Leading Virtual Teams - Secrets of Building Trust and Rapport Online

Leading virtual teams or virtual leadership is the number one hot topic today. In tough economic times, organizations are playing smart. Managers and teams work from home or from distance offices - exclusively using virtual meeting technology. This is great in terms of workplace flexibility, telecommuting and flexible schedules. The only question is, how can you really build rapport and trust when you never see your team?

Sure, you're a powerful leader and you're already great at building rapport and trust. In person. But what happens when you're facing a screen and can't see your team on the other end? Globally and nationally distributed teams often suffer from trust issues. Team members may be unsure about working agreements and operating norms. This leads to uncertainty, unwillingness to communicate and second-guessing.

What starts as a small rift in trust can grow to a wide canyon of misunderstanding, defensiveness, and lack of teamwork. To manage virtual teams effectively, you must establish norms and grow trust quickly and steadily. Then, you must keep the trust - because it can be lost just as quickly.

The importance of building trust is evident in the qualities of a highly functioning virtual team:

• Willingness to admit lack of knowledge
• Asking for help
• Committing to actions
• Delivering on commitments
• Managing conflict effectively

However, if trust is not present online, the reverse occurs:

• Second guessing motivations of others
• Competitive actions rooted in self-interest
• Lack of collaboration
• Lack of communication
• Inability to navigate tough issues

To lead your virtual team, you must set norms, establish expectations, win buy-in and then deliver on commitments.

Naturally, this is the work of an effective leader or manager - both virtually and face-to-face. However, leading distance teams, the demands escalate. To build trust in distance teams, leaders must practice the art of being both reliable and informal. It is important to build trust by making agreements about how you and the team will behave. And keeping these agreements.

It often comes down to the little things:

• Providing agendas before the meeting
• Sending information in advance
• Varying meeting times to respect different time zones
• Providing facilitative leadership
• Starting and ending on time

In addition to clear agreements, procedures and a focus on tasks, be sure to include the relational perspective in your management style. This is the critical secret of successful virtual managers.

To overcome the distance, inability to see people, lack of informal conversation, make room in your meetings for relating. This more social aspect of managing is one that you most likely do easily - in person. The art of building rapport virtually is similar to your in-person skills, but needs rapid revision to guarantee your hands-on style of managing still works - at a distance. When you're in-person, it's easy to greet attendees at the door. You smile, look them in the eye and shake their hands. You get to know your staff, and find out unique strengths of each person.

But, hey, wait a minute. How can you do any of this in an online meeting? Yes, you can use a web-cam, polling and instant messaging to stay in touch with participants. And you can get expensive screens to view each other life size. But it's going to cost a lot of money before you can reap the benefit of rapport. Before you opt for a costly technology solution, take this low-tech approach. Virtual leaders and distance team members find these 3 secret practices build strong bonds and a sense of community.

Secret 1 - Go online 10-15 minutes early. Meet and greet participants informally. Invite team members to tell a personal story or goal for this meeting. (Hint: store this away for use later on in your meeting.)

Secret 2 - Use this story in your delivery. Find a way to spontaneously weave it into your message. In many cases, keep the individual anonymous to protect privacy. However, if appropriate and you've cleared it with the individual, call on the person who provided the story. This builds an instant bridge for other participants. They are more likely to respond to stories, issues and resolutions from a peer.

Secret 3 - Invite participants to stay on the call after the official end. Open up the line for questions, which could not be addressed in the full group meeting. Be sure to give your email and phone for questions that may arise after the call.

Create an environment for informal conversation before, during and after your virtual meeting. Informality builds rapport. Plus, you'll simulate the free-flowing, relaxed conversation, which usually happens in doorways, hallways and over coffee. Once you get started meeting with your team regularly, be sure to invite people to attend these informal 'before and after' sessions. This is a great chance for distance team members to meet with you and build stronger relationships, person-to-person.

If you are new to leading distance teams, or seeking to improve your virtual management skills, make use of online resources. A virtual meeting training company can help you gain confidence, insight and professional leadership skills to quickly build trust and rapport with your team. Once you discover these skills, you will use them with all your distance teams - with your direct reports and with your peers, on an executive leadership team. There are many factors that you can influence to build trust in virtual teams. Learn them and increase your ability to build excellent interpersonal relationships, navigate conflict and lead highly effective distance teams.

Expert Bio: Milly Sonneman is a visual communication expert. She founded Hands On Graphics, Inc. in 1989, teaching audience engagement skills to thousands of Fortune 500 facilitators, leaders and trainers. Her must-have books include Beyond Words: A Guide to Drawing out Ideas, and The Authentic Message.

Is your web meeting provider right for you - are you getting the best deal? Find out now: Virtual Meeting Providers Review. Compares 10 providers, plus exposes Pros and Cons of Distance Meetings. Put the savings in your pocket today. Download your free report now. Here's the answer: Virtual Meeting Success Toolbar - plan your meeting in minutes - not hours. Planning your next meeting - want to slash your preparation time by 50%? Download your free toolbar now.

Download free Toolbar
Virtual Meeting Success Toolbar