What Are The 11 Greatest Challenges Virtual Teams Are Facing Now?

Virtual teams are the teams to which tasks, projects, or duties are shared among teammates who do not work together in person. They use online communication tools and resources to accomplish their goals. Although it is considerably easier than working in face-to-face settings, with good home office setups, teamwork can be challenging for virtual teams.

With the rise of virtual teams that businesses have to implement due to other priorities, team members may find themselves doing group work without meeting all together at once or even without seeing each other’s faces through video chat. Virtual teams allow people to connect virtually, within geographic boundaries, and across different cultures. But despite these benefits, working with a distance colleague can pose many challenges; here are 11 of them:

      I.            Lack of Face-To-Face Communication

Face to face communications are crucial to the success of any business. Sadly, though, it’s one of the biggest problems virtual teams are facing now. Without reading body language, seeing facial expressions, or hearing the nuance in tone, workers lose the valuable data they need for successful teamwork. Also, virtual teams have a tough time establishing a solid rapport because it’s hard to create a cohesive bond without spending quality time together.

Tip: To improve communication, businesses should prioritize technology that enables virtual teams to connect more effectively. Virtual collaboration tools, such as conference calling, video conferencing, and real-time chat, can make team members feel like they are working together in person.

   II.            Conflict Resolution

The lack of face-to-face communication is a problem because it prevents effective teamwork and may lead to conflict resolution issues among teammates who work from home. When people rely too heavily on written or even spoken messages, it’s easy for things to be misconstrued unintentionally.

Tip: One-way businesses can help the conflict resolution process is by encouraging workers at different locations to meet in person at least once a year to experience face-to-face communication. Another thing companies can do is implement policies that define “acceptable” forms of communication, such as emails or text messages.

III.            Less Motivation

Virtual teams face the unique challenge of motivating both themselves and their teammates to work toward team goals. If people are slow to respond to others during work hours or appear unenthusiastic about group projects, it’s easy for the entire team to lose motivation.

Tip: To boost motivation within virtual teams, managers need to appreciate the time and effort employees put into their jobs. Creating a culture in which workers feel connected will go a long way, keeping them willing to devote extra energy toward achieving the team.

IV.            Fluctuating Productivity

Most people have a natural ebb and flow to their energy levels each day. When they’re in the middle of an important project, they often feel motivated and excited about their work. But when it comes to completing repetitive tasks or less-interesting projects, individuals tend to put in less effort. This problem is even more amplified with virtual teams because workers might not realize how fluctuations in productivity affect everyone else’s workflow.

   V.            Lack of Accountability

Unreliable communication, lack of motivation, and productivity fluctuations lead to a team’s inability to hold each other accountable for their actions. Businesses must rely on the information they’re receiving from their employees rather than observe work first-hand. This issue becomes even bigger when standards are not applied consistently across different teams or individuals can skip responsibilities without repercussion.

Tip: To increase accountability, businesses should develop clear rules around essential issues such as how often someone should answer emails or return phone calls during working hours, how many breaks an employee can take every day, etc. For transparency purposes, companies should also have systems that allow everyone to view the most current version of the team’s shared goals and expectations.

VI.            No Communication

One of the biggest problems virtual teams face is that they don’t practice their communication skills in person. People may harbor unresolved issues or simply not know how to contribute more effectively, but this information will remain unknown if it’s never discussed.

Tip: Businesses should ask new employees on virtual teams what type of support from their teammates they need most often. If someone wants a lot of guidance or input from others before getting started, employers might consider coaching them individually for a week or so while allowing other newbies on the team to do their own thing until they’re ready for assistance.

VII.            Poor Leadership Skills

When virtual teams are formed, managers often assume that the work product is all that matters. However, this philosophy can be problematic because employees who lack leadership skills might not put in enough effort to complete their jobs. If they don’t know how to set goals or give deadlines for finishing certain deliverables, today’s global marketplace makes it easy for them to become laggards rather than leaders on the team.

VIII.            The Wrong People

In a rush to form virtual teams after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, businesses didn’t always consider who they were adding to their workforce. In some cases, employees were placed on global assignments without giving them a choice in the matter. In others, people who had never worked with each other before were paired up because they happened to share similar job descriptions or lived close enough to one another that commuting wasn’t an issue.

Tip: To select team members that mesh well with each other, companies should interview each candidate extensively. They may also want to ask individuals about their history in different industries and how their career experiences could help them achieve the company’s objectives.

IX.            Poor Communication Channels

Many virtual teams experience problems because employees fail to use the most effective communication channels available to them or just don’t know the best tech tips for working remotely today. For example, someone may prefer email because they can take time to compose thoughtful responses, but other team members may prefer phone calls. This issue could have been easily resolved if the managers had made sure that everyone knew why they were being given certain responsibilities ahead of time.

   X.            The “No Trust” Issue

Sometimes employees get so used to working with local colleagues every day that it’s hard for them to trust anyone in a virtual team who is not a local co-worker. In these cases, they might reject new teammates’ ideas for no good reason or simply refuse to help them with projects because they trust their peers from the main office more.

Tip: Businesses should try to build “trust” within virtual teams by requiring workers to complete small tasks together, such as a weekly status meeting. This will help employees get to know one another and work together more effectively when greater challenges arise.

XI.            Time Zone Problems

Even if virtual team members have been using the best communication channels available to them from day one, they may still encounter problems because they don’t all live in the same time zone. For instance, the workforce in California might be sleeping when workers in New York are at their most productive. This is practically the same issue with employees still taking classes and may want to work with the best dissertation service.

Tip: To make sure virtual teams work on the exact schedules, companies should try to get everyone involved on the same technology platform whenever possible. This will ensure that no one is left out of important discussions just because it’s late at night in their part of the world.

Conclusion

Even though the rise of virtual teams offers various benefits, there are challenges facing global team working. Despite these challenges, companies can create effective virtual teams through thoughtful planning and execution.

About the author

Tiffany Harper is a training guru who’s been working in the corporate sector as a technology expert for several years now. She is a management graduate and loves to share her experience through blogs and expert articles with the top essay writing services UK. For her love of writing, she provided online consultations while working with Australian Writings. Please do not hesitate to contact her on LinkedIn.