From Google Hangouts, to Skype to text messages, connecting with a team virtually is easy and cost effective. Team members with the specific expertise you seek might not live around your geographic location. Reaching out virtually makes good business sense when finding the best person to fulfill a need or work on a project.
And yet it also produces a whole other set of concerns. One common concern is if a virtual team member really needs to network at events or industry conferences. It’s interesting that the sentiment “out of sight, out of mind” sets the tone for virtual team members. Since these virtual team members are not within the immediate group that might have day-to-day and face-to-face interaction, their professional development needs and even industry interactions are not given the same importance that’s afforded to in-house and in-person team members.
Here's why it's equally important for your virtual team members to network:
1. Connective resources. Well-connected team members, whether virtual or face-to-face, will have access to and knowledge of resources that an isolated team member would not. Not knowing where to go, who to ask or who to connect with are some of the products of a team member that is not networked and not continually developing his or her social skill set and connections. Businesses can learn vicariously through their virtual team members' networking experiences. The business can use that insight as they encounter different people and companies that are not easily accessible.
Through extensive social networks, a virtual team member taps new and different resources and also becomes even more productive. It’s easy to forget your virtual team members and assume that they're self-sufficient. Yet if they feel uninvolved on disengaged, it can affect their problem solving-skills. And often, in the employees' perceptions, it devalues their contribution to the team. It’s tough to help out, share numbers and share resources when you don’t really know someone. The networking events that are often forgotten are those that involve all of your internal and virtual team members meeting and getting to know each other. Networking within your teams is vital to create an understanding of each person’s expertise and how they can assist.
2. Fewer degrees of separation. When a team member feels disconnected, which can happen in a virtual office setting, it can have a negative effect on their abilities to problem solve and reach across parameters for assistance. They can become siloed and even negative. When your virtual team gets to know the team on the ground, the relationship provides a cohesive environment to increase innovation. Creating a collaborative environment is beneficial to all involved. It helps in painting that bigger picture of how they contribute and how they are valued. It gives a stronger sense that they are an important part of the organization’s brand story.
3. Positive representation. When a virtual team member feels connected, they represent your business better. They feel like part of the team and overall plan. They also get a better sense of the big picture when they interact with others who learn how vital that person’s connection is to your company. They have the chance to understand, in human form, what your company actually does and how it makes a difference.
Teach them how to network. Providing skills that support your team encourages the members to be the best versions of themselves and creates an empowered team that's encouraged and excited to be working together. Owners save time if they themselves make the connection. If the owner can make the introductions between team members, it gives validation and importance to the connection. It also models to team members how to interact and provides a strong visual of the connectivity of each team member. It also maximizes learning if current team members can meet with and acclimate to new virtual team members.
Anytime you have a highly motivated, committed and productive group, it’s a result of creation and cultivation. As the leadership of an organization builds a culture that has clearly defined goals, those goals are supported by everyone all the time. The focus is not on individual job descriptions. The focus is on everyone doing what’s necessary as a group to achieve the organization’s goals. In part, this means immediately addressing negative behaviors constructively to produce the needed behavior change and rewarding positive behaviors. It is amazing how quickly a dynamic and committed organizational workforce can be created.
Maria Elena Duron is a brand relationship trainer, national presenter, author and small business marketing coach specializing in helping individuals, teams, businesses and organizations apply the concepts of the book “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace” in their daily business and interactions with customers. She is editor-in-chief of the Personal Branding Blog.
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