Virtual Team Building: How to Meet the Needs of Your Remote Workforce

Remote work – or virtual work – has been called the biggest driver of transformation in the workplace. If you are on a virtual team, you probably agree! Virtual work teams have very different needs than teams who work in the same location.

A major workplace shift like the one we have been living in for more than a year now cannot occur without causing major disruption to teams. Give yourselves the grace to make mistakes, and do the best you can under the circumstances. Here’s a good first start to successful virtual team building. Have a conversation as a team and check in with each member. At your next team meeting, ask the following questions and discuss:

• Do you feel connected to your team? To your leader?
• Do you have what you need to do your job?
• Are our established communication agreements working, or do we need to revisit them?

In addition to trying to meet the needs of your virtual teams, how can you keep them connected to the larger organization – and each other? With more and more people working remotely, team leaders need to find ways to instill the larger organizational culture in their virtual teams.

The key to a successful virtual team connection is to leverage technology to do the work for you.  You cannot manage a virtual team via emails and conference calls alone. There are so many great tools available to bring virtual teams together – collaborative software, video conferencing, project management tools, group scheduling, note taking and brainstorming, file sharing, social media-type tools, and much more. Having the right technology is only half the battle – team members must use it effectively to realize the benefits of true team connection. Keep cameras on for all your meetings, keep chat tools open throughout the day for check-ins and quick questions, create “just for fun” channels on hobbies and shared interests, and allow time at the top of meetings for catching up and non-work banter — just like you would in a conference room.

If your company could benefit from learning more about virtual team building to enhance engagement, or even leadership development to help improve your organizational culture and give your company a solid foundation to build on, learn more by visiting PowersResourceCenter.com.