Communicate Outside the “In” Box for Virtual Teams
These communication tips will help you better manage your virtual teams.

Communication techniques that helped bring you success on projects conducted within your office may not be as effective when you lead teams without geographical boarders. Here, a panel of Project Management Professional (PMP^®) credential holders offers the following tips to contribute to your success with virtual teams.

1. Be inclusive. It may be tempting to work closely with the individuals you feel most comfortable with or with team members who are most accessible. With virtual teams though, it is best to be inclusive. Cultivate a sense of one team and one mission by conducting all project work through online tools like wikis and blogs where everyone can contribute and participate.
2. Be prepared and precise. When you hold a conference call or meeting with an agenda, team members know what topics they are expected to contribute to or what they may learn, so they are more likely to participate and remain engaged. Also, close your meetings with action items and deliverables that have precise directions and deadlines. Your virtual team members do not have the luxury of stopping by your office to ask for clarification.
3. Be formal in your communication. The best approach is to remain formal and professional when interacting with your virtual team. Even if you are educated in world cultures or international communication, it sometimes can be difficult to predict how individuals perceive colloquialisms and informal language. Err on the side of formality.
4. Keep in constant contact. Without the ability to walk over to an individual’s work station to see how he or she is doing, it can be difficult to assess progress. If you hold daily virtual meetings, conference calls or make daily reporting into the project wiki a mandatory practice, then you are better able to keep project tasks on deadline.
5. Cultivate open communication from all team members. Some cultures believe it is a sign of weakness to ask for help. Cultivate openness and honesty on your virtual team to make sure you receive accurate status reports. Facilitate two-way conversations about specific deliverables to overcome cultural barriers and stay on task.
6. Couple e-mail with direct communication. With team members spread across time zones, it can be easy to just click “send” with project updates. But your written tone can be misinterpreted and have a negative impact on the team regardless of your intentions. Schedule a conference call or develop mini-webcasts for sharing important information, problems or milestones so people can see and read your facial expressions to understand and interpret your tone.
7. Hold team members accountable. A good way to ensure that team members take responsibility for their tasks is through documentation and communication. When your virtual team members understand that they have ownership of something, it is a clear line of accountability.

For more in-depth study, PMI offers Effective Project Communications and Control for Virtual Teams, an eSeminarsWorld^SM course that occurs throughout the year.