Trusting Engaged Employees Are the Foundation of Effective Virtual Teams

The Keys to Our Success: Chapter Reviews

Trusting Engaged Employees Are the Foundation of Effective Virtual Teams         Written by Claire Sookman

        From reading this chapter written by Claire Sookman, there are numerous lessons which I found important. There was not one particular key lesson to take from this chapter, but several which aid in the conclusion of being engaged with your virtual team members. With that, a few of the most important lessons which I took from this chapter are, when working in virtual settings with team members who can be from all around the globe it is extremely important to build an engaging relationship with the team, and not solely depend on technology. As well as encouraging team members to be engaged in the work that they are doing, as often times team members who work together virtually can easily become disengaged, due to working online and not being able to build a personal connection with their team members. Leading to another important lesson from this chapter, encouraging team members to build personal relationships outside of the work they are doing, so that they are able to trust one another when completing tasks. For example, mentioned in the chapter, two people with different skill sets can come together to ultimately complete one end goal, but if trust is not present it will be hard for one to rely on the other, because they aren’t trusting of their teammate. It is also very important to ensure that when working with teams virtually, common goals are outlined and there are clear understandings of what needs to be done. All of these small concepts are important to the key lesson of ensuring that your virtual team is constantly engaged with one another, forming a relationship and building trust with one another. It is important because, without these things it will be extremely hard to come to agreements and finish with a successful end goal. In many cases, with virtual teams there are things that can differ from coast to coast. For example giving gifts to members who can be from foreign countries may be offensive to them, and asking too many questions can be “rude” in other countries. Therefore it is important to build relationships with your international team members to ensure a successful project. In order to take these steps learned from Claire into my own practice I would commence a virtual team with first getting to know one another over a course of time, building trust and forming connections and a relationship outside of the product, allowing my team and myself to get familiar with one another and being able to trust each other through the course of the project. Another step I would take to implement from Claire’s chapter to build a stronger team connection, and a comfortable environment for all members is to talk to them one on one (a factor which Claire mentioned she could have improved on after assigning a task to the members) after assigning tasks to ensure they all clearly understand what it is that is being asked of them, and if there are any issues or concerns they have it is best to address it then. Most times when a leader asks in a group setting if anybody has questions, many fear appearing “foolish” so they avoid asking questions and make assumptions and form their own conclusions of what is expected. However, this will lead to a lot of issues if not everybody is clear with what is required. Ultimately, in order to successfully retain a virtual team it is important to build trust, remain engaged with your team members and have a clear understanding of what is expected to come to a successful end goal.