The Challenges of Virtual Teams—and How to Solve Them
With the radical changes to work and life over the last year and a half, it’s clear that virtual work is here to stay. Even though we believe–more than ever–that the future of work is remote, virtual teams still face their own unique challenges due to this new environment.
Remote work is new to many people, but it's not new to 33Vincent—we've been remote for almost a decade! We’ve navigated our community through many different virtual work roadblocks, and we're here with solutions to the most common challenges of virtual teams.
Burnout is Real
Burnout is one of the challenges virtual teams face most often. Remote employees can’t physically leave their work environment, because their job is in their home! The temptation is always there to respond to that one quick email. Before you know it there’s another quick email or task, and this can easily snowball to an hour of your offline time! A small bit of extra time here and there won’t lead to burnout, but you do set a precedent that can easily be taken advantage of: that you’re “always-on” for your job.
How to Avoid Virtual Work Burnout:
Set your boundaries and stick to them, even if the task only takes a few minutes! (True emergencies are rare. More than likely, nothing is going to break if you wait until the next morning to respond!) Some projects or deadlines may require you to flex your boundaries for a valid reason. However, once the project is complete, be sure to reiterate your regular schedule and boundaries to yourself, your client, and others you may work with.
If you’re an executive or team lead, remind yourself often of your team members’ working hours and boundaries. Keep them linked or written somewhere top of mind on your computer; if you’re getting work done outside of their hours, consider scheduling your message to send when they’re back online. You get to keep working, and they don’t feel pressured to respond!
Keep your work area separate. We don’t all have a home office, but you can still create a work-only space. Creating a space that you only use for work allows your brain to effectively shift in and out of work mode. When you work in various locations throughout the day (couch, dining room, bed, etc.) your brain won’t be triggered to shift gears. Being stuck in online mode is one of the sneakiest challenges of virtual work.
Don’t eat where you work. Not just for the obvious reason of not wanting to get burrito sauce on your keyboard, but also for the simple reason that you need to take physical breaks from work. This change-up will not only help you avoid burnout but will also increase your productivity and counteract the remote work struggle of burnout.
Shut down after work. Just as your computer takes a minute to shut down—so should you. Taking as little as 2-5 minutes to organize or tidy your workspace in anticipation of the next day and a quick breathing exercise (Apple Watch and FitBit have easy 2 minute guided relaxations) will allow you to truly leave your work for the day. We recommend a “shutdown ritual” that involves physically ending work for the day, and also brain dumping all the residual tasks that you didn’t complete onto the next day’s task list.
Virtual Work Distractions
Distractions of all sorts can pose a large challenge to virtual work. Whether the delivery driver just dropped off a package, the kids need help, the dog is barking, someone is mowing their lawn, or the TV is on in the other room, working remotely will test your focus every day. The good news is there are solutions!
Solutions to Virtual Work Distractions
Like so much in life, communication is key. If you share a living space let others know when you’ll be working and share your requests (please don’t come into my room/office, please keep the TV at this volume, etc). Create a flag for them that you are unavailable or not. For example, if my door is open, I’m available for you to come in and get something or ask questions. If my door is closed, I’m focused on a project or on a call.
Another great way to block out distractions is to listen to white or brown noise through a pair of noise-canceling headphones. Not only is this a great way to drown out the outside environment, it’s also been scientifically proven to help increase productivity!
Similar to working in an office, another major source of distractions is your phone. Try leaving it in another room or using the Flora App.
Organizing Company Information
Working remotely poses a unique challenge in terms of information management. There’s no filing cabinet you can turn to, and usually no company server either. Remote companies very often rely on cloud-based information management systems in lieu of a company server.
While many companies have moved to cloud-based storage, not all companies manage these effectively. Dumping all the files into a Box or Google Drive is not the same as organizing them! If you’re a team lead or manager at your company, improving file management and general organization of data for your team is one of the quickest ways to improve their productivity and make their recurring tasks easier. And ff you’re an Executive Assistant, this is an excellent place for you to lean in and make a huge difference if your client and their company has taken this approach!
Finding a proper online management system is the solution to one of the biggest challenges of virtual work. When information is accessible and easy to find, everyone's productivity increases and frustration decreases.
As a fully remote company, we use Notion for most of our files, information, and project management, and we really can’t recommend it enough!
Collaboration and Communication
Some challenges of virtual work are due to differences in time zone and proximity. In a traditional office, you could pop down the hall to ask a question or check on something. Teams often shared office space and collaboration was organic and fluid. Sadly in modern-day remote companies, the virtual office can become a barrier to streamlined collaboration. The standard solutions are regular online meetings, regular standups, and similar efforts, all of which are great starting points—but no one size fits all!
For larger companies, consider creating regional meet-ups—in person or virtual—that allow for some connecting and relationship building. When you have solid relationships, collaborating flows easily and leads to some great results.
One of the beauties of virtual work is that you can work from anywhere, but this is also one of the downsides too! This can lead to time differences that impact communication and collaboration. If you are the odd person out, acknowledge it and make the effort to work on everyone else’s time zone (where possible). If everyone works all over the country, avoid miscommunication and disgruntled employees by always considering time zones:
Include the time zone you are scheduling in when sending options
Propose meeting times that fall within the whole team’s working hours, not just yours
Use Slack or other messaging systems to communicate throughout the day for things that don’t require a meeting
Technical Difficulties
Inevitably, at some point, you will face a technical problem. This is another one of the biggest remote work struggles! In situations where you have some forewarning, (e.g.. inclement weather) be proactive, create a backup plan, and communicate it to all the players.
For example, when a hurricane was moving in, one of our Executive Assistants was in its path. She reached out to her clients to alert them to the potential disruption and reached out to peers who could step in and help if needed. When the hurricane hit and power and the internet went down she put the plan into action. This gave her clients peace of mind knowing they were still being supported and also gave her the freedom to focus on recovery without fear of ghosting her clients.
For all the major challenges of remote work, technical issues will likely be the most frequent you face. Something stops working, servers go down, permissions aren’t set correctly, equipment fails, and so on. These are very often out of your control but knowing who to go for technical support can save the day! (Did you know, Google docs can be recovered from the trash within 25 days of being deleted?)
Ease your remote work struggles by keeping tech support contact information handy and don’t be afraid to ask for help!
Daily Fun
Practice daily fun. It’s as simple as building one fun 10-minute break into your day to watch YouTube videos, play with your kids, sit outside, do some online shopping, or whatever makes you happy. Giving yourself a break in your day will help tremendously to battle the challenges of virtual work. These fun breaks can also serve to keep you motivated. Did your latest package arrive? Don’t open it until you finish the task you are on! Love catching up on the latest episode of your favorite podcast? Use it as a reward for when you complete a task!
If you work remotely but live near to the office, make a point to visit from time to time to stay connected and avoid the loneliness of a home office. Be intentional with your time to connect with others outside of work in ways that get you out of the home! Join a gym, work from a coffee shop for some of the day, have lunch with your partner or roommates, or set up virtual coffees with co-workers. Bottom line, don’t let the remote work struggles take over your life and isolate you from the people and things you enjoy.
Now what?
What is your biggest virtual work challenge? Take 5-10 minutes to think about it and decide on a solution to implement this week. Once you’ve solved that one, take on more remote work struggles and find the solutions that work for you. You’ll find that you are more positive, productive and happier when you incorporate these tips and solutions into your work life and the challenges of virtual work will lessen.
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