Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2018 - 45

collaborate in shared spaces. Building
a technology training strategy into
onboarding plans will empower users
to leverage technology in their daily
work. Creating job aids for the most
common applications also supports end
user adoption, especially those who are
infrequent users of the technology.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
While the interpersonal skills needed
to be successful (communication,
teamwork, leadership) are universal,

A successful
remote workforce
has to adapt
to new ways of
interacting.

A best practice to incorporate as a first
step in an educational webinar is to
create an introductory segment focused
on "learning how to learn online." This
enables the learners to understand and
utilize the webinar tools (e.g., chat
rooms, polls, collaboration spaces, etc.)
prior to jumping into the classroom
portion. This type of primer is also useful
in kicking off any type of virtual team.
Users are more likely to use the
tools if there is a level of familiarity.
The review of tools also emphasizes
the expectation of participation on
the part of the remote participant.
A couple of the hazards of a virtual
presence are (1) the co-located
participants "forget" to include the
remote team member in the discussion/
interaction, or (2) the virtual team
member disengages by multitasking or
can't interject easily. The expectation
of using the tools like video or chat
features creates a presence for the
remote participant.

the application in a virtual environment
does require adaptation. For example,
if you are a leader who engages with
your team through informal, face-toface interactions, you will need to be
mindful of creating a similar type of
interaction for the team members not
physically located in your office. The
design of any leadership or supervisory
training should include how to engage,
communicate, monitor and support
the achievement of goals for remote
team members.

The following are competencies that
should be developed as part of a
leadership development program and
identify ways in which a virtual team
may require different strategies.

Building high-performing teams
This is a requirement for any leader. A
shared vision, alignment of goals, strong
communication and a recognition/
reward system that emphasizes team
achievement are necessary components
for this competency. A leader needs to
foster collaboration without daily, inperson interactions. One way to achieve
this is to establish a cadence of team
meetings in which team and individual
goals/tasks are shared. Depending on
the size of the team, enabling everyone
to be heard on some frequency helps to
establish the sense of community. The
leader should also role model the use
of technology by incorporating tools
like video to help create a presence for
all participants.

Effective meeting facilitation
The need to keep everyone engaged,
on task and drive for outcomes is even
more critical in a virtual environment.
As mentioned before, it is easy for the
co-located participants to dominate a
meeting, making it difficult for the remote

MORE RESOURCES ON VIRTUAL WORKFORCE
STOP NEGLECTING REMOTE WORKERS

By Michael Ferguson, Harvard Business
Review

This article explores strategies to help
engage and motivate on- and off-site
workers.

5 ESSENTIAL KEYS TO LEADING A
REMOTE WORKFORCE

By Marty Fukuda, Entrepreneur

This article offers five key strategies to
help in leading a remote team.

ARE YOUR REMOTE WORKERS HAPPY?
HOW TO KEEP TEAMS CONNECTED
FROM AFAR

By Vivian Maza, Forbes

This article examines how HR leaders
can support, engage and motivate their
virtual team.

T R A I N I NG I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - GIVING LEARNING A BOOST 20 18 I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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https://www.hbr.org/2018/01/stop-neglecting-remote-workers https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239788 https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2018/01/30/are-your-remote-workers-happy-how-to-keep-teams-connected-from-afar/&refURL=&referrer=#1061fab73b7f https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239788 https://www.workplacetrends.com/the-millennial-leadership-survey/ https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2018/01/30/are-your-remote-workers-happy-how-to-keep-teams-connected-from-afar/&refURL=&referrer=#1061fab73b7f https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2018/01/30/are-your-remote-workers-happy-how-to-keep-teams-connected-from-afar/&refURL=&referrer=#1061fab73b7f https://www.workplacetrends.com/the-millennial-leadership-survey/ https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2018