More Information: https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/effective-communication-with-virtual-teams-3701 The number of people working remotely has been increasing progressively across the globe. An employee benefits report narrates that around 60% companies in the US offer telecommuting opportunities. Telecommuting not only benefits people but also presents several advantages for organizations. Research has attributed an increase in savings of around $2000 per employee each year on real estate costs, enhanced productivity, and lower attrition rates to telecommuting. Employees have been found to focus better on work and take less days off while operating remotely. Building effective teams is difficult, but it can even be more so when these teams are remotely managed. For managers and leaders who constantly deal with virtual teams, it is communication that is one of their biggest concerns, in the absence of face-to-face settings. Some of their other concerns include ensuring all team members are connected and striving towards the same organizational goal, recording accurate hours, assigning appropriate tasks, trust, and teamwork. Therefore, having a Communications Strategy and structure approach becomes critical. Addressing these challenges and properly managing a virtual team requires the managers to establish clear goals, conduct frequent team meetings, leverage team members’ strengths, and communicate clearly. However, most leaders believe that the increasing sophistication and proliferation of collaborative technologies enable better virtual communication. On the other hand, studies on globally scattered teams relate performance not with technologies but with effective utilization of these technologies. Research has revealed 5 best practices to enable effective communication between virtual teams. The teams that embraced these communication approaches were found to produce quality deliverables, complete tasks timely, collaborate productively, and meet or exceed their targets: Select Fitting Technology Be Clear Stay in Sync Be Responsive Be Inclusive Got a question about this presentation? Email us at support@flevy.com.

1. 1/17/2021 Are You Familiar with Approaches Critical for Effective Communication with Virtual Teams? | by Mark Bridges | Medium
https://mark-bridges.medium.com/are-you-familiar-with-approaches-critical-for-effective-communication-with-virtual-teams-eea469b55bb 1/6
Mark Bridges
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Are You Familiar with Approaches Critical for
Effective Communication with Virtual Teams?
Mark Bridges Feb 21, 2019 · 5 min read
The number of people working remotely has been increasing progressively across the
globe. An employee benefits report narrates that around 60% companies in the US offer
telecommuting opportunities.
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2. 1/17/2021 Are You Familiar with Approaches Critical for Effective Communication with Virtual Teams? | by Mark Bridges | Medium
https://mark-bridges.medium.com/are-you-familiar-with-approaches-critical-for-effective-communication-with-virtual-teams-eea469b55bb 2/6
Telecommuting not only benefits people but also presents several advantages for
organizations. Research has attributed an increase in savings of around $2000 per
employee each year on real estate costs, enhanced productivity, and lower attrition rates
to telecommuting. Employees have been found to focus better on work and take less days
off while operating remotely.
Building effective teams is difficult, but it can even be more so when these teams are
remotely managed. For managers and leaders who constantly deal with virtual teams, it
is communication that is one of their biggest concerns, in the absence of face-to-face
settings. Some of their other concerns include ensuring all team members are connected
and striving towards the same organizational goal, recording accurate hours, assigning
appropriate tasks, trust, and teamwork. Therefore, having a Communications Strategy
and structure approach becomes critical.
Addressing these challenges and properly managing a virtual team requires the
managers to establish clear goals, conduct frequent team meetings, leverage team
members’ strengths, and communicate clearly. However, most leaders believe that the
increasing sophistication and proliferation of collaborative technologies enable better
virtual communication. On the other hand, studies on globally scattered teams relate
performance not with technologies but with effective utilization of these technologies.
Research has revealed 5 best practices to enable effective communication between
virtual teams. The teams that embraced these communication approaches were found
to produce quality deliverables, complete tasks timely, collaborate productively, and
meet or exceed their targets:
1. Select Fitting Technology
2. Be Clear
3. Stay in Sync
4. Be Responsive
5. Be Inclusive
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3. 1/17/2021 Are You Familiar with Approaches Critical for Effective Communication with Virtual Teams? | by Mark Bridges | Medium
https://mark-bridges.medium.com/are-you-familiar-with-approaches-critical-for-effective-communication-with-virtual-teams-eea469b55bb 3/6
Now, let’s take a deeper look at the first 3 approaches to facilitate effective
communication with virtual teams.
Select Fitting Technology
To enable proper interaction between virtual teams, leaders need to develop
communication protocols and choose appropriate communication technologies. A
variety of communication tools are available to teams — e.g., email, chat platforms, web
conferencing, and videoconferencing — yet most people prefer those that they are
proficient in instead of other better-suited options, which causes problems.
The selection of technology should complement the purpose of communication. Text-
based media — e.g., email or chat — should be used to convey routine information,
ideas, and to gather simple data. For more complex tasks — including problem solving,
negotiations, or to settle arguable interpersonal matters — richer media tools such as
web conferencing and videoconferencing should be preferred. Team managers need to
arrange proper training of their people to ensure all the team members can use the tools
to their best.
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4. 1/17/2021 Are You Familiar with Approaches Critical for Effective Communication with Virtual Teams? | by Mark Bridges | Medium
https://mark-bridges.medium.com/are-you-familiar-with-approaches-critical-for-effective-communication-with-virtual-teams-eea469b55bb 4/6
Be Clear
A major portion of communication around the globe is text-based. While using email
communication, the intentions of the sender are often misunderstood by the recipient,
causing assumptions, biases, and disputes that are not destructive for team
performance. The reasons for this misinterpretation can be attributed to unintentional
negative tone by the sender, absence of nonverbal cues, and difference in perceptions of
the sender and recipient.
To avoid misinterpretation, biases, and disputes, virtual teams should try and outline
their intentions as clearly as possible in the message, ensure appropriateness of the
message tone, use emojis to convey emotions, and emphasize the important
information.
Stay in Sync
Virtual teams are more likely to lose track of each other and become out of sync due to a
number of reasons. This could be due to the absence of in-person meetings, the inability
to tell if the messages have been received and read, unintentional exclusion of certain
team members from an email, and the inability to keep the virtual coworkers constantly
informed of all in-office events.
Globally dispersed teams can overcome these challenges and effectively in sync with
each other by maintaining consistent flow of information to all teammates, avoiding
silence, acknowledging the receipt of important messages, clarifying others’ intentions,
maintaining a favorable opinion about others, and keeping negativity at bay.
Interested in learning more about the 5 best practices to effective communication with
virtual teams? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Effective Communication
with Virtual Teams here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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