Virtual teams are commonplace now and will likely continue post pandemic.  As companies open flexibility in their workplaces, talent will be diversely located. As teams spread across cultures, regions, and time zones; they primarily use technology to talk to one another. Email and text communication as the primary method can be easily misunderstood.

10,000+ people in a remote manager/employee relationship were surveyed about the quality of the most influential leader in their life. The one common word surfaced was trust. Teams perform better working with a manager they trust, so without face-to-face opportunities to build relationships, project leaders have a problem.

This talk shares strategies practiced by me as a distributed exec leader, sprinkled with academic findings. These communication tactics will help project managers and leaders build trust and relationship with virtual teams.