Today, new marketplaces have opened up thanks to the internet as well as modern technology. That allows us to set up our businesses around the world, in new geographic or virtual locations.
Day by day becomes easy to work with virtual teams as it is in working face-to-face, thus virtual communication has increasingly turn into the new norm. Are virtual communications supporting your team performance?
There are many advantages of virtual communications. I can mention a few, such as convenience, time-saving, cut cost, flexibility, and productivity increase among others.
As the business environment continues to expand, today’s workplaces have rapidly become vast, due to virtual communications. In today’s globalized world if organizations aspire to be up-to-date and reach their goals, they need to have strategies in place to bridge virtual communication challenges.
In general, here are some simple tips that you’ll need to keep in mind as you interact and communicate virtually with other members in your organization to support multicultural team’s performance:
- Have some basic knowledge of member’s cultural backgrounds,
- Be open-minded with others ideas and expressions,
- Practice active listening,
- Take note of your nonverbal communication,
- Keep courtesy and goodwill in all interactions,
- Maintain simple and clear language,
- The follow-up to make sure others fully understands what you’ve said.
- Set up an environment that allows asking questions and clarifying of any doubts.
So, any company with a diverse workforce or planning to conduct global business needs to understand the importance of virtual communication. In addition, team members need to engage in understanding how different cultures communicate, speak, and recognize the world around them.
Since many companies are embracing working with virtual and multicultural teams, we must bear in mind that diversity helps to create more opportunities for an organization than challenges. That said strong emphasis should be put on developing cultural awareness among employees and ways of encouraging the development of these opportunities.
Virtual communication is one of the 7 elements that have proven to be a key factor when working with multicultural teams. Find more about the Global Team Effectiveness Model ®. If you and your team are ready to improve their performance and effectiveness we can help you!
Question: Is virtual communication one of the best skills of your team?