Leading virtual teams in a targeted manner

What are the advantages and disadvantages of virtual teams?

Teams working remotely at different locations have both advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of virtual teams

• Company has a larger catchment area for employees and is not locally bound
• Working models and working hours can possibly be organised more flexibly and according to individual needs

Disadvantages of virtual teams

• Natural team identity low
• Onboarding processes need to be planned more carefully
• Communication "at the coffee machine" is no longer necessary, 1:1 and team communication must be planned
• Getting to know each other and building trust must be done consciously, as there is less face-to-face contact
• Conflicts can be hidden for longer

What are the basic requirements for leading virtual teams?

A study published by the Weizenbaum Institute in 2022 confirms that productivity in virtual teams has increased if the framework conditions are defined accordingly. What are these?

• Clarity of purpose and objectives
• Identification with goals and roles
• Regular feedback
• Open, continuous communication
• Team time together

All of these framework conditions serve both productive work and the development and maintenance of team identity.

Let me explain each of these principles in detail.

Establish clarity of purpose

The clearer the goals are for the team and its members, the greater the chance that they will be achieved. I recommend defining the goals together with the team and dividing them into long-term, medium-term and short-term goals. The following guiding questions will help you in this process:

• What do we want to have achieved as a team by the end of the year?
• What milestone should be reached in six months?
• What are we planning to do by the end of the following quarter?

Ensure identification with goals and roles

Some managers are concerned about losing productivity and leadership effectiveness when working virtually. Will employees get everything done that needs to be done while working from home? How do I reach my employees when I want to assign them new responsibilities or coordinate things? How do I ensure that defined rules are adhered to?

Productivity and leadership effectiveness do not depend per se on physical presence in the office. Productivity is achieved when employees and managers identify with the goals and roles. They do this when they are involved in defining them and see meaning in what they do. I therefore invite you to take the time to assess your team from an overarching perspective:

• How well do you know the why of your employees?
• To what extent is this why reflected in the roles of the employees?
• To what extent do the employees support the team's defined objectives?

Identification with objectives and roles is a basic prerequisite for intrinsically motivated behaviour - regardless of whether you work from home or in the office. And clearly defined goals that employees stand behind and are committed to achieving are a key pillar of leadership effectiveness.

Exchange feedback on a regular basis

I recommend regular feedback in order to monitor the progress of target achievement and appreciate the commitment of employees. Ideally, you should have a regular jour fixe with each employee.

Enable open, continuous communication

To ensure that virtual teams are productive and the team spirit is maintained, clear rules on availability and regular and trusting communication within the team are required.

Regular communication creates transparency. Transparency helps to build trust. It is therefore particularly important for mobile working that communication takes place regularly, e.g. as part of a team jour fixe.

If employees work from home in order to achieve a better work-life balance or if team members work in different time zones, it is important that the shared communication times are within time slots that suit everyone.

I also recommend setting aside communication-free times. During these times, parents can, for example, help the children with their studies, play with them or do household chores.

Spend presence team time

In addition to regular communication, you should spend time together as a team in person several times a year. This could be a joint workshop, team building or further training.

How can a trusting team atmosphere be created?

Of course, the framework conditions already mentioned contribute to a trusting team atmosphere. In addition, three things have proven their worth:

• Trust the team
• Make important decisions together
• Celebrate successes

Trusting the team

Even though trust is not something that can be produced at the push of a button, I recommend that you let go and give your employees a leap of faith. This is an investment that pays off and that, in most cases, leads to a growing sense of responsibility among employees.

Look at each employee individually and consider as a first step: "How much freedom can each member of my team responsibly fill? How many guard rails and guidance does everyone needso as not to be overwhelmed?" Experience shows that the free space grows successively, the "leash" becomes longer.

When you have a clear picture for yourself, discuss this with each employee. Determine together which framework conditions are necessary to be able to work well. This includes, above all, communication spaces and times.

Making important decisions together

The key question that needs to be solved in the team is: How can we maintain trust in the team even if we don't all see each other every day?

Discuss together what you need as a team to maintain this trust.

In this context, experience has shown that it is also important that you make decisions together that affect key aspects of your collaboration. Define together how you will integrate new team members well. How do you ensure the exchange of knowledge? How can you provide mutual support? And how do you manage to address conflicts openly? What does it take to resolve them constructively and promptly?

Celebrate successes

In my experience, successes are celebrated far too rarely - especially in teams that don't meet regularly in the office. Therefore: Plan joint celebrations into your everyday team life. The setting can be creative.