Elizabeth Harrin
Author and Mentor
Trainer and mentor Elizabeth Harrin is the author of ‘Managing Multiple Projects’ and several other popular project management books. She runs the Project Management Rebels community and speaks at conferences internationally and virtually. She works as a project manager in the UK healthcare sector.
I haven’t worked full-time in the office for as long as I can remember. Even before the recent shift to flexible working and work-from-home agreements, we used to have ‘work-from-home Fridays’. Fortunately, project management work is flexible, and you can easily do the job from anywhere with the right tools!
However, I’ve found it challenging to build relationships with my teams and be the leader I want to be when working remotely. There’s something about sitting in the same room as a colleague that helps you create connections and work efficiently. Just checking in with them is more manageable and doesn’t feel like you must schedule a call to find out how they are.
Remote work is here to stay, so I wanted to share some virtual team leadership tips that have helped me in case they are helpful to you, too. But first, let’s look a little more deeply at some challenges you may face when leading virtual teams.
Real-life challenges of managing virtual teams
Managing remote teams is the norm. Here are some reasons why it is challenging:
- Communication barriers. Technology-mediated communication can lead to misunderstandings. Have you ever wondered if that chat message was meant to be so rude? Or what the sender had in mind when they sent that emoji? Virtual team communication challenges can disrupt your projects and destroy morale.
- Communication delays. When you must schedule a time to speak to someone, that can introduce delays. If you’ve ever felt you’ve got more done from a day in the office, this is why!
- Time zone differences. Many virtual teams work in the same time zone, but you may also have colleagues in different time zones. On a recent project, we had to change meeting times to adjust to colleagues in various countries, and that caused additional scheduling challenges.
- Engagement. Engaged, motivated colleagues work harder and feel more connected to a project’s objectives. And engaging others is harder through a screen. You’ve got to try harder to keep up team morale and to help people feel like they are part of a team.
Some managers may also feel concerned that they don’t have direct oversight of what their colleagues are doing during the day. I prefer not to micro-manage and try to work on results-based leadership, so that doesn’t worry me. I can see how specific individuals or certain jobs may need more supervision. It can be hard to give that level of supervision when you work remotely.
Let’s now talk about strategies for leading virtual teams.
ACE strategies
I use ACE as a reminder of virtual teams’ best practices. ACE stands for accountability, communication, collaboration (you can write it as ACCE if you prefer), and engagement.
Accountability
Make sure people know what they are accountable for and that you have a method for holding people to account. That could be using project management software to highlight what tasks are coming up, key deadlines, and work that has been completed. It could be time tracking. It will include regular check-ins with team members to ensure their work is on track.
Talk through roles and responsibilities with individuals and the team so everyone clearly understands their job function. This also helps prevent overlapping responsibilities, leading to work falling through the cracks.
Communication and collaboration
Set communication expectations early and make it known that you don’t mind team members contacting other colleagues directly when they need support on a project. This prevents you from becoming a bottleneck and helps the team work independently and collaboratively.
Get the right tools in use for communication. Ensure there is a way to work on shared documents and to talk to each other. Preferably, have a couple of ways to talk about the best practices for each channel so everyone knows what it is best used for.
Lead by example and share project updates, risks, any updates from senior colleagues, and anything useful for your team. Virtual team collaboration is easier when there is transparency.
Engagement
Finally, virtual team management requires the E in ACE: engagement. Communication and collaboration go a long way to helping people feel connected in a virtual team, but even so, working from your spare bedroom can be isolating.
Encourage colleagues to chat with each other. Let each other know when you are in the office so you make the most of your non-virtual working days. Stretch out meetings to include social chat. Little updates on what you did during the weekend or what you’ve got planned for the holidays can help build relationships and trust.
Link your work back to the organization’s values and goals so you can all see how your work contributes to the bigger picture. And finally, celebrate success! This is one of the biggest things that has worked for my team: we try to shout out and celebrate successes every week.
Setting yourself up for successful team leadership
The ACE culture is helpful, but you must also empower team members to work effectively at home, providing them with the right software. They must be confident that their data is always available to get to work immediately. If the worst happens, you need confidence that backups protect data against loss. In the teams I have worked in, laptops have been lost on the train, stolen out of a locked car, or damaged with hot drinks.
Get your setup organized – when the tech works, everyone feels more relaxed and ready to do their best wherever they are based.
Once you know how to manage virtual teams, it’s just a matter of putting it into practice! Leaders need to address the challenges faced by their team proactively. It is possible, and we work happily virtually now, as do many other teams. Make life easier for everyone by ensuring clear communication, proactive collaboration, accountability (with challenge and support), and engagement. Back everything up by giving your team members what they need to be successful, and you’ll find the results speak for themselves.
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