At the end of this course, you will be able to:

-Lead engaging virtual meetings with diverse teams

-Communicate clearly and openly to

foster trust, accountability and effective decision making

-Develop effective agendas and other tools to improve the quality of your online meetings

-Address conflicts and cross-cultural communication issues

-Carrying out successful negotiations using electronic means

Nowadays, physical distance matters less than ever. Each company can bring together talented people from all the corners of the world, by forming virtual teams. However, managing a virtual team is different in various ways from working face-to-face, and there are some key aspects you will have to take into consideration if you want to be successful.

How was your team formed? Have you been allowed to select your team members or you have ‘inherited’ the team from a previous manager?

 Are the same people always working together or is the structure of the team fluctuating, depending on the activity/project?

2. Physical location of your team members

This might affect the way your team works together due to time zone differences, cultural issues, attitudes towards working long hours etc. When you set up virtual meetings or activities, think of what is best for everybody. The members of your team can be…

For the last situation, it will not always be possible to find a convenient time for everybody. In this case, rotate times, to avoid a part of your team being consistently at disadvantage.

Tip: when possible, use time zone difference to your advantage to get 24/7 productivity (e.g. when a part of the team from the same time zone can work independently from the others).

3. What research says about problems virtual teams are

most often confronted to

According to the Institute for Leadership Excellence – discussing research results published by Harvard Business Review – the main problems you should first address to ensure effective online activities are:

How was your team formed? Have you been allowed to select your team members or you have ‘inherited’ the team from a previous manager?

 Are the same people always working together or is the structure of the team fluctuating, depending on the activity/project?

This might affect the way your team works together due to time zone differences, cultural issues, attitudes towards working long hours etc. When you set up virtual meetings or activities, think of what is best for everybody. The members of your team can be…

For the last situation, it will not always be possible to find a convenient time for everybody. In this case, rotate times, to avoid a part of your team being consistently at disadvantage.

Tip: when possible, use time zone difference to your advantage to get 24/7 productivity (e.g. when a part of the team from the same time zone can work independently from the others).

According to the Institute for Leadership Excellence – discussing research results published by Harvard Business Review – the main problems you should first address to ensure effective online activities are:

According to a study published by Forbes (2015) those are:

-building TRUST (ideally by meeting face-to-face first)

-ensuring CLARITY (by being a little more directive than usual)

-have a VISION (your approach fits the overall vision of the team)

Also, the virtual team leader should:

-Formalize team roles

-Create a very clear set of rules on how decisions are made

-Create a clearly defined process to ensure that all the team members deliver the expected results

-Promote clear and open communication, properly adapted to the teams’ characteristics

Decide together and keep in writing, accessible to everyone, the following:

-starting and ending time of the working day

for everybody

-email response time

-how long online meetings will be

-how long breaks should be

-preferred tone of communication (more formal

or more relaxed)

-cultural aspects (national/religious holidays)

-how decisions are made

-task tracking and reporting

-accountability (e.g. what happens if someone is not completing the allocated tasks);

-communication rules

“Everyone’s responsibility is no one’s responsibility ”

Unassigned tasks can be easily ‘forgotten’ or overlook when working with a virtual team. Although role flexibility is great, you still have to clearly define what everybody has to do, how and when (including recurring and punctual tasks).

For everyone to clearly understand what he/she has to do, don’t be afraid to overcommunicate if needed.

After discussing these during a meeting, they should be also available in writing for further consultation (either as meeting minutes or introduced as tasks in the project management software you are using).

Step 1: Define the purpose of the meeting and choose the right technology/software

Step 2: Perform a tech-check

-if you’re using a device or software for the first time, practice using it before the actual meeting

-allow at least 15 minutes before the actual meeting to check if everything is working properly (internet connection, cameras, mics, are working properly)

Step 3: Distribute invitations and login credentials

State clearly the date and time of the meeting.

Step 4: Distribute the agenda of the meeting via email

You can include in the message you send with the agenda a short notice about the call etiquette (everyone with cameras on/no cameras needed, mics muted unless you have to contribute, software they might have to install, etc.). Every item on the agenda needs to be explicit enough for everyone to be aware of what they will have to prepare for the meeting (e.g. if some members have to give presentations during the meeting). Any other additional material that should be consulted prior to the meeting can be mentioned/included in this message.

Step 5: Show up early and encourage everybody to do the same so you can solve any possible technical issue and start at the established time

Step 6: Lead the meeting

Keep track of who’s joined and who’s missing

Give a recap of the ground rules

Briefly present the agenda and the goals of the meeting

Give everyone the opportunity to contribute

Step 7: Conclude the meeting

Close the meeting at the established time if not earlier

Give a brief of what has been discussed and make an action plan

Send everybody notes and the action plan from the meeting in written format for further consultation

This is not reduced to video-conferencing. You might need to use other online collaboration tools such as a project management software.

For virtual meetings you will need:

We are all diverse, and in a virtual team it is even more likely to be confronted to unexpected situations, conflict or blockages derived from the cultural background of the members.

Cross-cultural communication is a very vast field, which along with in dept knowledge, requires special sensitivity and discernment from the leader’s side, along with uderstanding and tolerance from all team members.

A good starting point in understading how this could affect your virtual team’s activity would be the Cultural Dimensions as defined by Geert Hofstede.

According to this theory, there are 6 dimesions which define a culture. Those can be easily reflected in the way people work and communicate. Those dimesions are:

Power Distance Index

Collectivism vs. Individualism

Uncertainty Avoidance Index

Femininity vs. Masculinity

Short-Term vs. Long-Term Orientation

Restraint vs. Indulgence

An interesting tool allowing for comparison of the six dimensions in various countries, designed by Hofstede Insights can be found here.

Taking these into account when setting out the ground rules for your virtual team can be of great support.

However, we can never know everything and by making too much use of theory can lead to even more labeling and stereotyping. Morever, inter-personal differences can be confused to cultural difference. Nowadays, people working in virtual teams are more aware of the fact that they have to be tolerant. At the same time, it is great and motivating when everybody is respectful and midful about others’ values.

Therefore, maybe it’s better to just let people explain themselves what is fine for them and what is not. You can carry this out as soon as the team is set, when creating the teams’ ground rules and vision. If it is possible for you to set up a face to face meeting, it’s even better. 

You could start by asking everybody to provide information concerning:

-preferred communication style (more formal or more relaxed)

-their view on working time, long hours, etc.

-holidays they would never miss (national/religious)

-uncertainty tolerance

-work related values they appreciate the most

If case:

- labels and stereotypes/remarks that annoys them the most and to never be used

This should be a 100% voluntary sharing – no one should be forced to share or talk about things they don’t want to.

No matter how well you set up rules and plan your meetings, you will still have conflicts in your team.

However, there’s not always a negative thing to have conflicts, in fact they can, if properly managed, lead to better problem solving and more creative solutions.

Conflicts with positive outcomes are those around substance (how should we do this?)

Conflicts with negative outcomes are those around personality – they do not lead towards a solution (‘you always…’, ‘you never’).

In the virtual environment, non-verbal communication is drastically reduced. This might prevent people from forming connections and building rapport.

Different communication styles, not being a native speaker of the language used within the team, lack of clarity can lead to conflicts.

Written information may sound colder and more impersonal. Misinterpretation of rules, bad sound quality, other technical issues, can build up even more frustration leading to conflict. Some people, even due to the poor quality of the lighting or setting of the camera, will look different than normal in virtual meetings. 

However, you as the leader of a virtual team, must be able to facilitate and solve those issues.

Collaborating – all parties are solution oriented – all parties win

Compromise – all parties win and give something

Avoidant – conflict is avoided, suppressed, no steps taken towards solving

Competing – win/lose

Accomodating – one party gives up to the other

The first 2 styles are the most productive as they are solution oriented.

The avoidant style is the most dangerous as the problem is never brought up to light and therefore never solved.

Step 1. Separate the issue from personality

‘It seems the issue we’re confonting with is...’

Step 2. Clarify the points of agreement

There must be some point in the issue on which parties agree. State this clearly.

‘we/you both/all agree that...’

Step 3. Clarify the points they disagree and the reasons

‘the difference in our points of view is..’

Step 4. Show empathy and listen to all sides

‘we understand that you feel...’

Step 5. Discuss pro/cons, brainstorm on alternatives

Step 6. Ask the group on how they see solutions can be combined for a win-win result

Step 7. If consensus is not reached in the previous step, ask the group to vote for the best solution

Step 8. Bring in a 3rd party if necessary, a neutral one who can come up with a solution