What shifts do leaders have to make in order to effectively lead virtual teams?

Leading a team of diverse employees with different needs is hard enough. Scatter those employees across different geographic areas, where face-to-face contact is infrequent, priorities are constantly shifting, and you can begin to understand why leading a virtual team is one of the most difficult jobs in business today.

To be effective, team leaders in a virtual environment must be especially sensitive to interpersonal, communication, and cultural factors to overcome the limitations of distance. If you are a team leader, get your team organized, set goals and establish the direction in which you would like the team to go, and always keep members engaged through timely feedback, team building exercises and periodic face-to-face meetings.

Our study found that there are five lessons that the best distance leaders follow:

Lesson #1: No Trust, No Team.

Effective virtual team leaders constantly look for new ways to infuse team spirit and trust into their teams which helps to boost cooperation. However, less effective leaders find it difficult to build relationships and develop collaboration.

Successful virtual team leaders help build an environment that supports collaboration by finding ways for team members to interact and communicate informally. For example, you might choose to use ‘same-time’ technologies such as Instant Messaging to help increase more spontaneous communication. Another important component of promoting collaboration is productively managing conflicts that emerge. Because conflict can often initially go undetected in virtual environments, you must proactively look for signs of it and quickly take steps to resolve it.

Lesson #2: Create a “High Touch” Environment

Electronic technology has made virtual teaming possible but is not a perfect substitute for human interaction. One of the greatest performance barriers is the inability to replicate a high touch environment in a virtual setting. While meeting face-to-face requires time and expense, virtual teams that invest in one or two such meetings per year perform better overall than those that do not.

Poor communication, a lack of engagement, and lack of attention during virtual meetings are a few of the warning signs that a high touch environment has not been achieved.

Lesson #3: Communicate team goals and direction, OVER and OVER.

Successful virtual team leaders clearly articulate team goals and direction to ensure that everyone has a shared vision. They also periodically revisit these factors to both reinforce their importance and make adjustments as necessary.

Clearly communicated, shared team goals are especially crucial for virtual teams because they give members a sense of purpose and meaning that sustains them when they are working alone or without regular direct contact with the team leader or other team members. Clear goals also help to unify the actions of a geographically dispersed team and keep members focused on execution.

Lesson #4: Empower your team members.

Because people are often expected to work more independently in virtual teams, finding ways to delegate work, to give team members freedom to make decisions and to monitor work become particularly important for success. The best virtual leaders set up processes for monitoring progress and follow up frequently, but avoid micromanaging. Monitoring makes it possible to identify potential problems early on, prevents disruptions in team activities and service to customers, and ensures that your team members are held accountable for the quality of their work.

Lesson #5: “Soft” Skills Are Essential

The presence of “soft” skills makes a difference in virtual team performance. We found that virtual teams that have been through skill development activities perform better than those that have not.

More informaiton can be found in my book Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide to Working and Leading From a Distance.