Overcoming Road Blocks

What seems to be yesterday’s dream is today’s reality:  The Virtual Workplace. With the recent economic crunch, more people are moving into a paradigm shift, of working anytime and anywhere in cyberspace.  Working remotely had become the latest trend in doing business that many move away from the brick-and-mortar way of doing things.. into managing their own virtual teams.  If managing your conventional office has its own issues, imagine how you can manage a team of people working for you in various regions across the globe.  How can you make your team efficient?  Will they be able to produce stellar results?

With the advent of information technology comes a revolutionary, seamless way for electronic forms of communication – from cellphones, hand-held’s, Wi-Fi, netbooks, to laptops.  The convenience of VoIP, instant messaging, video conferencing, and electronic mail has made working with a mobile team a possibility.  Still, these technologies rely on human efforts and skills.  Therein lies the greatest challenge of them all.

The Four Challenges of the Virtual Workplace

1.  Creating Trust

In the real world, you get to interact with a person and be familiar with the way he or she speaks, dresses, or moves.  Building trust with your virtual workers means choosing your team members wisely by assessing skills and years of expertise in a given field.  Trust Your Gut Instincts!

2.  Consistent Communication

Time zones can truly work against your virtual office, specially if you hire professionals in remote locations.  You can set a convenient time for all, even once a week.  Video conferencing can be helpful in team meetings, as well as having regular checks via Skype or other instant messaging service.  It’s important that everyone is on the same page when it comes to work.  Try setting a 24-hour response time with e-mails.

3.  Collaboration

Having a virtual team means working with people from various ethnic diversity.  There is always that cultural and geographical challenge.  When statistics show that there are less than 30% of those who succeed in managing a virtual office, be mindful of keeping harmony and teamwork in your group.  You are working with people who haven’t seen each other in person, so make sure to respect each one’s uniqueness and differences.

4.  Technology

Not all people have the same comfort level when it comes to using technology, where you will have to give some time in proper coaching.  There is also the issue of sharing information with your virtual workers.  You can always set up a common file sharing or time tracking tool with your team, as well as having a system where data can be logged while working on the project.

Many virtual office managers face the biggest challenge of knowing if their remote workers are really working on the task or not.  Don’t be tempted to micro-manage and always give room for independence.  This will help your team to be more self-directed and you’ll be amazed at what they can achieve in the end.  Trust may be a tough thing to achieve in a virtual workplace, where you can always start small and test your team against the tides of time.  Work Together… as ONE!

Dr. Jaclyn Kostner on Virtual Leardership and Teamwork

Something Interesting:

Addressing the Challenges in a Virtual Workplace

How Cisco IT Implemented Cisco Virtual Office in India

Collaboration Software:  Enables employees to work productively remotely or in the office

Author: Marissa Sayno

Passion and Love for writing makes Marissa continue her quest to inspire readers online and in real-time ( for over 5 years ). Writing has found her when she won a slogan writing contest for a local magazine, and her journey goes on... to the road of discovery.