Team Building: A Must for Virtual Teams

New ways of working have given rise to novel employee engagement challenges. The new norms of freelance, part-time, remote, virtual, and such professionals makes it difficult for HR professionals to bring people together and knit them into high-performance teams. There is an increased chance that virtual workers may becoming disengaged simply because they are not “seen around” enough, thereby missing out on opportunities to connect with colleagues and leadership. Here is how to enable team building across at-location and virtual teams. 

In a traditional work environment where teams are based out of a shared space, in-person interactions abound. Coffee conversations, corridor discussions, and intense work debates and discussions bring about a certain camaraderie that acts as binding glue between teams. It connects people at a personal level, and not as “just another worker out there.” Virtual teams offer the convenience of working anywhere, anytime, and always-on, yet miss out on creating that personal connect. While devices such as chat messengers and video calls allow us to collaborate and communicate, they seldom help us get to know each other as a team or build bonds around common interests. This is important to keep employees engaged and happy at work, and companies are investing a good deal in initiatives such as informal get-togethers, celebrations, and fun at work. For a virtual team, HR needs to think differently to create the same degree of connect. 

Virtual work is a contemporary reality, and the sooner organizations streamline their HR and business processes and practices around virtual teams, the better it is. However, there exists a huge difference between virtual workers and virtual teammates. A common ground and a common connect must be established to make your virtual team members feel the same degree of organizational belongingness as any other worker. Most importantly, efforts must be made to ensure that virtual team members share their purpose and ethos with the overall team, despite being virtually connected. This applies equally to cross-locational teams, cross-cultural teams, remote teams, and part-time teams. 

The best (albeit expensive) way of connecting virtual workers is in person, say an offsite retreat at a great location. Creating a memorable, valued, and shared experience will help such employees develop a strong bond, which will aid them in working together further ahead. If that is not possible, a number of virtual connect activity platforms are available to engage your virtual teamsOpens a new window based on common interests. Get to know each other better through ice-breaker virtual games such as “Little-Known Facts about Me,” in which everyone shares interesting trivia about oneself, unrelated to work. Informal chat sessions done online, within teams or across teams, are a great way to share stories and develop strong bonding. 

Technology is the most important aid in engaging virtual workers. The latest solutions such as video conferencing, messaging platforms like Slack, WhatsApp groups, etc. need not be used just for official exchanges, but for informal connects too. Plan for a “Coffee with Leadership” to get a cross-locational team to know more about the headquarter practices from a known leader. A great way for using a simple tool like email is having a weekly group email going out that encourages two-way communication, like a thought-provoking question, or a “what did you do on the weekend” email. Storytelling through online channels can be used as a great medium for living shared experiences, regardless of distances. 

Building teams is not just about putting together the best of people and leveraging their strengths. It is more about open communication, trust and belongingness, going above and beyond one’s individual goals and realizing that a higher, shared experience is important. This can happen only when the right relationships are nurtured, irrespective of time, distance, and other differences.