What are some of the best practices for leading virtual teams and communicating online?

As our workforce becomes more autonomous, managerial practices around goal setting and expectation setting are also evolving. To cater to diverse working styles and thinking styles, managers leading virtual teams can take a co-creative approach. In practice, a touch-point like project initiation meetings to set the goals and expectations together can ensure alignment, promote trust, and set team members up for success. Additionally, taking a 1:1 personalized process of empowering employees to create their goals and expectations can foster higher levels of inclusion, motivation, and innovation.

Frequent touch points, with clear agendas, where the manager is receiving a quick update on progress can ensure alignment. Outlining the goals and expectations of the project, each role on the team, and following up periodically can help.

Clear goals and expectations are essential for virtual teams because they provide a shared understanding of what needs to be achieved and how it will be achieved. This helps to ensure that everyone is working towards the same objectives and that there is a clear direction for the team. Additionally, clear goals and expectations can help to increase motivation and engagement among team members by providing a sense of purpose and direction.

Learning how to define those clear goals and expectations can seem difficult. So it is most important that I follow up, and do so consistently. When I fail to do so, the clarity of our expectations takes a major blow! Like trust...I can work extremely hard to build it for one bad decision to destroy it. It is fragile and it must be managed with that in mind.

Hybrid and remote work is here to stay. Leading remote and hybrid teams can be a challenge, but it can also be a great way to show your creativity when it comes to leadership. For medium sized group meetings, it can be fun to occasionally start things out with an ice breaker question, to get people talking and to learn something new about one another. It is key that, if you have a hybrid team, the people who are remote feel as engaged and connected as those on-site. Make sure that your remote teams are included in all meetings and projects. Ensure that your organization has a centralized location for major announcements and important communication so that everyone knows where to look for necessary information.

Have the team develop a charter that discusses how the team works together. Include meetings, when the team meets in person, use of cameras, technology and collaboration tools. This strategy builds a more effective workplace.

I have found that most teams (remote, hybrid, or in-person) aren't very good at trusting each other. When an intentional effort is made to teach this valuable principle, the payback can be significant. If you wonder why people don't speak up, ask for help, or volunteer their best to the team, it is often because there is a lack of trust.

This is not different from leading in person or remote. Effective leaders build trust and rapport. Collaborate and decide on ways of working. I like to create a document for team ground rules and hold a signing ceremony. The team creates this together and revisits when needed.

In a virtual or hybrid workplace, leaders must consider how they can operationalize relationship-building. By creating consistent touch-points for connection, conversation, and collaboration, virtual teams are able to develop a sense of team identity and company loyalty. There's a growing need amongst today's employees to feel connected to something greater than themselves. Strengthening the connectivity of a virtual team is central to retaining talent now and moving forward into the future of work.

A big part of virtual teams is online meetings. Make sure that you approach online meeting planning just as seriously as you do in-person meetings. Every detail from music to activities to breakouts should be thought about with care, especially for trainings and all staff meetings. There are so many things you can do to make online meetings engaging so that your virtual team feels really engaged in the process. This will go a long way in helping you to communicate effectively because authentic engagement is key.

Clear, concise, effective communication is the lifeblood of any successful team and organization. When teams are remote, it becomes even more crucial. My biggest recommendation is to implement core hours for scheduling meetings. This should be determined based on covering the overlapping time zones that inevitably come into play. For example, a NY based company with employees in California and Europe might want to avoid 9am meetings (6am in CA) or 5pm meetings (10pm or later in Europe). It may be impossible to accommodate every scenario all the time, but this effort goes a long way to making people feel included and considered.

Interpersonal communication is of paramount importance as we consider the intricacies of globalization and modernization. Realities like internationally dispersed teams and human-AI collaboration highlight the need to master the more tacit aspects of communication. What beliefs underlie our words? What messages are coming through non-verbally in our behaviors? Where are breakdowns of understanding happening? How can our communication practices support the objective of team cohesion? All these questions are worth exploring as a team together, especially if you care to build an inclusive workplace.

In my experience as a workplace facilitator, I've seen the value of special projects in promoting collaboration and skills development. Coming together for a special project presents a new context for team members to relate to themselves and each other. When individuals have opportunities to appreciate each other's contributions outside of their roles and responsibilities, they get to see each other's unique strengths and cultivate deeper relationships with their leaders and peers.

In an offline world, we got so used to synchronous communication and work. But now, organizations need to learn how to leverage asynchronous collaboration. Another useful aspect is having a clear understanding of the purpose of each communication channel. Meetings are good for social connections, decision-making, planning, and ideation. You don't need a meeting for a status update or info sharing - just send an email.

Remember to leave items in shared documents for asynchronous as well as synchronous collaboration. This allows time for introverts to add their piece, for individuals to build on each other's ideas, and for those who missed any meetings to have input.

In my experience, check-ins are extremely important especially in a virtual/remote setting. When you’re working in an office, you’re able to tap into visual cues and read body language. You might see someone slumping over, showing signs of depression or anxiety, or generally acting out of character. However, when team members are working remotely (especially for longer periods) certain sensory cues could be overlooked or masked. By taking initiative to check in, you’ll have a better chance of addressing issues or helping team members when they need it most. Plus it shows that you care. It might be what the person needed to open up about a particular challenge.

One of the biggest mistakes remote leaders make is focusing too much on 1:1 communication with their team members. While it's a valuable tool and definitely should be used by every remote leader, there can be drawbacks. If team members constantly come to you for advice and support, you become the bottleneck that slows down the process. You might also feel overwhelmed with other tasks that pile up. To counter this, I suggest leaders hold 1:2 meetings, fostering strong partnerships between team members so they can support and develop each other. With this approach: 🔄Team members have more people to turn to for support. 🤝 They can develop their leadership and mentoring skills.