Influencing Virtual Teams: 17 Tactics That Get Thigns Done with Your Remote Employees_
- One Word That Influences Your Virtual Team
- Set Deadlines
- Assign Responsibility
- Explain Tasks
- When Delegating Tasks, Write Them Out
- The Secret Formula for Establishing Trust
- Increase Reliability Among Your Team
- Increase the Level of Likeability
- Six Steps to Ensure 100% Commitment
- Know What Someone Is Really Thinking
- Leave the Perfect Voice Message
- Write Assertive Emails
- What You Should Do Before Every Meeting
- What You Should Do During Every Meeting
- What You Should Do After Every Meeting
- Use Your Voice to Your Advantage
- Make Your Emails Stand Out Using The Subject Line
Using the word "because" increases compliance rates by 33% regardless of what the justification was. Use it consistently in emails, instant messaging, meetings. “Sara, please schedule a meeting for next week because we have to discuss our strategy.”
Parkinson’s Law states, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” A 1 hours task has a 4 hour deadline, it will take 4 hours. If a task has no deadline it will take forever.
- Be reasonable - if you don't know as. If they can't tell ask for best case and worst case then average them.
- Be 100% clear cut - So instead of the ambiguous “I need this done in the next few days,” you should say, “I need this done by Friday, June 9 at 3pm US Eastern Time.”
- Always set deadlines - even if there is none, set a fake one.
Avoid the observer effect and diffusion of responsibility
- Use Direct Language - "I need you to work on this task"
- Ask for Volunteers
- Task has a better chance of getting done due to influence principle called commitment and consistency. Committed to complete task they volunteered for vs one assigned
- Give people the chance to work on what they want to work on
- If no one volunteers, assign the task
- Assign to Individuals
- Prevent a small group bystander effect.
- If a task requires more than one person to work on it, then assign the primary responsibility to a specific person, and the secondary responsibility to others.
- "Jessica will be responsible for completing this task, and both Jessica and Steve will help her out.”
Virtual teams have trouble understanding social cues, such as gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice. You have to be precise and direct with them, be very specific about your expectations, and avoid sarcasm and nonverbal communication.
- Know what you want - 100% clear within yourself about what you want.
- Be direct in your description -
- Get to the point as fast as you can
- Say exactly what you want by using the right words, without leaving anything open to interpretation or assumptions.
Deference of Authority Principle - printed words carry a much higher authoritative message than verbal ones.
- Type the Task Message in Real Time - write the task while on a call or screen share so your team can see it. Even hearing you type or saying hold on let me write this down will increase commitment
- Always Type Out Verbal Tasks - never rely on tasks being completed by asking for them to be done.
Individuals who trust each other produce more.
Trust = Reliability + Likeability
What is reliability? It answers the question: can the person get the job done in a reliable way?
- Verify Skills
- Two types
- Technical skills
- Collaboration skills
- Questions to ask
- “Are you comfortable doing this task?”
- “Do you have any concerns about this project?”
- Be Explicit
- Be as explicit as you can with expectations and requests when communicating with your team.
- Say exactly what (and when) you want something
- Keep communication open during the timeframe
- Lead by Example
- When you say you will do something, do it.
- Count on Others
- “...a propensity to believe others can be counted on to do what they say they will do is an important precursor to the development of trust.”
- Let go poor performers as they will bring the team down
It answers the question: “Do I like the person enough to trust that they’d do the job?”
- Get Personal
- You can accomplish that by learning about your team members’ families, vacation plans, and hobbies through informal discussions.
- Trade stories
- Encourage Social Interactions
- Begin or end with informal talk
- Share articles videos or events
- Schedule team building meetings
- Over-Communicate
- “Propinquity Effect,” which states that the more you interact with someone, the more you’ll like them and become friends with them.
- Stay in touch with your team everyday
- Meet Face to Face
- Be Positive
- No one enjoys working with individuals who are constantly negative and pessimistic.
- Having a constant positive attitude (and encouraging others to do the same) will increase the level of likeability among the team.
Use this sparingly.
- Ask Them to Repeat It Back to You
- Get a Time Frame
- Any idea of how long that will take you?
- Develop an Obligation
- The idea is to let the person understand that a withdrawal of their commitment will result in some sort of a disturbance to you. This creates an even higher incentive for them to get the task done because the stakes are now greater. Here’s an example of what you can say: “Ok then—I’ll move my other scheduled appointments to make sure I’m free on that day to discuss the draft.”
- Stress Importance
- I am dependent on them.
- Stress the importance and negative consequences
- Confirm Action
- End the meeting with a solid and concise verbal confirmation phrase.
- I'll have this by Friday, right?
- Also, write down a summary of the task
- Show Appreciation
- For example, say something like, “Sarah, I really appreciate your help on this task being done by Wednesday—you’re one of a few people who I can count on getting this done.”
- This not only reminds them of the task, but also appeals to their own sense of internal commitment to reinforce their dedication to the action item.
- Isolate Them
- Few people listening and no politics
- One-on-one call
- Ask Them One of Four Questions
- What would it take for you to love this task (or project)?
- How do you think I can make this better?
- What would it take for you to be really excited about this?
- What would you do differently?
First, they inherently assume that the person accepts the task and therefore makes them more comfortable about criticizing it. And second, they reveal an acknowledgment that nothing is perfect, which makes it easier for someone to offer their real thoughts.
"One-shot, one-kill" message
Your message should tell them the following:
- Why your calling them.
- What you need them to do.
- How they can reach you.
Example call:
- Say their name.
- Hello Sarah
- Give your information.
- This is Jon from Company Co.
- State the date and time
- Explain the objective
- I'm calling to let you know that your battery is ready to be shipped
- Explain the action item.
- Please call me back so I can confirm your address
- Leave your number.
- Leave your number a second time.
- Keep Emails Short and Concise
- Highlight Your Calls to Action
- Bold, italics, or a highlight
- Bullet points
- Don't burry the call to action
Two main problems:
- Too many meetings
- Too many bad meetings
- Decide On a Need
- Can this be answered with a call or an email?
- Just like war, meetings should be a last resort.
- Define the Objective
- "The objective of this meeting is to...."
- Decide on something...
- Generate ideas about...
- Make plans for...
- Get a status on...
- "The objective of this meeting is to...."
- Determine the Attendees
- Limit the number of attendees to have a focused and effective meeting.
- Draft an Agenda
- Start by writing the objective
- Bullet points for topics with important ones that must be covered first
- You can put names next to topics to point out who will be talking about them
- Send the Invite, Agenda, and Reminders
- Send a reminder shortly before the meeting
- "To have an effective meeting and not waste everyone’s time, please make sure you review the report and come up with potential solutions before you show up to the meeting on Friday.”
- Appoint a Leader
- No Leader = Waste of Time
- Leader's Responsibilities
- Moderates the meeting
- Achieves the stated objectives
- Captures any notes.
- Go Through the Agenda
- The objective of this meeting is to...
- Remain on Topic (and Time)
- Use the agenda as an alibi to stay on topic
- As individuals to take any side conversations offline
- If anyone joins late continue the meeting. Late comers can catch up from the minutes
- Capture Meeting Minutes
- No documentation = useless meeting
- Capture these points
- Risks are problems that you might encounter in the future.
- Issues are problems you are currently encountering.
- Action items are the tasks that the team needs to work on next (which could be related to a risk or an issue).
- Assign owners to each specific risk, issue, or action, and set deadlines for actions.
- Capture notes of any decisions or ideas that have been discussed in the meeting.
- Close with a review
- Do a full review of the notes a few minutes before the meeting ends
- Start with the action items first, and verbally confirm the tasks with the assigned owners and mention the deadlines.
- Then, if you have some time remaining, go over the risks, issues, and any other
- Distribute Meeting Minutes
- Follow-Up With a Written Summary
- A written summary that specifically highlights who is working on what and when everything is due.
- Attach meeting minutes
- Tone
- A good level of energy to it and reflects confidence
- The quality is clear, the volume is moderate, and the pitch has a nice vocal range to it
- Speed
- To fast - they won't absorb message
- To slow - they might get bored
- Enunciation
- Silence
- Used to emphasize something
- Give your audience time to absorb your content
- Write their name in it. Nickname earns higher points
- Summarize the Email's Topic
- If the email has an action item state it i.e. A question
- Write Down a Deadline
Good example: Justin –I need your input on this status update deck by tomorrow @6:00pm