Thriving in a Virtual Environment

Virtual workplaces were first introduced in the 1990s as new technologies, such as personal computers and the internet, became readily accessible. Taking advantage of reduced overhead costs, increased productivity, and a global talent pool, many companies began opening satellite offices and posting remote job offerings. The trend caught on, and by the early 2000s, the number of people who worked remotely at least one day per week increased by over four million.

Still, it was not until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that remote and hybrid workspaces began to grow at a frantic pace. Social distancing regulations, school closings, and limited transportation left employers and employees with no other option but to rethink where and how to work. Over the past three years, leaders have overcome numerous challenges in their efforts to reshape the traditional workplace, and in its place, both fully remote and hybrid work models have emerged. Today, approximately 70% of the full-time American labor force has already worked remotely at some point, and nearly half of those employees remain in positions that allow them to work remotely at least part of the time. 

Now that remote and hybrid work models are quickly becoming the “new normal,” leaders must continue to find practical solutions for navigating the virtual environment. However, combining remote and on-site work has turned out to be more difficult than some people anticipated. While companies have been receiving positive responses from employees, several modifications still need to be made to successfully incorporate remote work into their existing business models. According to Harvard Business Review, the most common challenges of both fully remote and hybrid working arrangements fall under five Cs: communication, coordination, connection, creativity, and culture. Fortunately, there are several tools and strategies that can be used to effectively overcome them. 

Communication

Poor communication is one of the key reasons remote offices can become less productive. To help prevent such issues, organizations must ensure they are choosing appropriate communication channels. The 2021 Facts and Factors Market Research Report found that the most beneficial communication between virtual teammates were daily face-to-face interactions (93%), audio conference calls (90%), video conferencing (84%), and group email messages or chat groups (79%). Internal and external social media platforms were listed by 62% and 39%, respectively,

In response to the growing number of virtual teams, McKinsey and Company published a list of communication channels, which they deem crucial for remote work:

• A one-on-one video call is the most appropriate choice for discussing sensitive and/or difficult topics. It is also the best choice for building relationships.
• Video conferences are usually best for problem solving, decision making, weekly planning, training, team talks, and review sessions. 
• The chat option can be used for process syndication, urgent questions, social team talk, and keeping up to date in real-time. 
• Video captures and voice notes are useful when showcasing and explaining work, providing guidance to the team, and updating members on meetings they missed.
• Email is most often used to request updates or status reports from a large group of people and to communicate formally — both inside and outside of the company, 

Coordination

Working on a hybrid or fully remote team often presents more coordination challenges than working in a physical office space. This is likely due to the lack of face-to-face supervision, clear expectations, and frequent feedback. Coordination also becomes more complicated when team members are working from different geographical locations and time zones. The 2022 Trends in Global Virtual Work report found that only 33% of respondents were provided team charters or guidelines to achieve high performance on their virtual teams. Similarly, only 34% reported having team guidelines for their virtual meetings.

In a recent article published by the Mass Technology Leadership Council, Leena Rinne, a senior consultant with FranklinCovey, warns workers not to assume that everyone shares the same understanding of how virtual work affects the team. Instead, leadership must assess the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, redeploy as needed. Rinne makes the following suggestions: 

• Agree upon realistic guidelines for remote work, setting remote friendly expectations around the organization’s communication tools.
• Create a shared calendar and set standards for how virtual team members block time for projects and meetings.
• Share news and updates through digital channels and encourage others to do the same. 

Connection

Virtual team members may also struggle to connect due to insufficient technology. Common technological challenges include installation, securing the necessary resources, preventing security issues, and having a large enough bandwidth. To better facilitate remote work, remote and hybrid offices can utilize a variety of tools and technologies. The following list is only a small sample of available resources:

• Office Essentials: Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publications, Docs, Sheets, Forms
• File Sharing: Microsoft One Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, Dropbox, Google Drive
• Virtual Meetings: Zoom, Google Hangouts, Cisco Webex, Go-To-Meetings
• Instant Messaging/Chat: Slack, Cisco, Jabber

No matter which tools are being used, team members must set up and test technology before every meeting. Doing so not only saves time, but it also prevents embarrassment. 

Creativity

When Marissa Mayer became Yahoo’s new CEO in 2013, one of her first lines of business was to ban remote work. She defended her decision in the Huffington Post stating that “while people are more productive when they’re alone…they’re more collaborative and innovative when they’re together.” Although her decision received heavy criticism from experts at the time, several studies have since backed Mayer’s claim. For example, in 2022, Microsoft published an online quantitative study, which found face-to-face teams to be more creative than virtual teams. Team members benefit from having connections to various parts of an organization’s informal communication network, but it is difficult for remote and hybrid workers to connect due to physical isolation. 

Fortunately, arranging and having intentional connections can help. Team members who do not share physical office space may schedule times to pair up for work or to cultivate more informal interactions, such as virtual chats. According to McKinsey & Company, leaders need innovative approaches for creating these types of exchanges because they do not come about as easily in virtual environments. One approach is to include time in the weekly/monthly agenda for employees to discuss any topic. Leaders can also establish an “open-door” policy — without any structured content at all — to create a forum for less formal interactions. The goal is for virtual employees to feel like they have access to leaders and to the kind of informal interactions that happen in brick-and-mortar offices.

Culture

Since virtual workspaces make it possible for employers to hire from a global talent pool, it comes as no surprise that the number of remote cross culture teams has increased. In fact, a study from 2018 found that 62% of corporate employees were already members of virtual teams consisting of three or more cultures. Today, that percentage is likely higher — and while cross culture teams have helped to diversify the workforce, some problems have arisen. Because they come from a variety of backgrounds, virtual team members may have different expectations when it comes to leadership, communication, and collaboration. 

To set the foundation for a company’s virtual culture, Forbes suggests being intentional in the creation of practices and beliefs employees will adopt, rather than allowing them to occur on their own. The article also lists three high leverage actions organizations can take to create a healthy virtual culture: 

• Focus more on behaviors than values. Simply defining values can leave too much room for interpretation, and it fails to offer a clear framework for adhering to them at work. Behaviors, on the other hand, are tangible and allow employees and their managers to hold themselves accountable for meeting expectations.
• Understand the elements of the company’s physical culture before adapting it to fit the virtual workspace. Leaders must identify the pre-existing symbols, stories, and beliefs shaping the organization’s current culture as well as the behaviors they drive. Then, they can assess which elements of the company’s culture to keep and which to replace in the virtual environment.
• Create the stories you want to be told. In other words, provide virtual team members with a clear narrative of the behaviors the organization wants them to adopt. To establish a healthy remote cross culture, leaders must begin with a solid foundation for employees to build upon.

While virtual workspaces may be the “new normal,” organizations are only beginning to capitalize on the value of their virtual teams — and most have a lot of room to improve. If you or your company would like to learn more ways to succeed in a remote or hybrid working arrangement, consider enrolling in our course Thriving on a Virtual Team. Every instructor at JH Miles and Associates is dedicated to helping team members feel more confident and be more productive in this new virtual world. Participants will learn research-proven strategies for navigating a virtual team, effective communication techniques, self-care tips, best practices, and more. Contact us for more information.