Working on a remote or distributed team can have its challenges, but so can working in a physical team where no one likes to talk to each other. You can pick the pros and cons but, if you have not worked in a virtual team yet, you are in the minority. The Society for Human Resource Management did a study in 2012 where almost 50 percent of organizations use virtual teams. That was 3 years ago, and the number keeps getting higher. We work in remote teams to stay in contact with all of our consultants, and it is not always easy. While you need to keep up with the technology and be smart with your time here are a few guidelines that can really help boost the productivity of your virtual team.

1. Get Personal

One of the fastest ways to build trust with your team is to get to know them personally. This is a lot harder to mimic in virtual teams.  You can’t exactly decorate your computer screen or phone like you would a cubicle or office to spark conversation. So, you have to put in the extra effort to know more about your team members’ personal lives. One way is to schedule separate one-on-one calls with your team to connect with them at an informal level. Let’s say your team achieves a particular goal, organize a virtual reward ceremony. Send a small present to all team members and get everyone to open it at the same time during a video call.

 2. Assume Nothing

Face-to-face communication provides tremendous benefits when communicating. Virtual teams have ambiguity challenges with a lack of physical presence which means no social cues, body language, facial expressions, or the undefinable yet important ability to “judge a room”. Consequently, be very specific with your requests and assume nothing about the person’s knowledge on the receiving end. Do not leave any doubt about your expectations or leave any requests open to interpretation. So instead of saying “I need to have a summary update by next week,” you should say “I need to have a 500 to 600 word summary update in PDF format by Tuesday, March 4 at 2:00pm Pacific Standard Time.”

 3. Define how you communicate

Be extremely clear and disciplined about how the team will communicate. Create a structure that establishes behavioral norms when participating in a virtual meetings, such as limiting background noise and side conversations, talking clearly and at a reasonable pace, listening attentively and not dominating the conversation, and others. The structure should also include guidelines on which medium of communication is to be used based upon various circumstances; when to reply via email versus picking up the phone versus taking the time to create and share a document.

 4. Assign tasks to individuals, not groups

Here’s a realistic scenario: if you accidentally fall down in a crowded place, chances are no one’s going to help you out. However, if only a single person is standing next to you when you fall, they probably will at least ask if you are alright or even lend a hand. This odd reality is the “Bystander Effect,” and it is why responsibility falters in groups. The Bystander Effect occurs frequently in virtual teams, so if you assign a task to a group of people, it is highly likely that no one is going to do it. Why would they? If there are no set guidelines, it is an easy assumption someone else will do it – and the task falls to the side. To avoid this issue, always assign tasks to specific individuals.

5. Rotate

Maybe you have a set time zone that has been the standard for either headquarters or someone else in charge of the team. If you have a lot of time zones involved, try rotating the starting time of meetings or calls. This way, if the team member in Dubai is always talking at 8 pm, it might be nice to have a call during the day. To further break down barriers between team members, if your team has the opportunity to physically rotate, ensure at least one team member spends a short period of time in another location.