Assessing both the quality
of team relations (i.e., the
soil) and performance
(i.e., the product) to
track—and give feedback
on—team flourishing
both inside and outside
the boundaries of the
group.
Core
components of
generative
questions
Opening Anchoring Deepening
Questions that
worked for
GSK…
Opens the team to… Directs attention to… Explores new assumptions
about…
Why do we exist
as a team?
Discover (or connect to)
the shared purpose of
the team.
A shared story of the
team’s role in the
organization and how
that role might change in
a virtual setting.
The future for which to
work together as a team
(integrating the
conditions of a virtual
environment).
What do we want
to achieve
together?
Co-create a sense of
shared accountability
under the conditions of a
virtual environment.
Shared objectives that are
observable, measurable,
and traceable considering
the limitations and
opportunities of the
virtual environment.
The leverages of shared
accountability (e.g.,
project plans and
follow-up) to reach
shared goals in a virtual
environment.
What are our
common
practices and
standards?
Identify effective practices
and standards to
perform remote work.
Daily routines that help
enact productive
behaviors in a virtual
setting.
Taking ownership and
giving momentum to the
rhythm of virtual work.
How we
coordinate our
actions?
Discuss how to
coordinate actions
aimed at reaching shared
objectives effectively
(considering the
restrictions and
opportunities of the
virtual environment).
Clarify the roles and
responsibilities needed
to coordinate remote
work effectively.
The team’s capacity to
adjust dynamically to the
interdependent nature of
teamwork within the
restrictions and
opportunities of the
virtual environment.
How do we
navigate change
or handle
breakdowns?
Discuss uncomfortable
truths in order to
safeguard our shared
objectives.
Be aware of our
“automatic pilot” and
choose the most
appropriate response to
navigate uncertainty/
change.
The importance of
declaring, anticipating,
and creating breakdowns
to navigate uncertainty/
change.
Note:When using the word “virtual,” we are referring to conditions of physical distance, time and space
differences (e.g., working at home and from different places around the world), using screen interfaces to
communicate synchronically (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet), using technology to
coordinate and monitor work (e.g., Slack, WhatsApp, or Mural), and intertwining job-family demands,
and the lack of informal encounters among team members.
Pavez and Neves 179
practices and standards, articulate effective coordination, and navigate uncertainty/
change.
Second, we learned the leader must create conditions that enable generative ques-
tions to nurture new narratives about what it means to be an effective team in a
virtual environment. In order to make this happen, the team leader asked the five ques-
tions shown in Table 1 sequentially to look more closely into discovering and creating
effective ways of functioning consideringthe opportunities and restrictions of a virtual
environment (e.g., distance, time and space differences, screen interface, and remote
coordination). At GSK, the team carried out four team-building activities aimed at
working through one question per month. At a kickoff meeting (one hour) the team
discussed “why” it exists and created a baseline for measuring success. The team
then implemented four training workshops (two hours each) to discuss each of the
remaining four questions and learn about related practices that could be implemented
regularly. Each workshop was followed by a learning circle (one-hour each) to “anchor
and deepen” both cognitive and behavioral change (see Table 1). The process con-
cluded with a session in which the team assessed the entire process, its performance,
and the learning outcomes. Additionally, the leader received individual coaching to
learn to reinforce new practices, gain skills to manage meetings as developmental
spaces, and “walk the talk.”
Finally, we learned that teams need to have indicators to assess positive growth.
These indicators should measure both the quality of team relations (i.e., the soil) and
performance (i.e., the product) to track team flourishing both inside and outside the
boundaries of the group. The GSK team chose five measures: trust, promises, coordi-
nation, accountability, and results (Dunham, 2008; Lencioni, 2002). After five months,
the team improved from an average of 3.5 (warning zone) to an average of 4.4 (success-
ful zone) on a scale of 1 to 5—see Figure 1. The team leader reported three key lessons
for the team. First, the team learned how to work interdependently in a virtual setting,
which involved meaning-making regarding the potentially different nature of shared
Figure 1. Measurement of team functioning before and after the team intervention.
180 The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 59(1)
purpose, goals, practices, and performance standards to coordinate remote work effec-
tively (seeding). Second, the team became a cohesive entity with a shared sense of
accountability and trust, embracing the challenges and opportunities of the virtual
setting (nurturing). Finally, the team learned to be more flexible and adaptable,
which was vital for successfully navigating the uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis
(flourishing).
Concluding Remarks
This paper offers insights about the power of generative questions to direct a process of
team development in a virtual environment. Using the premise that we live in a world
of meaning-making, we describe a simple but powerful strategy—grounded in the prin-
ciples of generative leadership and dialogic organization development—that helps
virtual teams thrive. This is a structured, adaptable process, that can be easily imple-
mented in different contexts and situations to succeed in the transition to remote work.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this
article.
ORCID iD
Ignacio Pavez https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5257-5330
Note
1. For more information, see: https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/work-at-home-after-
covid-19-our-forecast. Last accessed on September 07, 2021.
References
Bushe, G. R., & Marshak, R. J. (2014). Dialogic organization development. In B. B. Jones, &
M. Brazzel (Eds.), The NTL handbook of organization development and change
(pp. 193–211). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118836170.ch10
Dunham, R. (2008). Coaching notes on teams. The Institute for Generative Leadership.
Feitosa, J., & Salas, E. (2020). Today’s virtual teams: Adapting lessons learned to the pandemic
context. Organizational Dynamics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100777
Lencioni, P. M. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. Jossey-Bass.
Vogt, E. E., Brown, J., & Isaacs, D. (2003). The Art of Powerful Questions: Catalyzing Insight,
Innovation, and Action. Whole Systems Associates.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Sage Publications.
Pavez and Neves 181
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5257-5330
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5257-5330
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118836170.ch10
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118836170.ch10
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100777
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100777
- Concluding Remarks
- Note
- References
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