Virtual Company: Team Building and Morale Boosting from a Distance

Fotolia_1323878_XS When you first start working with a virtual assistant, it may just be you and your assistant.

Communication is pretty straight forward, since it's just the two of you. If you have a kind word to say or a compliment to pass on, you just email or phone your VA, and mission accomplished--you've just boosted your team's morale.

It gets a little more complicated when your business grows and you've added more players to your virtual team.

The bigger the business gets, the more the business owner gets to work on a higher level--while he was once delegating and interacting one-on-one with his virtual assistant, he now has a virtual staff, the management of which he delegates to his assistant.

Showing Appreciation Can Impact Your Business

When working virtually, it can be tempting to ignore this idea of "team building"--you don't see the other people, they don't see each other, they are independent workers/business owners, and if you're the business owner you might not be that involved with the daily work that they're doing (your virtual assistant who you've delegated this to is your main point of contact).

I believe that the success of a person's business can be heavily influenced by the morale of his or her team, and when I'm managing a virtual team I try do little things to make each person on the team feel appreciated.

It's As Simple As Sending An Email...

Every once in a while (and especially if it's been a challenging time--changes to the business, changes in how work is done, increased work load, etc), I make it a point to send a note of appreciation to each person on the team who I directly interact with.

Within each message, I tell the person some specific things that I appreciate about them and their work, tell them what a difference they are making in the success of the business, and tell them what a help they are to me and how glad I am that they are on the team.

If you're working on a virtual team (or even in a traditional office), how would you feel if you received such a note of encouragement and appreciation?

Well, it immediately makes you feel 10 feet taller, you get a boost of energy and enthusiasm for the work you're doing. You not only want to keep on doing a great job, but you want to try even harder because you know that the effort that you put in is being recognized.

This is just basic human psychology, and it applies to virtual teams as well as traditional work situations.

Everyone Responds To Encouragment!

This week I sent out individual notes of appreciation and encouragement to some of the folks on my team, and here were some of the replies I received:

What a lovely compliment to receive on a Friday morning. Thank you so much for showing your appreciation. I really enjoy working with this business!

*****

Thanks so much for the feedback, it's really excellent to hear, I very much appreciate it :) Thank you for always being so supportive when I get stuck!

*****

Thank you ever so much for your lovely email, it was a complete surprise and really, really appreciated.

*****

Thank you so much! I'm glad to hear I'm doing what you're looking for! I'm really enjoying my work with the site and am happy to do what I can to help make things run smoothly. :)

*****

You're very much welcome. I'm glad that you are happy with the work I do for the team. I just want to do a good job because the success of the business is also my success as well as my family's.

I deeply appreciate this commendation which inspires me to further improve at what I do.

Thank you so much!

****

Giving encouragement like this has an interesting effect:

First off, you begin to look for things that people on your team are doing right (rather than just alerting them when they do something wrong).
You truly become more appreciative of the special skills that each person is contributing.
You become encouraged and uplifted by the reaction of the team members--it feels good to make someone else feel good!
Your team pulls together (even though they live in different places), and their work quality rises to a new level.

Every human being on the planet is an approval magnet--everyone responds to encouragement.

It's a simple thing to give a gift like this--look for things that each member of your team is doing well, let them know that you notice and appreciate it, let them know that they are making an impact on the success of the business, and let them know that you're glad to be working with them.

Your business will thank you for it!