Virtual Teams For Dummies

Chapter 15

Training Your Virtual Team

IN THIS CHAPTER

Training new virtual team members

Identifying ongoing training requirements for your virtual team

Keeping your veteran team members engaged

Professional sports teams, rock bands, dance troupes and musicians practice for months — and sometimes years — before they ever do any public events. Virtual teams, however, are rarely given adequate time or support to thoroughly prepare for their big debut. Team members often don’t have the opportunity to get to know one another and each other’s strengths. And most of the time, in almost all the companies I work with, this group of virtual strangers is expected to become a high-performing team without proper training.

You may not be surprised, and in fact, you probably have experienced this lack of preparation yourself if you’ve ever been on a virtual team. But consider that research proves that virtual teams who spend time in the early forming stages getting trained properly, experience greater levels of confidence and trust down the road, which drives their overall effectiveness and productivity levels.

Workplace training encompasses a broad spectrum of topics like onboarding, compliance ...