You're leading a virtual team. How can you ensure their success in the future?

For the team to be successful, these need to be broader than business objectives. The strongest teams have a shared purpose and aspire to achieve great things - beyond the current projects, the quarterly OKRs, or this year's goals. If you work in a small company, strive to understand why you're in business and communicate it to your teams. Make it a hill you will die on. Only hire people who will go on that journey with you. If you are part of a large company, sit down with your team and discuss why you are a team. It's completely reasonable for a small team in a big org to have a shared purpose that fits into the broader scope of the organization.

Be intentional about communication. Don't leave it to chance. Everyone has their version of best practices, and they often conflict with other people's expectations. Start by creating a communication plan that outlines everything from the times you communicate to the channels you use to the places you store files. It's critical to focus on the present. Don't write down how you want to communicate; write down how you communicate now. People will not change how they communicate based on a written process document alone. If change is necessary, take a measured approach to it. You're forming new habits, not changing a light bulb.

Central to trust is a sense of relatedness. Relatedness is not friendship. It's about feeling connected or familiar in some way, often through shared experiences, interests, or common goals. One way to quickly build relatedness is through virtual team building activities and periodic icebreakers. Both need to be approached with care and be intentional. For example, every virtual event needs to be facilitated. Don't just get a bunch of people on a Zoom call without a plan - it will have the opposite impact for many people. Similarily, icebreakers are sometimes frowned upon by certain people. Don't push people too far out of their comfort zone and be mindful of what is appropriate at a professional place of work.