How do you lead virtual teams?

Being part of a virtual team during the pandemic was difficult. The first thing is engaging the team and soliciting their ideas about the differences between virtual and in-person. Virtual can not replace in-person interaction - so it is important not to ignore this when dealing with people. It is helpful to understand how people like to communicate and leverage those tools. It can also be helpful to limit them because there are so many platforms that it can be overwhelming.

Obviously the role will make a difference. However, its important to recognize that some members of a team prefer remote work because they can focus more on projects without distractions. Managers that are oblivious to this component, and try to “make up” for in-person interaction with frequent video calls and distractions will end up driving many solid workers away. Communication is important but don’t force it in someone who is already delivering and opting for remote work simply because they’re not in the building. If you’re micromanaging workers simply because they’re remote than you’re not ready to handle this structure. The frequency should be no different than if they were in the office; (if not slightly less to respect preferences).

One year into the pandemic, I launched a short internship cohort to investigate the core systemic issues of waste management in a large metropolitan area in Canada. My colleagues and I shared the essential documents along with the timeline at the orientation. However, we did our due diligence by asking the interns' about their course schedules and workload. Our weekly meetings were taken from a casual approach, but maintained a communication app for questions and brainstorming. This continuous and constant stream greatly aided our goals and the interns delivered a remarkable presentation.

Having spent 7 years in the Telco and Technology sector in general I have on many occasions worked with offshore and onshore teams via various methods of remote/virtual communication. The biggest hurdle to get over is to always align on a regular basis, verify that all parties understand there expected arrival times, AND hold everyone accountable to those expectations within a healthy buffer zone of time. This last piece is very important as, such in life, things can happen or come up and until the "fire" is put out they may be unavailable aside from a quick chat or messag.

Communication is a constant battle. Frameworks and team wide SOP's are a must for information not to fall through the cracks and team members on the same page as much as possible. The key with communication in a post-covid and remote basked work is project & time management. Employees & Leaderships should be peppering main streams of comms, channels, chats etc with updates. SOP's NEED to be established team wide to not only foster innovation & camaraderie but to also enable growth & scale.

All of these are true whether you're virtual, hybrid, or in-person. One of the most important things is to build psychological safety up front so that the team feels empowered to participate. It doesn't matter how good your communication is or how frequently you schedule it if no one is listening, engaging, or providing feedback about what is or isn't working.

Having worked hybrid for 20 years pre-pandemic it is interesting to observe how tools and opportunities for communications are used and abused - perhaps not having a collaboration tool named 'Teams' would help? It conveys a sense or urgency that delegates have to attend as its supporting the 'Team'. Some organisations now have an unhealthy 'dawn to dusk' internal meeting culture. This does not result in a mentally well adjusted workforce especially when working from home. After a long day in the ''virtual office' the stress remains - you don't turn off the lights and go home. Consider the human factor and leave reasonable gaps between meetings - perhaps AI can enable wellness gaps when managing your calendar?

In my experience it is always a good practice for a people leader to check for understanding of the goals and expectations set before each team member.

Beginning, Middle, End. These are the three most important stages to sets measurable goals and expectations. These should all be realistic and achieveable with built in flex and recovery time. This helps to ensure that all focal points are able to be both delivered on time, as well in their entirety as much as possible. Some services and ideas may change over time due to either design or delivery capabilities, but the delivery and process are the measurable components you can track and rely on for future casting and projected issue tracking. This allows team(s) to be successful both personally and professionally, which will lead to much better results overall for both the company and client involved.

Nothing specific to virtual teams here, and whether you're in person or remote (or hybrid), you all need a way to talk about the goals and the progress towards them. There should always be recorded and written artifacts that are easy for people to discover and digest.

A good team leader develops leaders. Give each team member space and time on the platform to build confidence and gain recognition. You get recognised for your teams collective success, attribute individual achievement where and when due. Treat mistakes as an opportunity for improvement. Say "Good morning", "well done" and "how are you doing - really?". Do not promise what is not in your power to deliver.

In my experience this is largely based on the team dynamic vs being remote, as well as experience and training level. Some teams I have are confident in their knowledge, skills, and experience and were simply happy to recieve some bonus time in recognition of their hard work, long hours put in. In other cases, some may lack a level of confidence, skills, or training and were greatly influenced/gratified by praise and recognition of their contribution. Over all I think in general that you should give recognition along a projects course, from all levels of management. There should also be a balanced amount of constructive criticism/feedback as well. This helps to premote drive and growth, not only in the members butvthe team as well.

Regular and constructive feedback goes hand in hand with a clear communication plan or establish SOP's and comms framework for your teams. The frame works and SOP's will need regular revision and editing base on needs, growth etc and other changes. However, if the foundation is set with CONSTANT communication - then I believe that is when regular and constructive feedback will blossom organically.

I would highly recommend AGAINST the "sandwich method" as it only muddies your message about someone's performance. Separate the positive from the constructive feedback so that the celebration for good work is very distinct from the understanding of the things that need improvement. Think of the last time you got constructive feedback mixed in the middle of positive feedback. Did you leave that conversation really knowing where you stood? Did small areas for improvement detract from your overall positive feeling from a major achievement? Did areas that needed major work get lost (or underestimated) in the positive feedback?

Feedback also to a team leader, for example, the Supervisor or a Team Coordinator needs to know how the Manager or Director is seeing his work, and feel motivated to continue leading the team and even continue proposing ideas that his department can create to increase the productivity of the company, and recognize that effort, in this way he will transmit his motivation to his work team.

Reading body language can work to create the opening to express freely without fear of being judged, for example it works for me to say something like "what are you thinking?" when I see someone with their hand on their jaw or narrowing their eyes, or asking "what do you think of this?", in a pleasant tone of voice so that can take it as an invitation to express their ideas, not as an aggression.

All of these things are necessary whether or not your team is virtual. Make sure your team members know how to come to you for help and ask questions. Understand what you celebrate on an individual, team, department, or company-wide level. These will likely be different than if you're in-person and can just pop into someone's office, ask them over lunch, or post some piece of common recognition on a shared bulletin board/video screen (but you never want those to be the only forms of communication in person, anyway). Communication and sharing should be done in forums that the entire team/organization recognizes and uses.

Managing a virtual team isn't necessarily any easier or harder than managing one in person, but there are some different challenges. One critical thing, though, is that being virtual helps expose many poor management practices that weren't working in in the first place, such as: • Focusing on output instead of outcomes and impact • Not building psychological safety (inclusion, learning, contributing, and challenging) and/or avoiding constructive confrontation • Implicit vs explicit expectations and lack of continuous feedback • Meetings that didn't include the right people, weren't well structured, or have artifacts to share more widely • Unwritten vs documented knowledge • Impromptu conversations or after-hour outings that excluded others

In the virtual experience of working alongside each other during and after covid while still remote we forgot a crucial aspect of interaction. Only 7 percent of communication is verbal... that means we're missing out on so many other measures we actively use to comprehend and understand each other. So we encourage (if comfortable) active video sharing during conversations, it's completely changed the interactions in teams for the better. When I do get the chance to travel and meet the team in person the awkwardness isn't there and I personally feel better about recognizing my team in a crowd of people I've never met.

I would include standardized easy to use follow-up tools to make sure everybody is on the same page and there are no imbalances that jeopardize the team progress. I would try to spot & anticipate difficulties along the way & clarify potencial misunderstandings (i.e what is expected, when, by whom, excessive workloads & previous commitnents ). I would pay attention to cultural differences which may force people to agree to impossible tasks. Avoiding embarrassing situations when people could lose face should be a top priority. Individual mentoring could be advisable. Last but not least I would make sure that language is not a barrier. People feel embarrassed if they have to accept that they don't fully understand a situation