A virtual team is a group of people that work together on common goals and projects but do not sit together, and so communicate electronically rather than face-to-face – although they may occasionally meet in person.

Virtual team members are sometimes homeworkers located in neighboring towns but often they are based in offices across borders and continents.

Virtual team working is challenging, and it is often quoted that 50% of virtual teams fail to meet their objectives.  When virtual teams do meet their objectives they very often do not want to work together again. 

You might assume that if you have led teams before you will be able to manage a virtual team without any problem but it takes a highly skilled team leader to be able to build, manage and maintain a successful virtual team. You will need all those skills you developed when managing face-to-face teams – and a whole lot more.

The absence of those informal opportunities to collaborate or those water cooler moments where colleagues share a joke and build rapport means that it is much harder to build trust and create a sense of common purpose and engagement in virtual teams. The virtual manager needs to dedicate more time, energy, and resources to establishing good relationships throughout the team, not only between themselves and the rest of the team but also between colleagues.

The following are some of the skills that are needed to lead a virtual rather than a co-located team.