LESSONS LEARNT FROM DISTRIBUTED TEAMBUILDING: COACHING FOR DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

In our ever more complex and interconnected world, millions of people are suffering from poverty, malnutrition, diseases, war, etc. In an attempt to improve this situation, an international team of members of the Young Crews of the different Member Associations (MA) of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) created Coaching for Development. The purpose of this platform is to empower society within the developing countries with modern cross-cultural knowledge in the field of project management, by means developing competencies through coaching and creating networking opportunities. This initiative is intended to constitute a platform for project managers along the world to contribute in developing countries with their best knowledge and skills, enabling social entrepreneurs with tools, methods, techniques and ideas to face the organizational challenges in their projects. The team that is organizing this initiative is a widely distributed group of young volunteers, requiring an intensive use of information technologies. This paper presents some lessons learnt out of the team-building process that got the members together, and the next steps in consolidating the first project and defining a sustainable model to continue hereon. Keywords: Distributed teams, Communication skills, Web 2.0, Log frame, Networking