Building trust is an
important step in ensuring that the team works well together and accomplishes
its mission. Here are some steps you can take as a project manager of a virtual
team to build trust.
- Know yourself and share yourself with others. Self-assessments are a great way to gain insight into how you connect with others and how you may be perceived by others. Taking time to reflect on who you are and how you interact with others is an important part of coming together authentically as a team. Here are a few online self-assessments to get you started. www.keirsey.com; www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jungtype.htm.
- Don’t assume that everyone knows each other. Take time to build an intranet site and create a “Here we Are” section. Post pictures of your team members so that you can truly see your team members. Then invite team members to post a paragraph describing themselves to the rest of the team. Trust begins with connections.
- Invite team members to deeply connect with another member offline. It is very common to get so focused on the task that we forget the value of relationships. Pair up team members in groups of two and ask the pairs to schedule time outside of scheduled group meeting time to connect with each and get to know each other. Provide questions that they can ask of each other to prompt the conversation and get them comfortable with getting to know each other. Questions may include:
- Repeat Number 2 at different times during the project. After the project gets underway, it is common to again lose sight of the intimacy that is needed to maintain trust. Create new pairs of people, and ask them to connect outside of meeting time and provide different dialogue prompts that may be more sensitive. Willingness to be vulnerable builds trust.
- Schedule time for building common pictures together virtually. Visual representations are helpful to ensure that everyone “sees” something the same way. Schedule a virtual meeting when team members can create visual models together of a key concept that is central to your project deliverable. Ask members to draw their own independent picture of what the outcome looks like and then ask members to co-create a visual model together. This ensures that team members are seeing things the same way.
- Create a safe space for relationship building time. When members are remote, they do not have the opportunities for informal “what’s going on in my life” time. This is very valuable time to build connections, share a part of their personal life and reveal parts of their non-work persona. These informal interactions may seem to subtract from the time that is spent on the project, but these connecting moments go a long way toward keeping team members motivated.
- Make time for one-on-one time. As project manager of this team, it is not only your responsibility to know the team as a whole, but also to know the individuals who make up this team. Schedule one on one time with each team member to ensure that you hear their frustrations and demonstrate your personal commitment and loyalty to each individual member, not just the team as a whole.
