Building Trust on Virtual Teams, the Web Way
September 26th, 2007 (2:00pm) Anne Zelenka 7 CommentsTweet This
BNET has a great article on managing employees in remote locations that includes tips for building trust. Trust is key to the effective functioning of any team, whether distributed geographically or not. Fortunately, you don’t have to meet face to face to create and maintain trust with remote colleagues, especially with so many communications tools available online.
Here are BNET’s tips for building trust on virtual teams, with my web worker additions below.
BNET: Be available. Don’t let employee calls go to voicemail. When you absolutely can’t be reached, reply ASAP.
The web way: Use workstreaming (sharing a flow of your work activities and output) and lifestreaming (sharing a flow of what you’re doing personally and professionally throughout the day) so people know when you’re available and when you’re not. Be available at least some of the day for quick chats by IM — you can eliminate a lot of email back and forth that way. Get on the phone when you need to resolve conflicts, discuss complex issues, or just check in on someone.
BNET: Beware of using sarcasm and teasing in distance interactions, like email and conference calls, where signals can easily get crossed.
The web way: Use humor if you want, but if doing so by email, use an emoticon to show you’re joking around. Use instant messaging as a back channel during conference calls so people can quickly address misunderstandings. If you feel you’re on the receiving end of something that offends you, remember that tone and humor don’t always come across distances exactly as people intend. Shrug it off or ask the person exactly what they meant; don’t just let bad feelings fester.
BNET: Handle sensitive issues with discretion.
The web way: Don’t share your teammates’ personal lives with all your Twitter friends, even if they’re doing so themselves — it’s up to them to decide how and when to do that. Don’t criticize your employer or your boss on your public blog. Don’t air out your team’s conflicts publicly either.
BNET: Communicate in a variety of ways (email, phone, in person, etc) and often.
The web way: Use all the social tools you have available to communicate with colleagues: blogging for broadcasting ideas and information to your workgroup, wikis for capturing organizational knowledge, Facebook or other social network for connecting on a personal level, Twitter for a virtual watercooler, and instant messaging to replace informal hallway chats.
BNET: Visit employees on their turf. It shows respect for their time and interest in their life outside the job.
The web way: But don’t show up at their house just because they work out of it. And don’t assume they work standard hours so will be available for long daytime meetings — many people choose remote working arrangements because it gives them flexibility to work when they want in addition to where they want.
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
These are good. Trust is sort of hard to define. To the above list I would add:
* Follow through on your promises. Virtual work deemphasizes the non verbal and emphasizes the verbal. So, be careful with language. Since nothing erodes trust faster than blown deadlines, if you say “I will do this then,” do this by then. You build trust by aligning your saying with your being and your doing.
* Be a better, more specific giver of direction and receiver of feedback. Most of my (many) virtual breakdowns go back to some confusion on expectations (“Oh, you wanted X, I thought you wanted Y”). It is a hard skill to give specific instructions, harder still to give constructive feedback.
In my opinion, some of these new web tools and techniques are a sorry band aid for a lack of good team/interpersonal skills. But they can’t. You can communicate too much and still be untrusted; conversely, you can communicate less frequently and engender great trust. One of my longtime clients (who I subcontract for), he is a world class teamworker, but his “trustworthiness” is indifferent to online status, it’s in the quality not the quantity of the interactions. We’ve got new tools but we need more old schools.
Good post Anne. I saw another list that would be a great add to this article, by Linda Gratton of the Wall Street Journal. Her 10 Tips for Virtual Teams really hit the mark.
David’s comment is good as well. I echo the part about communication. I try to err on the side of over-communicate so that there is little misunderstanding. Yet, often the longer emails are skipped over because of the length. Part of it goes back to knowing the personal communications styles of the team members — some like a lot of verbiage while others want bullet points only.
Excellent points. I like the 2 by David Harper too. It is true, trust is probably more difficult to build in a virtual environment. You need to have the same values and vision across the board. Then you can play from the same songsheet so to speak. And trust is built more easily. And one of the values that I think is most important is integrity. That has been pointed out in David Harper’s point 1.