Simple truths about leading a virtual team

With circumstances having forced many to unexpectedly work remotely, leaders have had to think quickly and adapt how they manage their teams. Remote work isn’t going away any time soon (and many are hoping it never will). Those who are working and leading a team remotely successfully have embraced these simple truths about leading a virtual team.

1) It’s not the same as leading a team in person

Leading a team virtually is not the same as doing so in-person. You can’t just pop-in to each other’s offices to check in on things. You may not have those daily checkpoints about what you did on the weekend, the weather, or that great deal you got on <insert thing you love here>. 

The way things work in an office and in a virtual setting is different, but both can work really well if you know what will make it efficient and feel good. If you try to do the same thing you did in-person online, it may feel clunky and disjointed and like things aren’t working.

The key to figuring out what to do next is knowing that it may be very different than what you’ve done in the past, and that’s OK!

2) Creating connection helps

One of the amazing things about working in an office is the connection between employees - both when it comes to working on projects and problems together, but also just the “chit chat” in the halls. In fact, one of the things that we hear the most about why people wouldn’t want to work from home all the time/permanently is that it would be too lonely or that they don’t feel that they connect as well and understand what’s going on as well online.

That means that opportunities for two-way conversations, collaboration, and “chit chat” should be worked into the fabric of the remote work culture. As a leader, you can encourage this and create opportunities for it throughout the workday. How you do this may vary depending on your team (some will love daily “stand up” check-in meetings, playing online board games, ice breakers and “my favourite trashy TV show” forums, and others would prefer brainstorming sessions and forums for sharing useful work-related tips - find what will work best for your team and start there).

3) Finding tools and systems that work for your team in a virtual environment is imperative

There are tools and systems for almost anything you can think of. Finding those tools and figuring out the best ways for your team to use them effectively can make all the difference between feeling frustrated with how things are running on your team (I have no idea what everyone is working on, I think they all feel like I’m micromanaging them, I don’t think they know what they’re supposed to do, they’re brand new and don’t have access to the whole team any time they have a question, etc).

4) It takes practice and patience

There may be bumps as you change the way your teams work to adapt to online. Things you thought might work might not, things that will work might take time to start working, things you’ve been avoiding trying might be the best option.

And you’re going to need to create new habits and ways of being that may be uncomfortable at first. All the folks on your team that would prefer to keep the camera off at all times may need to have the camera on at least a percentage of the time because it’s important for reading body language. Meetings that used to be optional may need to be required for a while so that everyone gets in the habit of taking advantage of certain tools and of connecting and communicating online. You may need to have more meetings than you think are REALLY necessary because creating connection needs to be forced for a while.

Some of making this work may require doing things that you know are good for you even if you don’t feel like doing them. Once you know that then you’ll be in a better position to create things that really work for everyone.

Want to learn more on creating connectivity and alignment with your team? Sign up for the Leading a Remote Team online program. Hosted by myself and Jocelyne Morin-Nurse, CEO of Loxentus Inc., this online instructional course uncovers the most efficient leadership styles for remote teams, including:

• Creating a team that feels cohesive and understands the core values of the business.

• Getting clarity on action steps, tools and systems.

• Gaining more time by learning how to best combine asynchronous and synchronous communication.

This is an implementation course that includes a downloadable worksheet, downloadable audio, downloadable transcripts, and bonus tips with downloadable audio.

For more information and to sign up, visit https://www.loxentus.com/leadingremotecourseinfo.

Is giving away your expertise for free a bad idea?

I was having a chat with a client recently who isn’t a social media user. They willingly admitted that they don’t really understand it or how on earth a business can make money by spending time posting to social channels.

We were on the phone, so they couldn’t see my big grin - I knew I could help! No, I wasn’t seeing dollar signs dancing all around. What I saw was an opportunity for this business to achieve greater success and I would get the opportunity to have a small role in that!

In order to give this client some insight on how it could work, I began to throw out scenarios that applied to their business. 

• You can share tips on how to do _______________. That’s something that individuals can do themselves and they probably don’t even realize or know how.
• Write up some information on ______________ way of doing _____________. Include some pointers for who such a method would work best and maybe caution against it if there are those it wouldn’t work for.
• Answer the common questions your clients ask.
• Write up the reasons you would recommend or not recommend something. 

See what’s happening? There’s enormous value to the audience in these types of content. There is helpful advice, concrete learning, best practices and questions answered. 

Won’t it hurt my business to give away so much information?

That’s highly unlikely. 

I have a personal and extremely amateur interest in photography. I subscribe to a couple of photography blogs like Fstoppers and Digital Photography School and a couple of others. I also know quite a few professional photographers. While some people may follow the pros and gain some insights and then launch their own business, most will not.

If I want professional photos of my family, I will call up one of the many pros that I know and book a session. Partially because I don’t have the eye of a pro, but also because people aren’t really my favourite photography subjects.

Here are a few other examples: 

• A real estate agent that shares tips for prepping a house for sale isn’t going to lose business, because the real value is in the contacts, knowing the market and being able to market the house in appropriate places - not to mention good advice about pricing.
• A graphic designer that shares good graphic design principles and samples isn’t going to lose business because let’s face it: most people are terrified of opening up graphic design software.
• A consultant/coach that shares how to do things they specialize in isn’t going to lose business because the time it takes someone to catch up to their level of knowledge is prohibitive to getting real work done.

This is how expertise works. We hone in on an area, learn as much as we can, work with that knowledge and then we start that cycle all over again. Social media can be a vessel for you to showcase your expertise in practical ways that build trust, awareness, and eventually new clients.

Even if you share how-to content that you offer as a service in your business, that is proof of your abilities. The DIY crowd was going to do it themselves anyway and they can find out how from others in your industry that are sharing on social channels. Your market? The ones you want as customers? They need your help because they don’t have the time and other resources to do it themselves.

Can you name a business(es) that has become successful by sharing its knowledge and expertise?

Buzz and Brilliance: Week ending Feb 16

Over the week we go through a lot of content - news and blog posts, how tos and conceptual posts on the state of the internet.  Every Sunday we share some of our favourites with you.

Check out the links and let us know in the comments if you have any questions or if you read any great posts this week!

Lara

This week Twitter accounced that it was going to start ranking tweets.  The idea is that they will be able to help people find the valuable content from the sea of noise. (Mashable)

Bell Let’s Talk Day was this week.  Bell pledge 5 cent per tweet, Facebook share, text and long distance calls to Canadian Mental Health. My stream was FULL of the #BellLetsTalk hashtag, and my Facebook feed clearly showed the success of the campaign as well. There were 96,266,266 actions taken, raising almost $5 million. These actions weren’t all though - I saw people blogging and REALLY talking about mental health.  We all need to talk about mental health more and seeing the power of social media do such good in one day was fabulous to see.

There are so many incredible thought leaders and experts in the field of social media.  When they get pooled together to come up with some of their favourite tips there’s always a great variety of information to learn from. (Social Media Examiner)

You are the future of marketing, we all are.  Social is about community and understanding that and growing your own community is what it’s all about. (Awaken Your Superhero)

Karen

Privacy is one of the hottest topics on the interwebs, but it’s a topic that’s rife with misinformation and misunderstanding. The biggest is around private information and personalization. There is a wide gap between the two and Mitch Joel is working to clarify. (Six Pixels of Separation)

Vine, the new service from Twitter that gives users a platform to create 6 second videos has become all the rage in the few weeks since it was launched. Like any platform or content type, it’s important to remember a few things about what you should and shouldn’t do to ensure you protect yourself. (Grow Business Blog)

I’ve often defended EdgeRank as being something that is useful, but it’s clear that not everyone feels that way. It is clear that others want their feed flooded with every post from friends and pages they’ve liked. Occasionally, I have days that I agree. There’s no doubt in my mind that EdgeRank was implemented as part of a long-term strategy to monetize the network. But what if there was another way for Facebook to make money? (The Next Web)

Do you have a Twitter strategy? Or one for Facebook? How about Pinterest? Having a strategy for individual networks is going to put you in a hamster wheel you can’t get off. It’s more valuable and effective to have an overall content strategy. The platforms are tactics to meet your goals as part of an overall strategy. 

THE MEDIA MESH

What you might have missed this week on the Media Mesh:

Who is watching you? You’d be Surprised!

Introduction to LinkedIn: Who’s using it and how?

It’s all about them: Scott Sigler

What is your content worth to your audience?

Leave us a comment and tell us what some of your favourite reads were this week!