{"id":276,"date":"2026-02-09T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T00:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/?p=276"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:36:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:36:44","slug":"strategies-for-managing-a-virtual-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/strategies-for-managing-a-virtual-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategies for Managing a Virtual Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Managing virtual teams brings extra challenges \u2014 but also rewards. You get the privilege of working with people from diverse backgrounds and making hires based on talent rather than geography. But how to lead a remote team effectively?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As with any team, managing people remotely means building trust and coaching them to success. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/your-team-is-busy-but-not-productive-heres-the-real-issue\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keeping virtual teams productive<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and engaged might take some extra effort, but it\u2019s entirely doable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this post, we\u2019ll discuss how to overcome the challenges of leading a team in a remote work environment. I\u2019ll share tips that we and our clients use with our own remote teams. Whether you\u2019re new to managing a virtual team or just want a few pointers, these leadership strategies will help you get more from your people.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Build a strong culture.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leading a remote workforce starts with fostering a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/building-culture-remotely-doesnt-work-or-does-it\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">great workplace culture<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Take these three steps, and you\u2019ll be on your way to growing a vibrant culture where people truly enjoy working.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Refer to your core values often when talking with your team. Integrate them into the conversation, reminding people of why you\u2019re pursuing a goal or how your daily work improves clients\u2019 lives. \u201cTeams thrive when they know what their company stands for, and they feel a stronger connection when those values resonate with their own personal beliefs,\u201d says Maddox P. Sterling in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lead from Anywhere<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This is good advice that every leader should remember.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recognize milestones you achieve as a group and individually. Only <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gartner.com\/en\/newsroom\/press-releases\/2021-08-11-gartner-hr-research-reveals-eighty-two-percent-of-employees-report-working-environment-lacks-fairness\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">24% of employees<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> feel acknowledged for their efforts. Celebrating your smaller wins will keep people motivated to work toward the bigger, more challenging ones. It will also boost their confidence, highlighting the progress they\u2019ve made.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hold occasional social events, like a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paychex.com\/articles\/human-resources\/how-to-build-culture-in-a-remote-team\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">virtual coffee hour<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for catching up. Making time to get to know each other will help you all build a rapport together.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also strive to evaluate and reward all employees fairly. If you have a hybrid team that includes in-person and remote workers, make sure you\u2019re not privileging those who work in office. That\u2019s called proximity bias. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shrm.org\/about\/press-room\/shrm-research-reveals-negative-perceptions-remote-work\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the Society for Human Resource Management, 67% of managers of hybrid teams view remote workers as more replaceable than in-person ones. And 42% of virtual employees say their managers often forget about them while assigning tasks, while 29% say they lack development opportunities. Make sure you\u2019re treating all your employees as equals, which is crucial for a thriving culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Establish clear protocols and expectations.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/workplace\/654911\/employee-engagement-sinks-year-low.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">46% of employees<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> know what their managers expect of them, Gallup has found. When managing a virtual team, it\u2019s better to overcommunicate about processes and expectations. Designing clear protocols like these will help work flow smoothly.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set norms for sharing team updates.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create norms around when to share project and task updates. If you expect weekly updates during team meetings, make that clear.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hold regular sync meetings.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Schedule weekly sync meetings with your executive assistant (EA), if you have one. Use a sync meeting template for organizing your thoughts, so you don\u2019t have to create a brand-new agenda every week. Your EA can then help keep you and the team on track.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By hiring people who are well-versed in how to handle key tasks, you\u2019ll also help ensure expectations are clear. They\u2019ll already have a good idea of what you and your clients expect.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Highlight action items.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a meeting, your executive assistant can send out a report showing action items. Be sure to note who will carry each of them out, and by what date.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By clarifying expectations, you\u2019ll avoid a lot of frustration and help your team work more efficiently toward their goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Establish lines of communication.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-013302.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"621\" height=\"411\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/woman-on-a-vide-conference-5917841\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image source<\/span><\/i><b><i><\/p>\n<p><\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Putting thought into your communication norms is vital on a virtual team. Define how communication should flow, through these practices and tools.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create lines of communication for who reports to whom. Craft a communication chart with pictures and job titles. When you integrate a new person onto the team, this visual reference will help them quickly get up to speed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hold regular team check-ins, adopting standard practices like brief report-backs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use platforms that facilitate collaboration on a virtual team. Choose tools that enable asynchronous communication and cooperation, keeping messages and information well organized.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Utilize good tracking systems so you can easily see the status of projects or initiatives and share updates about them.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clear communication will help you stay on track toward your goals. It will also help you avoid misunderstandings and form strong relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Define \u201cdone.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In assigning a task, leaders often focus on <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it needs to be done. Meanwhile, they don\u2019t define what \u201cdone\u201d means. Employees might then complete it unsatisfactorily or become too perfectionist, worried that their work won\u2019t be good enough.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, explain what you expect the work to look like in its final form (\u201cWhen you get to that point, that means it\u2019s done\u201d). Here are a few examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When my assistant Xie produces our social media videos, she knows they\u2019re done once she has edited them to the correct length and inserted close captions into the frames.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For renewals, \u201cdone\u201d means you\u2019ve reviewed all the options, highlighted the best one, and presented them to the account manager in the desired format, like an Excel spreadsheet.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For email management, it means your executive assistant has reviewed your entire inbox by a certain time of day, updating your agenda with anything urgent.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For customer service tasks, it means handling client requests and saving a description of how they were resolved in a particular file folder that you can review later.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clarifying what the finished product should look like will help employees confidently wrap up tasks in a timely manner.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focus on outcomes.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some companies have gone to great lengths to track how virtual employees spend their time. But looking at how they\u2019re spending every minute of the day is a surefire way to undermine trust and build resentment. Instead, focus on outcomes in these ways:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check in with them about their core priorities regularly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Assess their progress toward goals, looking at benchmarks they\u2019re reached.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talk with them about time management or other strategies for working smarter, if needed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It doesn\u2019t matter if they go on social media now and then, as long as the work is getting done. Rather than micromanaging, make sure everyone feels genuinely <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/best-practices-for-managing-virtual-teams-and-meetings\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">invested in outcomes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This is a cornerstone of keeping virtual teams engaged. Talk about your shared goals in virtual meetings, emphasizing each person\u2019s role in achieving them. When they feel like part of something bigger than themselves, they\u2019ll feel more driven to achieve their goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you grow your skills in leading a remote workforce, you\u2019ll <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/how-i-stopped-being-the-bottleneck\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">eliminate bottlenecks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and see your team accomplishing more together. Despite the challenges of leading a team in a remote work environment, you\u2019ll ensure that communication and work flows smoothly. You\u2019ll also prepare people to take on more responsibility as you scale. All of this will help you foster a strong remote team culture as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To learn more about how the right virtual assistant can enhance your remote team, <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/book-a-discovery-call\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">set up a discovery call<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We\u2019ll discuss the challenges your business is facing and whether hiring a VA can help you address them. I\u2019ll be glad to share examples of how a VA or an executive assistant has benefited many of our clients, giving them back countless hours each week for high-value activities. And if you decide to hire a VA, I\u2019ll also share tips for managing remote teams and virtual employees that work for our clients. As you learn how to lead a remote team with skill, you\u2019ll help each person tap into their greatest strengths.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Managing a virtual team brings special challenges. Here, we\u2019ll talk through strategies for building a strong and effective remote workforce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaux-pilgirm","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions\/278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}