How to Overcome the Challenges of Virtual Teams
How to Overcome the Challenges of Virtual Teams
Use this Data to Problem-solve and Realize the Benefits of Remote Work
No doubt you’ve encountered your share of obstacles operating as a virtual team. Data collected on remote workers helps us better understand the challenges they face and the benefits of virtual work. After we cover both, I’ll share a couple clever strategies I’ve used to help teams overcome struggles associated with remote work.
Remote Struggles
Even pre-pandemic, the social media management platform Buffer was one of the most highly regarded all-remote teams. The company has been hiring remote workers since 2011, and it got rid of its office in 2015. It’s been transparent about what works and what doesn’t.
Each year, the company has put out its “State of Remote Work Report,” asking thousands of workers about the challenges and benefits of remote work. In Buffer’s 2020 report, 20% of surveyed employees named collaboration and communication as their most significant challenge. The same percentage said loneliness was their biggest struggle.
It can be wonderful to work from home. It can also be very isolating. Research has found that people who are socially integrated tend to live longer. It’s not just about deep relationships. Generally feeling connected to your community (even recognizing the mail carrier and seeing the same people each time you go to the gym), and having friends to talk to can make all the difference.
When you’re working from home, you can be deeply embedded in your family, and at the same time, disconnected from people in your organization. Remote workers who live alone can feel all the more isolated.
On the other hand, some people feel like they can’t break away from the virtual workplace. Eighteen percent of the remote employees Buffer surveyed said not being able to unplug was the most significant challenge they faced. Twelve percent struggled most with distractions at home.
Another 10% found it difficult to be in a different time zone than teammates. That’s why you need to be careful about hiring employees who live in extremely incompatible time zones when the job requires much synchronous communication and connection. Say you need to spend a lot of time on Slack or Zoom. Well, you’re not going to get the best out of your team if someone needs to wake up at 2 a.m. to meet virtually with another member of the team on the other side of the world else at 3 p.m. Being deliberate in your hiring can help you avoid these kinds of time zone issues.
For companies that need to hire across multiple time zones, preparation and planning are key. If people are flexible so that it’s possible to create at least a two- to three-hour schedule overlap every single day for distant team members, that can make a big difference.
Now that’s just one very specific concern. Your group’s struggles might be a little different. But where you face similar challenges, as I expect you might, please feel free to steal and adapt anything I mention to apply it to your context.
Also, as you look for solutions, it’s important to consider the biggest benefits of working remotely. In their book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Chip and Dan Heath talk about this idea of finding the “bright spot.” If you’re trying to overcome struggles, you don’t want to necessarily put all your focus on those challenges. Instead, also pay attention to what’s working well.
Buffer found that 32% of employees surveyed see being able to have a flexible schedule as the biggest benefit of working remotely. In addition, 26% liked having the flexibility to work from anywhere most of all. And 21% said not having to commute was the biggest benefit.
Flexibility was a theme that emerged time and again.
Then there was this question: “Would you like to work remotely, at least some of the time, for the rest of your career?” Almost everyone—a whopping 98%—answered yes to that. We still don’t know exactly how the pandemic will affect attitudes toward remote work, but this is something most of us want to do at least some of the time.
Finding the Bright Spot
It can be easy to focus on the struggles. But it’s very beneficial to look for bright spots. Check in with your remote team to determine what’s working well, and then dissect that.
By doing this, you can find bright spots within challenges. Say, for example, you’ve heard from your team that they’re really struggling with feeling isolated and disconnected from the rest of the world. Ask if there was a time in the last month where they really felt connected to the team or their community. You could set aside 20 to 30 minutes each week to talk about what’s been working to improve collaboration and communication.
In this way you can ask questions to look for the bright spots. This is different from saying, ‘Hey, I know everybody’s struggling with loneliness and isolation, how are you doing with that?’ It’s fine to check in like that. But with this strategy, by identifying the bright spot and dissecting it, you can learn how to replicate it in the future. That allows you to go beyond focusing on the problem to create a lasting solution.
Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson describes this type of orientation with her “broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.” When we fixate on our struggles, it can narrow our thinking. By contrast, according to the broaden-and-build theory, positive emotions contribute to resilience and well-being, and broaden our awareness. This can help us to come up with novel approaches to tackle the challenges we face.
Making Flexibility Your Solution
The biggest benefit of working remotely, flexibility, can also be used as a tool to overcome challenges.
If everyone is feeling isolated or disconnected, for example, you could stop work at 3 p.m. on a given day each week. Then alternate what you do with that time at the end of the day. Set aside that window from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., say on a Friday, for employees to connect on even weeks. Then on odd weeks allow people to cut out of work early to spend time with family and friends.
Meet briefly to brainstorm other ways to create meaningful connections. The focused strategy of finding the bright spot and then using flexibility as a tool to problem-solve can be instrumental in overcoming the challenges virtual teams face.
If you’re looking for more resources to help your team connect, you can pick up a Connection Toolkit. Have the kit shipped to your home or access a free downloadable version at www.weand.me/free. We created this toolkit to help teams amplify connection, belonging and trust. There are a ton of group exercises for teams of all sizes that allow you to do that, no matter what challenges your remote team faces.