Today, workforces are no longer bound by cubicle walls and geographical limits. Remote work environments have become the norm, and this means that today’s virtual teams have become the support structures that keep high-performing organizations and businesses of all sizes working efficiently and staying on a strong growth trajectory.
Behind each successful virtual team is a process that nurtures collaboration and communication, making them part of the daily work environment.
Tapping into the right collaboration-building strategies is key for leaders of virtual teams. From the early stages of smart hiring and onboarding to continually fostering collaboration at every stage of growth, this is how to lead and scale virtual teams who move forward with intent, purpose, and collaboration.
TL;DR: How to Build a Collaborative Virtual Team
- Virtual teams are as powerful as in-office teams, with the right leadership and tools.
- Success relies on the Three C’s: Clarity (clear roles and workflows), Consistency (regular check-ins and structure), and Connection (human engagement and recognition).
- Benefits include global talent access, reduced costs, autonomy, and flexibility.
- Challenges include time zones, isolation, trust, and miscommunication, which can be overcome with structured communication and tech.
- Strong remote teams begin with smart hiring, engaging onboarding, and nurturing a unified company culture.
- Tools like OKR software, project management, and communication platforms are essential for alignment.
- Profit.co helps leaders streamline collaboration, align goals, and boost team engagement in virtual environments.
What is a Virtual Team?
Any team or group of people who work together using digital tools to achieve common goals or objectives, but are not physically present in the same place. Team members work from different locations, like other cities, countries, and time zones. They may work from home offices, coworking spaces, or other corporate locations.
They communicate through technology, using tools like Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, and messaging platforms like Slack, as well as project management tools with cloud-based file sharing. This arrangement can be a temporary project-based or permanent
What are the Types of Virtual Teams?
- Fully Remote Teams: All members work remotely
- Hybrid Teams: Mix of remote and in-office workers
- Global Teams: Members across different countries/cultures
- Cross-functional Teams: Different departments collaborating virtually
Leading Successful Virtual Teams in the Modern Era
Let’s begin with a straightforward fact. Virtual teams are just as powerful and impactful as teams that show up to the office every day.
Still, there are some differences in how to approach the virtual work environment. The day-to-day interactions in an office or on-site work environment provide many different nuances that help people get to know each other, as they learn to grow, adapt, and bring their own unique talents, skills, and personality to the team.
Virtual teams are missing the day-to-day in-person interactions, but this doesn’t have to be a setback or liability for your business.
A collaborative virtual work environment begins with leaders who know how to nurture adaptability and emotional intelligence among their remote teams. Successful leaders are no longer stuck in the corner office. They’re out there, engaging, bridging gaps among remote team members, and creating a shared sense of purpose. Transparent leadership and providing teams with the right tools are important parts of this.
Leading virtual teams in the modern era requires leaders to:
- Be capable of balancing the fine line between autonomy and personal accountability among team members. Virtual teams thrive when each person can bring their individual strengths and talents to the table, but it must be done in a way that supports the collaborative team environment.
- Be effective communicators across all digital channels. This is non-negotiable when leading collaborative virtual teams.
- Be efficient and knowledgeable of the most current and effective tech tools for collaboration and streamlining virtual team processes. For example, OKR (Objectives and Key Results) software is used to keep teams focused on strategic goals, even when working with multiple time zones and departments.
A team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other.
How to Effectively Manage Virtual Teams
When it comes to managing virtual teams, there are three pillars that today’s leaders can lean on. These include clarity, consistency, and connection. These are considered the Three C’s of strong brands, and they apply regardless of the size of the business or where it is on its growth trajectory.
Let’s explore these a bit further and how they apply to leading modern virtual teams.
Clarity: This centers on the clarity of expectations. As leaders, it’s important to clearly define roles so that each virtual team member knows what is expected of them, what their personal and team responsibilities are, and how they can grow in their current position. Provide virtual teams with workflow plans upfront, and don’t leave them guessing.
Consistency: As a virtual leader, there needs to be consistency in your presence and communication style. One of the biggest challenges for remote workers is that it’s easy to feel disconnected, and that they’re floating out on an island by themselves. Consistency, with regular check-ins, structured schedules, and workflow plans, provides team members with an anchor. Providing regular, consistent opportunities for communication, both individually and as a team, is crucial for collaboration and growth.
Connection: Get in there and connect with your virtual teams. Get to know them on a personal level, foster team engagement, celebrate individual and team wins, and acknowledge when someone shines. Being virtual shouldn’t take away from the human element.
The Benefits and Challenges of Virtual Teams
Any leader of virtual teams knows that there are challenges, but there are also tremendous benefits that can be tapped into. Recognizing what the most significant challenges are, how to overcome them, and how to leverage the benefits of virtual teams is key to continued collaborative growth and success.
Benefits of Virtual Teams
- There are no limits on tapping into global talent. Rather than being limited to local talent or those who are willing to move, virtual teams can include the best, most qualified members from around the world.
- Significantly reduced overhead costs. No offices or cubicles. No office utility bills, rent, or monthly payments for office space – it all adds up to significant cost savings.
- Employee autonomy is brought into focus, and this is a good thing. It’s a misconception that encouraging autonomy interferes with collaborative team environments. Virtual teams need to be on the same page and working together, but the value in working with the best talent is found in nurturing each person’s individual skills and talents.
- Flexibility. This has always been one of the biggest benefits of remote team environments. This isn’t just about the flexibility of schedules, but also about diverse work styles.
Challenges of Virtual Teams
- The dreaded time zone coordination. While access to global talent is a huge benefit of virtual teams, the coordination of schedules with multiple time zones is a challenge, to say the least. This is one of those challenges that can’t be worked around and that needs to be handled head-on.
- Isolation and miscommunication are real. Virtual team leaders need to be aware of the risk of isolation and miscommunication among team members. This is where consistency and clarity come into play, as well as regularly checking in to make sure team members are still on the same page and that everyone is getting the support they need.
- Trust can be elusive. Building a virtual team is a bit like dating someone in a long-distance relationship. You might wonder if the person on the other end of the screen is representing themselves accurately – and this is a two-way street between team members and team leaders. Transparency, consistency, and feedback from everyone are essential for establishing trust and avoiding miscommunications.
- Goals and expectations may be unclear. Miscommunication is a strong theme in the challenges of running virtual teams. Again, communication is essential, along with implementing tools and technology that keep everyone pointed in the right direction, on the same page, and moving forward without unanswered questions.
Task management and employee engagement tools are designed to overcome these types of challenges and build strong, collaborative teams.
Hiring for Remote Success: Finding the Right Team Members
Great virtual teams begin with onboarding the right people for the job. When it comes to remote hiring, leaders are looking for more than know-how and technical skills. The virtual environment requires remote team members to adapt to the team’s communication style, fit in with the culture, and be self-motivated.
For example, look to hire individuals who:
- They are able to manage their time without supervision. Every moment spent on micromanaging a team member’s schedule or constantly checking in to see if they’re on track with the rest of the team is time taken away from more important leadership tasks.
- Enjoy and thrive in digital environments. This is non-negotiable. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that hiring someone with limited technical experience is out of the question. But, they do need to be willing and capable of learning and be the type of person who adapts with grace, rather than focusing only on the challenges.
- Are proactive and effective communicators. Because virtual teams aren’t in an environment where they can just walk over to the next desk or office any time they want to discuss a problem, bounce ideas off of each other, or ask questions, being skilled in effective communication is essential. Virtual team leaders are in a position to nurture this skill in their teams and provide members with the tools to make communication easier and more effective.
- Be open to collaboration with team members. The growth of remote work has made this less of a challenge than it once was, but it does still exist. Team members should be open-minded to ideas and working with colleagues from around the world. Communication styles and approaches to tasks and problem solving can be different, but this diversity is also part of what makes remote teams so great.
- At Profit.co, we offer goal-based software frameworks that help team leaders and recruiters not only make hiring decisions that are aligned with organizational outcomes but also make sure every team member has a sense of purpose and is driven to contribute to the team’s and organization’s success.
Crafting an Inclusive and Engaging Onboarding Experience
You want your new hires to be actively engaged and excited about the possibilities ahead. This means that the impressions formed during those first few days or weeks shouldn’t come solely from a lonely login screen and tabs of spreadsheets.
Virtual team leaders can make the onboarding process engaging and exciting but taking the time to create interactive digital welcome kits that lift the boredom from typical onboarding processes.
Additionally, bring new team members into the team and culture as soon as possible. Help them to become acclimated to the team’s norms and little quirks (every team has them). Schedule meet and greets across departments, and assign a mentor for each new hire.
Building a Strong and Unified Company Culture in a Remote Environment
Each time a new team member is added to a virtual team, they’re bringing their own ideas and processes to the mix. This is a great time to solidify a unified work culture and remote environment.
This can be accomplished by hosting regular meetings and team-building activities, and encouraging new hires to participate. Also, encourage storytelling and about me moments, but don’t focus just on the new hire.
Let’s be honest, most new hires don’t like being put on the spot and being asked to share something about themselves when nobody else is.
Instead, encourage these conversations to happen naturally, and don’t neglect to recognize contributions at every opportunity publicly.
Setting Clear Work Processes for Seamless Collaboration
This is important not just for new hires, but also for providing the existing team with a refresher.
For example, now is a good time to:
- Set expectations for how time should be spent and for meeting deadlines.
- Define current workflows, making sure to include the common tasks that long-standing team members might perform on autopilot.
- Discuss how decisions are made, and the process for bringing ideas to decision makers.
- Have a clearly defined escalation path in place to help new hires feel more secure.
Being Mindful of Time Zones and Work Schedules
Managing workflows across multiple time zones is a challenge, but it’s one that is no longer a compromise successful businesses are willing to make. Effectively managing and collaborating across multiple time zones is seen as a strong competitive advantage in today’s business world.
This can be accomplished by using a shared calendar with time zone overlays and recording meetings for team members who are unable to attend. Consider rotating meeting times so that the entire team shares any inconvenience.
It’s equally important to respect each team member’s personal time, which means avoiding asking for urgent tasks outside of their time zones, even if it’s still normal business hours for you.
A “follow the sun” approach is good for handing off tasks throughout the day. This way, everyone has the work to keep them busy, but no single person is working well past the end of their workday.
Tools that support personalized scheduling are essential for helping teams coordinate while still honoring individual time blocks.
Leverage Tools for Virtual Team Success
There is an entire world of great tools out there to help build efficient, collaborative virtual team environments. These can include:
- Project management tools
- Performance management and task management tools
- Employee engagement tools
- Communication tools
- Cloud storage
Profit.co offers the solutions that today’s businesses need to thrive in a virtual environment. Our products integrate seamlessly with existing platforms and work to centralize processes like task management, key management functions, performance tracking, and more.
Conclusion: Building Trust, Communication, and Collaboration in Virtual Teams
Building a collaborative virtual team environment requires more than just connecting with the right talent. In the modern world, it requires the full suite of trust, clarity, inclusion, nurturing, and culture. From hiring with intention to onboarding, project management, and beyond, Profit.co is here to play an important role in this journey