Virtual Teams: Leverage Your Influence

Increasingly more companies put emphasis on virtual teams these days.

With the past (and sometimes current) upheaval of the world's major financial markets, the outsourcing of jobs, and the small home-based business revolution to stay competitive, good teams must remain flexible, and keep their options open.

These factors put a ton of pressure on companies to come up with solutions to develop quality communication management and marketing tools for virtual solopreneurs.

These teams come comprised of people with complimentary skill sets, the desire for time flexibility, and the ability to generate multiple streams of income for themselves and their respective company.

Managing teams in the virtual world has its own set of challenges.

Because of difficult communication is a premium, the virtual environment can cause many misunderstandings between team members. In addition the lack of an unified team vision also stems from poor communication.

Why Virtual Teams?

Any small business that wants to compete in the global marketplace, but doesn't have the resources of a corporate conglomerate needs to go virtual. Here are some good reasons you might want to build your own team:

• Partners and employees can live anywhere in the world
• Technology allows workers to communicate from anywhere
• When built correctly, team members tend to be more productive and happier
• Cut overhead costs by not having to spend on travel and commuting
• Workers get more personal time and flexibility
• Working in a virtual environment allows more logistical flexibility to compete in different markets and time zones

In the next 10 years virtual offices and teams will increase in number exponentially.

Most teams will not capitalize on the increased workflow and productivity provided by building a culture of healthy collaboration, teamwork, and cooperative learning. So how do you establish these essential elements into the core of your virtual team?

If you have a virtual business, team, or organization you know the importance of writing a quality Mission Statement.

The Keys to Virtual Success

We can learn many lessons from nature, this includes discovering the core characteristics of a good team.

At their core, these virtual squads network themselves as groups of cooperating individuals. Assembling people who can perform despite the virtual "network" can be a challenge. Personally, when I began working virtually I struggled to remain focused because of the freedom of working from my home office.

Focus: Staying focused on your core values and purpose becomes the biggest factor in remaining productive for most team members. Some people need the social aspect of working in person-to-person teams. Virtual teams are not for everyone.

Communication: The key to success in any team setting, virtual or not. Your teams success depends on discovering people with similar values and compatible communication styles . This goes for everyday communication between team members or running virtual meetings.

Management: Discovering the virtual manager inside yourself is a lesson in learning how to let go. You need to develop empowerment strategies which allow team members to create their own self-directed work groups. Working this way is new to many managers.