Story:
Distributed team - A manager's challenge

Capital Market Business Analysts/Functional consultants in my company (Accenture) work at different client locations across different parts of the world. Hence, they hardly ever interacted or shared knowledge, due to time zone differences and the fact that such interactions from client locations during office hours are not appropriate.  However It was extremely imperative to bring them together to create a forum for knowledge sharing and learning, as their learning would be extremely precious and mutually beneficial.
Initially organizing conference call  as a means to bring them together was tried, but it failed miserably due to time zone  differences. For example, it was difficult to take calls when there were client commitments.
To solve this problem we  created an online platform where people can come together at off hours, discuss various learning, post problems and seek solutions, create discussion threads , review books , post travelogues etc. This online platform soon became  a great conduit  for interactions though initially the senior leaders had to participate actively to draw and inspire participants to join. It slowly evolved to become a great platform of learning and knowledge repository.  Later this online platform was enriched with Capital Market relevant external news feeds apart from  contests and prizes were initiated to make  the plat form more attractive (e.g. best knowledge artifact award of the month, best innovative solution etc.). All the knowledge artifacts and learning eventually became a great collection of assets for Accenture - be it to showcase capabilities to future prospects or  harnessing best practices and learning to serve clients better.
Key Learning
1>  Use to technology to connect geographically distributed teams.
2> Knowledge sharing should be fun and should not be enforced specially when someone works at client location.
3> Such innovation would only be successful  if leaders participate and lead from the front
4> Knowledge sharing and learning need to be extracted from today's knowledge workers  to create sustainable competitive advantages however the motivational tools need to be more rewarding and fulfilling to them.