How to Communicate With a Virtual Team!

I rarely post about my team and the services we provide because, well, this blog is about you and your business, not me and mine! However, something happened in my business recently that would be impossible to share if I don’t talk a bit about what we do and how we’ve perfected our communication channels so we can be as efficient as possible.

The BizEase team is currently made up of 16 professionals from around North America. Each member of the team comes with a different set of skills and level of expertise. Depending on the needs of each client, there could be one, two, five, or seven of us working on one or more projects for that client at any given time.

In addition, each member of the BizEase team is also a business owner.

For instance, our team copywriter has her own business with her own clients, and I subcontract her as needed. Our website developers? Same thing. They have their own businesses with their own clients … I am one of their clients. See how that works?

Because our team members are excellent at what they do, they are all quite busy with projects, and it’s vital we have a great communication system to ensure client needs are being met in a timely manner. Something I believe my team does very well.

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We have one core project manager who helps ensure all things are running smoothly across the board. We also use a project management system to allow for communication between clients and team members, so we can see what’s happening with any client, at any given time; and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Our clients are happy because they know what’s going on. Their tasks are being managed, and they’re only paying for time spent on their projects.

Let me start by saying we have fabulous clients, and love each and every one of them. Recently, however, we had a client come on board that just didn’t fit. They weren’t a good fit for us, which meant we weren’t a good fit for them. This new client’s particular communication style and ours didn’t mesh, and it caused a lot of confusion and miscommunication. As a result, we were forced to end the relationship. It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen.

That brief encounter prompted me to write this article, to give some dos and don’ts about communicating with a team of virtual professionals.

How to communicate with your virtual team!

• Listen. Most virtual teams have some sort of system in place to facilitate communication, and this is done for a reason. If the team leader or project manager gives you instructions about how to communicate with the team … follow those instructions!
• Assign one contact. If you have multiple people in your business involved in the same projects, identify one person as the key person to give direction so there is no overlap in instructions or communication. Things fall apart when multiple people give different instructions.
• Don’t yell. DO NOT YELL IN YOUR MESSAGES BY USING ALL CAPS. In the virtual world, this is the ultimate in rudeness. Unless you are demonstrating how excited you are about something, there’s no need for ALL CAPS. To highlight a thought, bold or italics work fine.
• Remember we are business owners too, and NOT employees. Please don’t be condescending to people working to help your team. Remember we are all business owners like you are, and don’t need or appreciate being spoken down to. We’re no different than your attorney or accountant, and deserve the same respect.

If you can manage these communication tips, you will make communication a lot easier, and be a pleasure to work with for any virtual team 😉

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