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COMMUNICATION

The Virtual Work Skills

You Need Even If You Never Work Remotelyby Barbara Z. Larson and Erin E. Makarius COMMUNICATIONThe Virtual Work Skills

You Need Even If You

Never Work Remotely

by Barbara Z. Larson and Erin E. Makarius

OCTOBER

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Maintaining strong, productive relationships with clients and co-workers can be challenging when

you never see the person yo re working with. Yet, it is common to have ongoing work relationships – sometimes lasting years — with people yo ve never met in person.

We often think of “virtual work” as working with someone located outside an

office, or in another

city or country. This type of work is on the rise: a 2017 Gallup report found 43% of American

virtual teamwork involved members from other cultures.

However, virtual work also encompasses how we are turning to technology to conduct businesswith nearby colleagues, sometimes within the same building or campus. At a large consumer-

products

firm where w ve been conducting research, an HR director recounted the changes she

witnessed in employees located in two buildings a few miles apart. “Ten years ago, we would

regularly drive between buildings to meet each other, but today, we almost never do; meetings are

conducted by videoconference and everything else is handled on e-mail and IM.”

In our interview and survey research, we

find that people tend to significantly underestimate the

proportion of their work that is virtual, largely because they believe virtual work occurs outside the

office. But i s important for us to recognize the true extent of virtual work, because successful virtual

work demands a

different set of social and interpersonal skills and behaviors than face-to-face work.

Research consistently indicates that virtual work skills – such as the ability to proactively manage

media-based interactions, to establish communication norms, to build social rapport with colleagues,

and to demonstrate cooperation – enhance trust within teams and increase performance . Our surveys

indicate that only about 30% of companies train employees in virtual work skills, but when they do,

the training is more likely to focus on software skills and company policies than on social and

interpersonal skills. Our

findings are similar to those of a 2006 survey of HR leaders on training of

virtual teams, suggesting that while technology and virtual work itself has advanced dramatically in

recent years, our preparation to work virtually has not.

Our recent review of 30 years of virtual work research shows that the most

effective workers engage

in a set of strategies and behaviors that we call “virtual intelligence.” Some people tend to be naturally more adept at working virtually than others; yet, everyone can increase their virtual

intelligence. Two

specific skill sets contributing to virtual intelligence are 1) establishing “rules of

engagement” for virtual interactions, and 2) building and maintaining trust. These skill sets are

relevant to all individuals who conduct virtual work, including coworkers in the same

office who

interact virtually.

Establishing “rules of engagement” When working with someone face-to-face, the “rules of engagement” for your work together mostlikely evolve naturally, as you learn the best times of day to connect, where to hold productivemeetings, and the most

effective meeting format. In virtual work, however, these “rules of

engagement” typically require a dedicated conversation. At a minimum, virtual colleagues should discuss the following rules around:

basis, initiate a short conversation about their available technology, and agree on the best means of

communication (e.g., “W ll e-mail for simple, non-urgent matters, but get on Skype when there is

something complex that might require us to share screens. Texting is

fine if we need to get in touch

urgently, but should t be used day-to-day.”)

Best times to connect . You might ask your virtual co-worker, “What times of day are typically better

to call or text? Are there particular days of the week (or month) that I should avoid?” Establishing

this rule early in a virtual work relationship both establishes respect for each othe s time, and saves time, by avoiding fruitless contact attempts.

How best to share information. If yo re collaborating on documents or other electronic

files,

establish a process to ensure you do t inadvertently delete updates or create co icting versions.

File-sharing services such as Dropbox can help monitor revisions to jointly-owned documents

(often called “version control”), but it is still wise to establish a simple protocol to avoid lost or

duplicated work.

Building and maintaining trust Two types of trust matter in virtual work: relational trust (trust that your colleague is looking out foryour best interests), and competence-based trust (trust that your colleague is both capable and reliable).

To build relational trust:

Bring a social element into the virtual work relationship. Some people do this by starting conversations with non-work-related questions, such as “How are things going where you are?” or“How was your weekend?” Avoid making questions too personal, and do t overwhelm your

colleague with extensive details of your life. Keep it simple and sincere, and the conversation will

develop naturally over time.

Let your enthusiasm and personality show in your virtual communications. Keep it professional, but try adding a little of your own voic to give your virtual colleague a sense of who you are, justas they would have in a face-to-face meeting.

To build competence-based trust:

Share your relevant background and experiences, indicating how these will help you support the current project. For example, on a new-product development project, you might say, “ m really

looking forward to contributing to the market analysis, as it focuses on a market that I researched

last year on another project.”

Take initiative in completing tasks whenever possible and communicate that yo re doing so with periodic update e-mails. Doing this shows commitment to the shared task.

4 COPYRIGHT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Respond to e-mail quickly and appropriately. We risk obviousness in making this point, but manyvirtual work relationships fail due to inconsistent e-mail communication. Silence works quickly to

destroy trust in a virtual colleague. We recommend replying to non-urgent e-mails within one business day (sooner if i s urgent). If you need more time, send a quick acknowledgement of the e-

mail, letting your colleague know when you will reply.

As the use of technology for all types of communication has become ubiquitous, the need for virtual work skills is no longer limited to telecommuters and global teams; it now extends to those of us

whose work never takes us out of the

office. Making a concerted effort to develop these skills by

setting up rules of engagement and establishing trust early can feel uncomfortable, especially for people new to the idea of virtual work. Most of us are used to letting these dynamics evolve naturally

in face-to-face relationships, with little or no discussion. Yet, workers with higher virtual intelligence

know that these skills are unlikely to develop without explicit attention, and that making a short-

term investment in developing the virtual relationship will yield long-term

benefits.

Barbara Z. Larson is executive professor of management at Northeaster s Amore-McKim School of Business. Her

research focuses on the personal and interpersonal skills that people need to work

ectively in virtual environments,

and she works with collaborators in both academia and industry to develop training methods and materials to enable

more productive virtual work. Prior to her academic career, Professor Larson worked for 15 years in international

nance

and operations leadership, most recently as Director of International Finance at R.R. Donnelley.

Erin E. Makarius is an associate professor of human resources in the management department at the College of

Business Administration, The University of Akron. Her research interests include boundary spanning in the form of

technological, international, and organizational boundaries, with emphasis on the role of relationships and reputation in

these processes. Dr. Makarius has several years of experience in human resources and management, including working at Progressive Insurance and consulting with a variety of companies in the

nancial, insurance, and consumer products

industries.

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