Key Elements of Successful Virtual Teamwork in Projects Management during Pandemic Periods; a Case of Covid-19

The new normal is working from a distance. Since the expense of travel is continuing to increase and the hunt for talent is no longer geographically constrained, more and more businesses have taken on a virtual cooperation. While remote work used to be an anomaly, the number of employees doing so fell dramatically in recent years by fewer than 20 percent.

But what differentiates the top-performing virtual teams from the weaker ones? Our research at OnPoint has uncovered several characteristics the most effective virtual teams share that set them apart from the rest.

Five Key Elements of Successful Virtual Teamwork

Trust in Virtual Teams

The basis of efficient virtual teams is confidence. But creating confidence can be tricky, especially if your team members are spread and spontaneous contacts are unusual and difficult to organize. Confidence is gained over time through the effort. If team members fulfill obligations and get more personally acquainted, they have higher confidence that they can trust others to play their share in achieving team objectives.

Research has shown that high levels of trust tend to improve team effectiveness, particularly in the field of virtual teaming. While teams can create trust through human connections, efficient virtual teams focus on task-based trust. When team members exhibit responsibility over time, they persuade others that they can fulfill promises and carry out duties.

Collaboration

Successful virtual teams have established how to work in time and space successfully. Those teams work together and harness each one's particular capabilities to complete tasks and to produce desired results via the use of tools and processes to organize, support and encourage team collaboration.

In order to support virtual collaboration and distant teamwork, software tools are extremely useful The program for project management allows everyone to observe which other team members work in and help as necessary, so they can handle workflow transparently. Cloud Platforms and other virtual team technologies also facilitate cooperation by allowing various team members who are located distant from one other to collaborate on the same project materials.

Motivation

Effective virtual team leaders focus and motivate their team to achieve their goals. They excite members to feel included in decision-making, show them how their work contributes to the wider picture, recognize and celebrate team achievements and accomplishments. They also encourage all members to work together.

Virtual leaders may encourage and inspire people more successfully by learning about their team members and knowing their beliefs. They can help the team to empower its personnel and to match their own ambitions to the general objectives of the company. Together with committed and motivated members, this means higher production and profitability and retention than with disengaged personnel.

Autonomy

It also promotes accountability and encourages team-mates to take on responsibility not simply through increasing involvement. Effective delegation enables team members to take action and take action, make proactive decisions and strengthen their commitment to initiatives. In a virtual environment, it is more necessary to satisfy deadlines and quality standards than when humans conduct their job. It is an element that motivates employees and encourages remote cooperation that enables them to arrange their day and select if and how they are to work instead of being "pinch-on".

Setting up established work practices also assists members of the virtual team to function themselves and make positive contributions to team performance. New members are simpler to integrate when workflow management procedures are in place and roles are highlighted. Each member would have to undergo rigorous (and wasteful) test and error periods without these technologies to discover which tactics work best for accomplishing tasks.

 

Communication

Because they are spread out and face-to-face interaction is rare, it is paramount that members of virtual teams keep the lines of communication wide open. The best virtual teams overcome the challenges geography offers through consistent contact. Feedback, accessibility, and timely responsiveness—not just from leadership down but among all members—keep operations running smoothly.

Virtual communication software is a lot more convenient (and personalized) alternative for rapid and flexible communications than email. Team members may engage and communicate in real time, so that they may collaborate on complicated projects even though they have never been in one room. Video conferencing is also useful, which encourages team members to communicate often. Alongside face-to-face meetings, team leaders should aim, within the first few months of the team training, to plan one as part of a kick-off strategy. These encounters assist team members create relations and begin the confidence-building process to encourage accountability and virtual cooperation.

Virtual teams allowed firms to harness resources more efficiently than ever before and to operate more effectively. However it is not a guarantee of success just to assemble a virtual team. Organizations with efficient, high-performance virtual teams carefully develop the teams and choose team members that can flourish in a distant setting. However, even with the greatest personnel in the world, virtual leaders still have to apply many of the above strategies to guarantee their teams stay committed, efficient and productive.

References:

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Abudi, G. (2019). The five stages of team development: Every team goes through them! (Parts I and II). Retrieved from https://www.ginaabudi.com/the-five-stages-of-team-development-part-i/  and https://www.ginaabudi.com/the-five-stages-of-team-development-part-ii/ 

Akbar, Muhammad Azeem, et al. (2017). Improving the quality of software development process by introducing a new methodology–AZ-model. IEEE Access: 4811-4823.

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Duarte, D., & Snyder, N. (2017), Mastering virtual teams: Strategies, tools and techniques that succeed, 3rd Edition. California: Jossey-Bass.

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Charles Nderitu

Regional Manager at AMURT - Associa??o de Apoio Social e Humanitário

3 年

An interesting layout of the new normal in our workplaces.

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