A few "Do's and Don'ts" of managing the "New Normal" of virtual teams- Part 2

3) DONT be overly critical of someone's home office.  For many, there is barely room at home for everyone in the family to have their own space. Now, they need to have their own space, and the family members need space as well; someplace for kids to do their school work or the spouse to work at home as well. Suddenly, a dwelling becomes cramped for space. While commercial real-estate facing losing tenants, there are predictions of a boom in people moving into larger places to accommodate working from home. Thus, company's should not assume that the work-at-home employee is incurring less cost than the commuter. The opposite may be true when you consider additional phone lines, higher internet capabilities, upgrading technology, and moving into a larger dwelling.

DO be understanding of interruptions. Just because a kid screams or a dog barks at the doorbell does not mean that your team member is not considerate or professional. Thus, DO be flexible in scheduling meeting times with you and even clients. Since we are all in the same boat, there are windows during the evening or even late night when workspace and attention are less in demand and focus, and lack of interruption may be more likely. I have had many clients who appreciated a late evening touch-base because they could dedicate their time to our project instead of being interrupted continuously when in the office. This ties back to the former of not working just during regular hours, and this is an excellent example of why not to enforce those hours. 

DO encourage corporate service to provide technology aimed at improving the effectiveness of virtual teams. Shared drives like Google-Plus are an excellent way for teams to collaborate on a project in real-time. Productivity software shows where team members are in the project life cycle and allows members to chip in when they have the time or ask for help if they are struggling.  Streaming video conferencing is a must now, but companies need to recognize that there is an increase in cost to the employee to have internet and phone capabilities capable of taking on a family and a home office. Though companies will be saving money in commercial rent, they should expect the need to support virtual employees with additional expenses such as dedicated fax lines, phone lines, internet capability, and for security purposes, even hardware like laptops and cell phones depending on the role. 

4) DONT be that person who always turns their camera off and expects everyone else in the meeting to show their face. You are setting an example for one-sided, which deprives the other party of body language and gets in the way of establishing rapport. DO wear what you would typically wear or what is policy at work when on a video call. DO set an example of a virtual working office, being mindful of what personal items can be seen in the background by your team members and customers! DO be upfront with customers about transitioning to a virtual office and ask them to excuse interruptions that may occur. Remember, we are all in this together!

And finally- DO keep an open mind to ideas that your team and customer come up with to make this new normal, more normal, and productive. It is new to everyone, so be patient and thoughtful of being in someone else's shoes!