Building Effective Virtual Teams – The 3 Keys to Virtual Team Success

One of the biggest challenges for many companies in the 21st century is building effective virtual teams. Large companies spend millions of dollars every year building teams that meet occasionally for a few hours over the internet, but this is not enough to create a productive work environment. For companies that are experiencing difficulty in this area, or have not yet fully utilized this space within their structure, there are five steps you can take to help make your virtual teams effective and productive at the same time.
The first key component to creating effective virtual teams is transparency. In the past, virtual teams have often met informally, and it’s difficult to measure how productive these meetings really are. In many cases, virtual teams may meet online for a couple of hours, but this informal atmosphere doesn’t help much in terms of communication or trust building. And, because the meetings are conducted online, the participants don’t even know what’s going on in real time, which further limits communication and trust. When companies create face-to-face virtual teams, they must also work to establish trust by revealing little about what’s going on, so that the team building process can occur smoothly and participants can trust that what’s being discussed is real.
The second key step to building effective virtual teams is recognition of your company’s strengths and weaknesses. As you do your research to understand your business and identify your desired outcomes, you’ll find that you will have more difficult challenges in areas that you need assistance with. If your weaknesses are in HR, for instance, you may be interested in learning how you can improve your team development training so that your virtual teams are better prepared to discuss these topics with their departments. When you build trust with each other and with the tools you use, virtual teams can achieve just about anything you want them to.
The third key step to building effective virtual teams is to make sure that you are able to form these relationships. There are many ways that you can do this, but one of the most important things to remember is that while everyone should be on the same page, you shouldn’t have to force anyone into making a decision or to be accountable for their decisions. You should encourage the members to voice their opinion, but the reality is that they must trust you before they can do that. Trust is the foundation for building strong relationships.
The final key step to building effective virtual teams is to hold regular team development meetings. It is easy to get caught up in the daily operations of the business and lose sight of the long-term goals. When you hold regular team development meetings where all members get to express their ideas, their dreams, their frustrations, and their triumphs – as well as hear others tell their stories – you will notice that it is that a discussion that helps you stay focused on your mission and your future success.
In short, by building virtual teams that trust one another, you will find that it is much easier to achieve your business goals. This can make it so much easier for you to succeed in the 21st century. Without trust, there is no room for creativity, innovation, or growth. If you want to see the results that you are looking for, make sure that you are building effective virtual teams. There is no substitute for face-to-face communication and real-time feedback, which is why I always recommend that you hold regular team meetings. click here for more info on virtual teams.