Virtual teams and work-from-home arrangements have grown in popularity in recent years. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant shift in how people approach their work. As of 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees were working remotely with 16% of companies being fully remote in operations.
With the rise of remote work and hybrid working environments, it has become increasingly important for management to learn how to manage these teams effectively. Although virtual teams can provide many benefits, they also present challenges, including decreased productivity and heightened distractions within the home workspace.
A successful virtual team is effective and delivers high-quality results. They know how to balance regular check-ins while maintaining autonomy, and self-discipline. Effective communication, inclusivity, and trust are all fundamental elements. Platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Slack are essential to a successful virtual team.
In the following sections, we will dive deeper into 17 tips for a successful virtual team.
1) Adaptability
Given that the world of virtual work is a relatively recent concept, not everyone has fully acclimated to it. Thus, having employees who are willing to adapt, learn, overcome challenges, and obstacles is important to the success of a virtual team. It’s crucial to encourage your team as you navigate this virtual environment together.
2) Technology
In an office setting, collaboration often involves face-to-face interactions such as meetings in conference rooms and informal chats at other’s desks. However, online work arrangements, don’t allow for this to happen. Thus, having appropriate technology to help facilitate some of these interactions is important. This technology enables communication channels and enhances the efficiency of remote work. Later sections will delve into various types of platforms that serve this purpose.
3) Communication
Effective communication has always been a key to success for any team but it's even more important for virtual teams. With everyone working independently, you can’t just pop by a co-worker's desk to discuss a project. Communication looks very different virtually. With virtual teams, you send emails, and instant messages, schedule video calls, etc. Setting clear communication standards becomes paramount, given the heightened autonomy in remote work, which can lead to communication gaps. Using online programs such as Trello, Miro, Figma, etc. can help to increase the coordination, communication, and efficiency of a virtual team.
4) Motivation and Self-Discipline
Many of us have likely experienced working from home, where we encounter tempting distractions like napping, checking our phones, or watching TV. Successfully navigating these distractions and maintaining focus on work requires significant self-discipline.
The absence of direct supervision results in employees feeling less guilty for succumbing to distractions and being unproductive. Thus, employees must have internal motivation and self-discipline to hold themselves accountable. This isn’t always an easy task so it’s important management asks questions during the interview process to try and identify individuals who have a strong sense of motivation. You must also set standards and promote a culture of self-discipline.
5) Team Culture
Although the team is virtual, setting a team culture is still important. In the office, it’s easy to build stronger connections with your team through talking in the mornings, taking coffee breaks, and much more. A team’s culture can play a big role in motivation, as it increases an employee’s engagement and makes them feel a part of something bigger.
Establishing a team culture online can be hard compared to in person. You might consider hosting online events to build the culture and relationships of the team. You can also host in-person events occasionally to facilitate face-to-face interactions.
6) Online Team Building Activities
As previously discussed, establishing a team culture involves team activities. Here, we will dive deeper into what these team-building activities entail. We often forget the importance of relationships. Employees seek friendships with the people they work with and when they can do so, they care more about the place they work. This contributes to their satisfaction, reduced employee turnover, productivity, etc.
There are a variety of online games that can be done but some popular options involve virtual escape rooms, murder mysteries, trivia, charades, etc.
Sometimes motivation to join these events online is reduced, so leadership needs to set an example and attend these events.
7) Setting Goals
When working in virtual teams, check-ins happen less frequently as you can’t easily drop by your boss’s desk to stay updated on the work and the team.
This is why setting clear goals and effectively communicating them to the team is so important. Clear goals serve as a roadmap for all team members, providing clarity on what they should be working toward. Without such clarity in goal-setting and communication, employees may find themselves uncertain about their objectives. This can also lead to different employees working towards different end goals.
8) Sense of Purpose
An integral aspect of a successful work team is having employees who are dedicated to their tasks and committed to the team's success. To be dedicated to your work, you need to feel a sense of purpose in your work. This can be hard when working virtually as you feel very disconnected from the team.
It’s important for management to not just delegate but explain what the individual’s contributions do for the company as a whole. Providing recognition also plays a pivotal role, as it reinforces the significance and impact of employees' efforts. If an employee doesn’t see the value of their work, they won’t feel that they play an important role on the team, leading to reduced motivation toward the team’s success.
9) Delegation
Everyone plays a role in a team and it's important you know what your role is. Managers need to delegate tasks and make this clear to everyone. There can be miscommunication when employees take the initiative on their own to do things without a clear direction of what is expected. This might result in certain tasks not being done or multiple people doing the same task. This doesn’t mean initiative isn’t important but that delegation is a crucial first step to take. It makes it clear to employees what they need to do especially when they work independently.
10) Set Clear Expectations
As we know, virtual teams require independent work. There is a lack of oversight by management as you can’t see what your team is doing. Although you can never guarantee that your team is performing to your expectations, setting clear expectations can help to guide employees. Throughout onboarding and even during the time of employment, it is critical to emphasize expectations in terms of working hours, work quality, turnaround time, policies, procedures, etc. This helps employees to know what is expected of them and how to do their job properly.
11) Regular Check-ins and Be Available
Remote work does require a lot of self-direction but management should still oversee the work of the team. Thus, regular check-ins either weekly or bi-weekly will help to keep the team on track and allow everyone to share updates on their work. This allows for more effective communication and helps the team feel like they are a part of something bigger. When working at home, it’s easy to forget what you are contributing to and that you are part of a bigger team.
Not only are check-ins important but being available for your team. Employees may have questions that arise when doing their work and since they can’t pop by your desk, they need to be able to reach you online. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t focus on your work or that you should answer the second that they message you, but make sure you are keeping an eye on your messages. You could even consider setting aside a period during the week when you are open for questions and chats.
12) Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is crucial for any organization’s success. Maintaining engagement can be harder in a virtual setting when interaction is reduced. Employee engagement drives productivity, commitment, and a positive culture. Cultivating strong employee engagement is not always easy. As previously highlighted, virtual work environments often pose challenges such as distractions and reduced motivation, making employee engagement crucial in mitigating these issues. As this is not an easy task, you might consider discovering ways to improve employee engagement.
13) Recognition
A part of employee engagement, satisfaction in the workplace, and commitment to your work comes from positive reinforcement. Providing recognition and feedback allows employees to feel appreciated for the work they do.
Even in traditional in-person settings, recognition can sometimes be insufficient, despite the presence of non-verbal cues that offer reassurance in ways that words cannot. it's important to proactively announce and recognize team contributions during regular meetings or through rewards. By demonstrating that you acknowledge and value their efforts, even within a virtual team, you motivate employees to invest more effort in their roles and strengthen their commitment.
14) Flexible Working Hours
Flexible working hours are important for any team. With virtual teams, there can sometimes be more burnout as the individual’s personal life and work life overlap as it all happens in their home. As employees get burnt out in the office and become less productive, the same happens for virtual teams although it seems like a more “relaxed” work arrangement.
Allowing for flexible working hours will allow the employee to take breaks when needed without feeling guilty. It will help to refresh their productivity and provide them the opportunity to work when their motivation is higher.
You might also consider why your team is working virtually. It might be because they physically cannot be in office due to children that need to be taken care of, elderly, etc. This can be exhausting, balancing working and taking care of someone at the same time. Thus, offering flexible working hours will allow employees to work when it is best for them while increasing employee satisfaction and engagement.
15) Project Management Tools
As previously mentioned, project management tools help to ensure communication. It also helps with shared goals and staying informed. Using such tools will keep track of everything that everyone is working on and keep it all on one platform. This allows the team to track the progress towards deadlines and will notify others when a team member completes their tasks. This will ensure instant updates on the progress of a project, allowing for collaboration and organization through continual co-creation.
Teams can consider platforms such as:
16) Virtual Team Training
Without an in-person setting, establishing a rigorous and clear training program will improve the team's success. Even in the office, programs do not always provide sufficient training for the employees. With online teams, it’s even more important as you don’t have someone to turn to right away if you need help.
It’s important to also consider informal training for your employees via creative media resources. Consider creating a B2B podcast for your company, where you can learn from key clients, CEO/leaders, and network with influential figures in your industry. This can help employees learn more about your culture, improve personally, and move your business forward.
Most companies don’t have the time to figure out the format, production, and marketing that goes into a B2B podcast, so you can leverage a B2B podcasting partner to handle the entire process.
Technological training is key. The use of technology is so important in a virtual environment as you are using online communication platforms alongside other project management collaboration tools. Some employees might be unfamiliar with these platforms and will require training to ensure they can be productive rather than trying to figure out the technology.
As previously mentioned, communication is more important than ever. However, not everyone is great at communication. Thus, effective communication training is important. This entails both verbal and written communication. Having training for written communication is key as it can be hard to properly express what you mean in writing. Written communication lacks vocal inflection and body language which can lead to miscommunication. So, training regarding how to write an email or send a Teams message can play an important role in ensuring a successful virtual team.
17) Reviews
As most of us know, you normally want feedback when you do your work. You want to hear what you are doing good and what you need to improve on. Doing regular reviews is important so that employees can know how they are performing. During these reviews, you can outline feedback and set goals moving forward. Not only does this allow the employee to correct unproductive performance but also provides direction for the future.
Conclusion
As we navigate this new landscape of virtual teams, we learn something new every day. Every day we work online, we become more effective and successful in our teams. If you are considering starting a virtual team or having problems with your current virtual team, it’s important to ask how and why. It’s time to consider some of these steps and make your way to a successful virtual team.
Written by Kaitlin Duong
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Jony Studios is a client-focused media production studio offering audio/video production, B2B podcasting, and audiobook services. They have worked with a wide range of clients from small businesses to larger organizations such as Penguin Random House, Amazon, University of Waterloo, Freakonomics Radio and many others.
