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Creating Effective Virtual Teams: Through a Learning Organisation Perspective
G'day everyone! Dana Harris here, and I just need to get something off my chest. The week before, I was speaking with Rebecca, a project manager from Brisbane, who said her virtual team was in tatters. "Dana," she said, "we are all working hard, but it's like we're strangers passing in the digital night." Sound familiar?
Here's the thing, virtual teams are no longer just the future. They're our present reality. And after working with dozens of Australian Businesses over the past few years, I've realised that creating powerful virtual teams isn't about having the most cutting edge technology. It's about getting the personal touch right, even when we are all dispersed to various postcodes.
The Heart of Virtual Connection
Let me tell you about Jake's team in Perth. And then this pandemic hit, and, despite living together, they had gone from sharing their morning coffees to staring at screens all day long. It was only a matter of weeks before productivity crashed and morale cratered. But Jake didn't panic. In response, he did something very simple and also extremely powerful, he opened every meeting by asking everyone to share one positive thing that had happened to them that week. Nothing work related, just life stuff.
That small change transformed everything. Suddenly, team members learnt Alex was training for a marathon, that Emma had begun a vegetable garden and that Liam was teaching his daughter to play guitar. They were no longer just co workers, they were people with lives and people at home waiting for them.
Establishing Trust When You Can't Shake Hands
Trust is what holds virtual teams together, even though you can't see it. But how do you build it when you can't grab a coffee together or have those impromptu corridor conversations?
Maria, who oversees a Customer service team in three states, taught me this. She said, "Dana, I started talking about my own challenges in the open. "When I'd share that I was having technical issues, or feeling overwhelmed, my people started sharing their stories as well."
The magic came when Maria started what she referred to as "failure Fridays", a safe place for team members to talk about what was not going well for the week without judgment. This vulnerability, in which she showed that she was just as much a human as anyone around her, built a psychological safety net which allowed her team to take risks, be innovative and have real support for another.
The Art of Virtual Communication
Let's talk about communication, it's crucial for any team, but absolutely vital for virtual ones. I recall working at a Melbourne marketing agency where madness was the order of the day. Team members were inundated with emails, running up against critical updates, missing them and duplicating work, no one knowing what any one else doing.
And the answer wasn't having more meetings or imposing stricter rules. Instead, they came up with what I call the "three channel rule":
Urgent issues: Calls or instant messages
Project status: Communicative platforms such as Slack or Teams
Details: Email them with specific subject titles
This simple structure meant not confusion and clarity on where everything could be found.
Creating Moments That Matter
One of my favourite stories of success has emerged from Adelaide where a software development team was having issues of team cohesiveness. Their solution? Virtual lunch and learns in which employees would take turns talking about something they were passionate about, not work related passions, but hobbies, interests or skills.
I'll never forget, during the children's workshop session, watching David tangibly show students how to fold origami cranes with a break for lunch, the under the radar Sarah light up as she taught everyone basic sign language. The two moments forged a bond that made their professional work together easy and pleasurable.
Leading from the Heart
Leading virtual teams takes a different kind of courage. You can't rest on the physicality or the splash by the desk drive bys. Instead, you have to be intentional about connection.
I think of Karen in Canberra, who is a finance team leader. She also schedules a one to one video call with every team member, with no discussion of work, every two weeks to ask them how they really are. "I inquire about their family, their struggles, their victories," she said to me. "Work stuff is an afterthought from there."
Karen also shares her wins publicly and discusses her struggles behind the scenes. And when someone on her team does something amazing, she'll send out a team wide message pointing out their exceptional effort. But when someone is in need of help, she makes a personal connection to provide assistance.
The Technology That Serves People
Here's something that may surprise you, the best virtual teams I've worked with aren't necessarily on the bleeding edge of technology. They're deploying tools that are right for their people, and for the way they work.
Consider a bunch of engineers in Newcastle that I used to work with. They experimented with every collaboration tool out there, until they found that their team was most productive using a stripped down combination: WhatsApp for quick chats, Zoom for meetings and a shared Google Drive for documents. Sometimes simpler really is better.
Handling the Tough Stuff
To be frank, virtual teams have challenges. Time zone gaps, technological hiccups and that sense of isolation can really try a team's patience.
I recall working with a team whose members were located in Sydney, Darwin, and Perth. Coordinating meetings was difficult, until they innovated "rotating fairness", they would rotate the time you had to get up in the morning, so nobody actually had to be stuck with the dawn slot. Small gesture, big boost for the team's morale.
For the inevitable technology failures, successful teams have fallback plans. They understand how, when the video falls, they fall back on audio. If the Wi Fi fails, someone else can assume the screen. Ultimately, it's about riding the punches together.
Your Virtual Team Success Recipe
As someone who's worked very closely with teams across Australia for years, I can tell you what I've learnt really counts:
Start with connection, not tasks. Begin meetings with personal check ins. This isn't time wasted, it's time invested.
Be intentionally inclusive. Ensure EVERY voice is heard at EVERY meeting. Ask the introspective team members specifically for their thoughts.
Celebrate together, struggle together. Design rituals around celebrating wins and finding ways to support challenges.
Communicate like you mean it. Be clear, be kind and be consistent in how and when you communicate.
Remember you're all human. Children will bust in on video calls, pets will wander by and technology will fail. Accept it with good humour and grace.
The Road Ahead
Virtual teams are not going anywhere, and frankly, I am thrilled about it. Done well, they pool the best minds from anywhere, offer opportunities to people who might not otherwise have them, and can be fantastically lean and innovative.
But keep in mind, while a successful virtual team is built on their work, the force that moves them forward is real individuals with real needs of connection, meaning and recognition. Technology is merely the conduit, humanity is the power.
Next time you are in a virtual meeting, take a good look at the faces on your screen. Each represents a finitely large world, someone's hopes and struggles, family and dreams. When we apply that awareness to the way we lead and execute our work, then and only then do virtual teams become forces to be reckoned with.
Concluding Remarks
How has your experience with virtual teams been? I would love to hear your stories and what you have learnt from your successes and failures. Because we're all figuring it out together, one video call at a time.
Keep connecting,
Dana