Top 8 Ways to Enhance Virtual Team Working

Working in a remote team virtually is becoming more and more popular each day. With the companies spreading and with branches opening up in all parts of the world it becomes difficult for team members to come together for important discussions and meetings. Nonetheless, it is essential for the team members to be in touch for proper working and progress of the company. This is why virtual team have been created. You too may have virtual teams in your company which may be working well, but if you want to enhance your virtual team working then you can start following the simple tips given below.

1. Stay connected with online tools

For enjoying effective virtual team communication staying connected is immensely important. Proper and regular communication improves the employee's productivity and efficiency. Virtual teams too need to be connected and to do so the best team communication apps like ezTalks can be used. With the help of such tools, you can start voice and video chat, and thus enjoy a perfect conversation. You can also schedule meetings online and connect with other members of your team at a time that is suitable for everyone.

2. Meet the team members

Since it is a remote team, the members hardly get to meet and interact with each other face to face. This prevents the members from knowing each other well and thus the bond that is crucial for the team members to share is generally absent. So, once in a while, there should be a get together where the team members can interact with each other. If it is just not possible for all the team members to get together physically then frequent online get together need to be planned. You may even arrange some interesting and fun offline and online games. These too can help the team members to work with each other as a team and at the same time get to know each other well.

3. Use screen sharing tools

Screen sharing can prove to be very beneficial to enhance virtual team working. When you work in a project, second opinions from other members can help make the project just perfect. However, if the team members are in different cities/country collaboration can become difficult. So, in such situation using screen sharing tool like ezTalks can help you work more effectively in the team. Screen sharing can also help you understand any situation properly and then you can take necessary actions.

4. Cross cultural awareness is important

Cultural awareness is important, more so in remote teams where members may come from different cultural backgrounds. If there are cultural differences it can create difficulties in understanding and communication between the members of a team. If, however, the members are aware of different cultures it can enhance team collaboration skills and unity in the virtual work team.

5. Do not define tasks but do define roles

Teamwork is important if you want the tasks to be completed on time, and working collaboratively only improves the work quality. It is believed that if the virtual team members know how to get their work done and have flexible roles then it enhances the virtual team working process. Certain studies also suggest that if team members know their responsibilities but not how to attain their goals, then collaboration improves. Since they do not know their path it helps them think together as a team creatively, and this helps them reach their goal.

6. Share your documents online

You normally share documents when working as a team, but it may not be so easy for remote teams to do it on a regular basis. To tackle such problems you can use online meeting tools like ezTalks. With backup and storage, such tools help you save, edit, and share documents that too in real time. Many virtual teams have already started using such tools that have made it easy for virtual teams to collaborate and interact no matter where they are.

7. Help develop trust

It is only if the team members trust each other will they be able to work together properly. Contrarily, the absence of trust will prevent them from working systematically and that will affect the outcome in a big way. So, it is important to make sure that the team members maintain complete transparency, get to interact with each other frequently, and have friendly relations, and trust each other.

Last but not the least, playing team games helps improve productivity. Make sure your team gets involved in online team activities and/or games that promote group activity. This gives them the chance to help each other and some such games can also prove to be an ice breaker that helps the members know each other and fuels team collaboration.

Not that you know how to make your virtual team work better, start following these tips without delay and be sure of witnessing amazing changes and better productivity always.