5 Effective Ways to Build Trust in Virtual Teams

The remote working arrangement is a growing working trend nowadays, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and people being restricted to their homes. Workers and employees across the globe are working from home and reporting their tasks from home. While working remotely helps in building more teams through virtual connections, it also has its own set of challenges. It is tough to build trust and create good relationships with teams on virtual connections.

Trust in the Workplace

To run a successful remote team and build trust, it’s essential to establish that environment of transparency, excellent communication, and trust with each team member. Some of the effective ways to build trust in virtual teams and develop the management style are:

Hold the vision. Trust the people.

1. Hiring the right people

Before managing a remote team, it is crucial to hire the right people. Not every person is comfortable with working remotely. As such, while recruiting staff, it is essential to mention telecommuting as an additional mandatory skill. Always enquire the candidates about their working style and about their experience of working on a remote team. By recruiting candidates who work well remotely and is comfortable with the same, the manager can put together a good team that will work together effectively and produces excellent results with better trust in one another.  

2. Knowing each other virtually

Working remotely can get real lonely. Everyone needs the chance to connect with the teammate personally to develop a sense of camaraderie and have that trust in one another. As such, it is essential to introduce an excellent on-boarding process for recruits, encourage the team members to share a peek into their lives and create opportunities for socializing with one another. Teammates can connect through social media, video calls, chat tools to know one another.

3. Set clear goals  

Always have precise and well-defined goals for the team members. Give the team a common goal that encourages them a call to action. This would not only increase productivity but will also motivate the team to work well. The reporting managers need to give clear guidance, as well as the required tools and information to help the team members perform their tasks diligently. They can also initiate feedback from the team members to let them feel connected and realize their importance in the team. This will subsequently build trust in virtual teams.

4. Embrace transparency

Reporting managers and leaders should always be transparent. They should connect with every team member and provide easy access to detailed team information like project progresses, work schedules, and task statuses. Total transparency among the employees and the managers is the best way to build trust in virtual teams and ensure that everyone has clarity on company goals.

5. Communicate Regularly

Regular communication encourages motivation and portrays everyone’s commitment to the team. Communicate with employees regularly through communication tools and project management tools. This will bring them together and keep them engaged in tasks and the projects regularly. If the employees are in different time zones, set a particular time to connect and explain the realistic expectations for response times. Even though the communication across different time zones can be irregular, it’s crucial to keep the communication lines always open.

Virtual and remote working would be a regular working mechanism and scheduled for some time now. Flexible working, work-life balance and employees working from anywhere in the world virtually will only increase with the current situation and as organizations compete over the best talent in the field. To build and develop trust in remote teams, the organization and the managerial board should rethink their management and communication strategies.

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