Being professionals, all of us understand that life is full of ups and downs. And what I am referring to here is with respect to both professional and personal lives. In both these cases, there always exists a great possibility of facing sudden and trying situations. By sudden and trying, I mean that these situations do not come with either any prior intimation or imagination. However, it is during these moments, that presence of mind and strategic planning play a very important role, in showing the way forward.
Our key focus here in this article is how we address such situations arising at our workplace. Every organization defines its strategies or plans the next step forward, based on its business targets and needs. One of the very successful steps, which organizations have benefited from, is by allowing its employees, to work from remote locations by establishing a Virtual Team. Let’s now get straight into the topic and understand everything about the best practices of a Virtual Team.
Understanding a Virtual Team
We began this article by mentioning about unforeseen challenges that we might come across. Where the idea about having a virtual team helps an organization is when there is no guarantee as to how long, the uncertain situation might last. In simple terms, Virtual teams in organizations comprise of a team or workforce, who work from different geographical locations, but on a common designated project. The best practices of a virtual team revolve around making the best, collective efforts, to achieve shared goals and complete the given project, to the fullest satisfaction of its customers. It is during these times when every business entity faces a dual challenge of fulfilling its commitments to its customers in the given period of time by adverse circumstances, that effective virtual teams are advantageous.
How Virtual Teams Operate?
It is not easy for any organization for handling a virtual team, especially, when the team comprises a diverse workforce, coming from different parts of the globe. Though telecommunication technologies like mobile IoT and Skype have made it easy to at least stay connected with the members of the team, getting every team member to understand the common objective and goal of the project still requires a bit of work to be done by the head of the project. This is where the best practices of virtual team management come to the forefront.
Building successful virtual teams is not only about getting the best workforce but also about how well they can be managed. The best practices of Virtual team management including how well the team members are introduced to each other through video conference calls or Skype calls, Training each member with respect to his role, managing the team and evaluating the team’s performance.
More so, when we talk about quick actions to be taken during unforeseen emergencies, successful virtual teams work towards achieving targets set as well as offering tangible benefits to your project and business, through an effective management system.
Building Successful Virtual Teams
Building an effective virtual team requires the right planning, technology, and culture.
- Understanding the mindset of the virtual team is an important practice in virtual team management. It is also equally important to create a pleasant bond between the virtual team and the local team towards the smooth functioning of the project.
- Successful integration of traditional and virtual teams requires strong partnerships with organizations that can provide reliable and quality candidates.
- One of the best practices for virtual communication includes evaluating how traditional employees are adjusting to workflows with virtual employees.
- The virtual team’s best practices also include working with premier collaboration tools for e.g. either Google Docs or Zoom, which help virtual teams operate seamlessly.
- Virtual Teams in Organizations can deliver great results if they are supported with the best of the infrastructure including communication facilities and equipment.
In addition to the above, it is also essential to ensure that virtual teams stay connected at all times know the latest developments happening around their project. Holding frequent Virtual Team meetings is a common practice adopted by organizations, which should continue even after the project ends so that the relationship between team members becomes that much stronger.
Conclusion
The objective of setting up best practices and Virtual teams following them correctly is to ensure that every member feels like a part of the organization. A strong work culture makes this happen. Effective Virtual teams in organizations are known to establish an identity for themselves by establishing a strong personal and professional relationship amongst them.
Frequent in-person meetings can also be a potent way to cement your culture. If you’ve succeeded in developing and maintaining a blended team with virtual talent, you’ll find that when the team members do meet in person, it feels like a gathering of old friends.
The art of Remote working is here to stay. Not all companies have embraced the best practices of Virtual teams, but there will come a point when it could be inevitable for them to do so. Smart organizations will start early (as in now) if they want to continue having access to a variety of diverse and top talent and gain a competitive edge as a result.
Experienced Digital Marketing professional with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Landing Page Optimization, Adwords, Search Engine Marketing, HTML, CSS, WordPress, and Social Media Optimization (SMO). Now working with DeveloperOnRent a fast growing IT outsourcing Company
