Leading Virtual Teams - The Top 4 Challenges and 3 Winning Strategies

We call them "Virtual Teams" but the only thing virtual about these teams is their cyber office. Otherwise, these teams are made up of real people solving real problems and producing real deliverables. 

These teams have some special challenges. If you are leading a virtual team, there are three dimensions of communication you need to know.   Distributed Teams are More Challenging Let's start with the problem. Why treat virtual teams any differently than other project team? What's special? Distance. This translates into four specific challenges: First, where's the informal communication that happens at the coffee pot or water cooler? "So tell me, Eric, how many of these kinds of projects have you worked on?" or "I have a few simple questions I didn't really want to raise in the team meeting - you know, I didn't want to look dumb, but..." Second, what are you going to do about that old rule of thumb that 75% of communication is non-verbal when the only communication you have is verbal or written? Now add that most teams hit headwinds and must rely on trust and commitment to stick together when the going gets rough. Can you build trust and commitment across time zones? Then there's the logistics: What time do you meet? And where do you keep the project's "stuff"? Three Winning Communication Strategies of Leading Distributed Teams Notice the key term is leading. Not organizing, but leading.  Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, emphasizes that "leaders have followers." To be a leader of a distributed group of people that you don't see daily, you must be conscious of three dimensions of communication.

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