The Top 3 Skills You Need to Effectively Lead Virtual Teams

Nowadays, we've all been pushed to work virtually from home. Mostly, we responded well. 

We have developed good digital skills and an effective way to collaborate with other workers. However, the longer this period extends, leaders and teams have started to face long term challenges. 

This short article will help you identify the three primary skills managers and team leaders must have to lead remote teams successfully. I will also aim to show you how you can begin to adopt these into your workplaces and begin to build highly effective virtual teams for years to come.

Let's get into it.

1. Overcommunicate

A while back, I was speaking at an event in the Bali where the question came up; 

'What is the number one skill to lead remote workers?'

We used Mentimeter to run a vote, where if the results increased for a particular word or skill, that word would enlarge itself on-screen, showing it had the majority vote. At the end of the ballot, this is the phrase that dominated the screen:

OVERCOMMUNICATE

Now, this may sound like a negative thing at first, but let's take a look at what it means in the remote working context.

Show them the bigger picture

If you have a remote worker, don't just give them a particular task without showing them the bigger picture. If you do, they may become lost and confused about why they are doing this task. They may start questioning you or your colleagues looking for the reason why. These are problems you can easily avoid. 

The bigger picture is the first important part of overcommunication. It provides purpose and clarity to a task. 

Secondly, it's key that when delegating, you make sure people in your team fully understand what you mean. For example, have you ever given a task to someone and been unable to recognise the deliverable?

When this occurs, it is because the individual didn't fully understand the brief. It is your responsibility as a leader to make sure people have a crystal clear picture of what you want from them. 

Ask your team to rephrase the briefing back to you and repeat what they understood so that absolutely nothing gets lost in translation, and you aren't disappointed with the result. 

So overcommunicating is number one. Let's move on now to our second essential skill.

2. Promote virtual engagement and co-creation

Now, these days, it's easy to run a Zoom meeting or host an MS Teams, but to what level are you engaging your team members? 

How many of you have teams who have logged onto these meetings and have zero input? Or worse, even turn their cameras off? Remember, the more engaged your team is, the higher their performance. So to what extent can we increase engagement? 

I like to break this part down into four levels:  

• Building trust 

I discussed how to build trust in your teams in my previous blog, How to build trust in Remote and Virtual Teams.

• Brainstorming with your teams

The more we have to work remotely these days, the more we will have to make crucial decisions and develop long term strategies out of the office. Because of this, we must be having the same level of collaboration and co-creation in our remote teams as we do in an office environment.

We must become comfortable with brainstorming ideas remotely with input from the whole team. The best way to do this is to make it known before a virtual meeting that people will need to contribute. For many of us, the good news is that remote presentation software is much better now than presenting on a flipchart. 

Everybody, especially during crucial decision-making meetings, should be expected to make contributions. Let's explore how we can do this effectively. 

• Decision-making

When making decisions, we need to create a clear, safe space for our teams to contribute. 

The best way to do this effectively is to post the issue as a question and have several options to choose from. List some of the pros and cons of each option and invite your team to contribute.

Keep these questions up online for everyone to view and comment on for 24-48 hours (particularly if you have global teams). By the time you go into your meeting, everyone's valuable input is ready to view.

The meeting then becomes a discussion about the options so that everyone is happy with the decision. As they all have had a chance to have their opinions taken into consideration, they will feel much more comfortable.

By allowing co-creation into the decision-making process, you will be amazed at the level of input your teams can contribute.

Let's move on to the fourth part of co-creation.

• Product Development

The product development level is a combination of brainstorming and decision making.

It's about breaking your team into smaller groups and collecting quality feedback from each one. You can then move to a larger online forum where everyone assesses all of the options presented and can make a final team decision. 

But make sure you design these interactions in advance. Have individual contributions submitted beforehand so you can split the various aspects of the task up, and based on personal input, come up with a thorough analysis, so everyone is on board with the final result

3. A culture based on recognition and fun

I think there is a strong connection between virtual teams and large families when it comes to leadership.

Being a father to five girls, one valuable lesson I have learned that can be applied to remote teams is making people feel recognised. 

Remote work can be lonely work. and so you need to make people feel recognised, and part of a family. If an individual has got a result, then praise that result in front of all the team. Even if there isn't a result, it could be a good attitude, asking the right questions, or taking on extra roles. The point is there is always something to praise if you look hard enough.

Otherwise, you may find your team members fading into the background and feeling neglected, a bit like some siblings in a larger family can if one is always getting the attention!

So build within your teams a strong culture of recognition. And make it fun, too! Think of creative ways you can create a culture of fun within your virtual teams and allow them to show their funny sides when working. You will be amazed at the results it will have.

So those are the top three skills you need to lead remote teams. First, overcommunicate so people can fully understand the big picture of the tasks they are performing. Next, you need to promote virtual engagement and build a habit of co-creation. 

Do this by designing your meetings with the individual in mind and following my four levels. Finally, we must instill a culture of recognition and praise to maintain a feeling of community and closeness. 

I hope this has been useful, and I would love to hear your thoughts too, so drop a comment in the box below and subscribe to my latest tips by clicking here.

More to come next week.

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Peter Ivanov is Virtual Teams Expert, Keynote Speaker, and Executive Coach. 

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