Virtual Collaboration 101: Top Tips and Tools for Seamless Teamwork

As teams scatter across cities, countries, and time zones, the concept of 'teamwork' is undergoing a seismic shift. 

In a world where 'office space' can mean a kitchen table, a cafe, or a beach, the ability to collaborate virtually isn't just a skill; it's a superpower that helps your organization prevent:

• a lack of alignment between teams;
• communication barriers;
• a lack of technical proficiency in the staff;
• operational chaos. 

This article will: 

• Discuss the common roadblocks of virtual collaboration. 
• Introduce you to the top tools revolutionizing remote work. 
• Share tried-and-tested strategies from teams that have mastered the virtual collaboration game.

🤝 What is virtual collaboration?

Virtual collaboration is a form of teamwork between team members in a digital environment organized and carried out by technology-mediated mediums to carry out daily tasks. 

Enabled by technology, virtual collaboration allows people to coordinate, share information, and accomplish tasks collectively, regardless of geographical location. 

This approach has become increasingly prevalent due to the rise of remote work, global teams, and the continuous advancement of collaborative technologies.

Key elements of virtual collaboration include: 

• video conferencing; 
• online project management tools; 
• cloud storage; 
• real-time messaging platforms. 

🏆 3 Key benefits of virtual collaboration 

Access to a diverse talent pool

Virtual collaborations allow companies to hire employees with diverse skill sets, knowledge, and intuition without geographical barriers. Access to a global talent pool brings more innovation and ideas, upgrading your workforce. 

Neal Taparia, the founder of Solitaried, explains, "When we started, we didn't have the budget to hire the best talent in our local market. However, we were able to find top not talent remotely, which has been a key difference maker for our business."

Improved productivity 

Online collaboration allows employees to give their best while catering to personal responsibility. Employees can schedule work at their most productive hours and complete tasks faster. 

Plus, virtual collaboration tools automate redundant tasks and free up your workers' time to focus on what's important. The result is improved employee performance and increased productivity.

Save time and cost

Virtual collaboration saves time spent commuting to onsite jobs. Employees can plan their day peacefully without worrying about beating the traffic and start work energized. 

Plus, online collaboration tools make planning and managing meetings with stakeholders easier, no matter where they are. 

Organizations also spend less on resources like offices, meeting spaces, and onsite equipment, thus cutting overhead costs and increasing profits. 

😟 5 Common challenges in virtual collaboration

Communication barriers

One of the primary requirements of building a successful team is clear communication. But virtual teams face communication barriers that often hamper workflow. 

Lack of face-to-face interactions and non-verbal cues often leads to misunderstandings between teammates. People can take written communication out of context or misinterpret it, complicating employee synergy.

Real-time collaboration opportunities are also limited in virtual teams. People working from different time zones often have to wait for their colleague's correspondence, impacting productivity.  

Moreover, virtual collaboration largely relies on digital tools, and any technical problems can compromise real-time communication. 

Culture and team cohesion

In virtual collaborations, employees often need clear visibility into each others' work. This results in a lack of trust and reduced team cohesion, affecting the team's internal work culture. It may also stem from different cultural backgrounds, communication styles, and work ethics.

The company culture may seem scattered or disconnected since virtual collaboration needs more non-verbal cues or informal interaction time. Due to these gaps and lack of camaraderie, people may not feel a sense of belonging. Cultural sensitivity training and team-building activities are must-haves for a strong team dynamic. 

Professional boundaries

The blurred lines between work and private lives can negatively impact employee well-being and engagement.

Globally distributed virtual teams often struggle with enforcing work boundaries. Employees often work on different time schedules. The need for prompt information can often lead your people to get calls or queries from teammates outside their work hours.

As a result, professional boundaries are needed to maintain an optimal work-life balance and avoid burnout.

Distractions

Remote teams often work from various locations. The lack of onsite office discipline and distractions of remote locations can be challenging to your overall organizational productivity.

For example, employees working from home may have family members or roommates around. A regular household's inevitable noise and interruptions can reduce the employee's productivity. 

Lack of structure

Another predominant challenge in virtual collaborations is the lack of a defined structure. Employees working with various schedules from different locations make it harder for the company to lay down specific regulations. 

Operational efficiency suffers without a proper structure. Your remote employees need to understand job and performance expectations and feel connected to the team. It can lead to disengagement and reduced productivity.

🧰 Top 14 virtual collaboration tools and platforms

Besides effective strategies, virtual collaboration tools and platforms are also necessary to streamline the process. Here are some platforms you can consider for the best results: 

Human resources

Zavvy

👀 Key features:

• 360° feedback system;
• engaging onboarding workflows to engage and train all your new hires;
• integrations with popular HR and productivity tools
• AI coach to help your people develop personalized growth plans. 

💸 Pricing: Zavvy is the most affordable all-in-one suite for everything people enablement, starting at $4/user/month.

Plus, our prices adjust to your needs - without making you pay for modules you don't want.

Communication

Slack

👀 Key features:

• Virtual workflow builder
• Unlimited communication channels for global collaboration
• Instant messaging 

💸 Pricing: Slack offers packages from $7.25/user/month.

Zoom

👀 Key features:

• Creating and Scheduling Meetings
• Chat, annotation, whiteboarding, and breakout rooms.

💸 Pricing: Zoom packages start from $149.90/year/user.

Google Meet

👀 Key features:

• Instant meetings and scheduling
• Virtual backgrounds and visual effects
• In-meeting chats

💸 Pricing: Google Meet offers packages from $6/user/month.

Product management

Asana

👀 Key features:

• AI-powered analytics and reporting
• Workflow builder
• App integrations

💸 Pricing: Asana provides subscriptions starting from $10.99/user/month. 

Trello

👀 Key features:

• Project boards
• Templates
• Integrations and plug-ins

💸 Pricing: Trello offers packages starting from $5/user/month. 

ClickUp

👀 Key features:

• Comprehensive dashboard
• AI-powered analytics and reporting

💸 Pricing: ClickUp offers subscriptions starting from $5/user/month.

Productivity, collaboration, and file sharing

Google Workspace

👀 Key features:

• It comes with all Google tools, including Gmail, Meet, Sheets, Docs, etc. 
• Endless app integrations, such as the Xodo suite of document converters.

💸 Pricing: Google Workspace comes at a starting price of $7.20/user/month. 

Airtable

👀 Key features:

• Custom workflow builder
• Offers templates

💸 Pricing: Airtable packages start from $10/user/month.

Notion

👀 Key features:

• Shared team calendar
• Task prioritization and scheduler

💸 Pricing: Notion offers subscriptions starting from $10/user/month.

For tech teams

Jira 

👀 Key features:

• Scrum boards and Kanban boards
• Auto-assign and drag and drop
• AI-powered reports
• A lot of add-ons are available on the Atlassian Marketplace to expand functionalities and streamline the process (e.g., the Jira templates by AppLiger)

💸 Pricing: Jira offers packages starting from $77.50/month.

Time tracking and management

Toggl 

👀 Key features:

• Integrations with Google and Outlook calendars
• Offline tracking 

💸 Pricing: Toggl offers subscripts starting from $13.35/user/month. 

Todoist

👀 Key features:

• Priority levels and reminders
• Personalized dashboards
• Productivity visualization and activity history

💸 Pricing: Todoist offers packages starting from $4/month.

Timedoctor

👀 Key features:

• Employee monitoring
• Online timesheets and payroll
• Distraction alerts

💸 Pricing: Timedoctor subscriptions start at $8.4/user/month.

All these tools are great for enabling more seamless collaboration. But here's the catch: tools alone won't make the magic happen. 

Behind every successful virtual team is a culture of open communication, trust, and a commitment to common goals. 

It's about mastering the mix of asynchronous and synchronous communication, understanding the nuances of digital body language, and fostering an environment where every ping, message, or video call adds value.

💡 Top 6 tips for effective virtual collaboration

Here are the steps you need to take to implement effective virtual collaboration in your organization.

Set clear goals and objectives

Set clear goals and objectives to maintain structural consistency across departments. Your ultimate goal is to keep your workers focused on a unified direction and improve alignment between onsite and virtual teams. 

Set virtual collaboration goals using the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) framework. Every assigned task should be aligned with short and long-term business objectives and have achievable deadlines. 

Communicate your expectations right from the initial stages of the employee onboarding process. Break down their roles, duties, and how they contribute to the company's growth. 

Place proper regulations for virtual teams like:

• Required availability
• Expected response time
• Meeting frequency
• Required meeting attendance

Involve your team in the process. Ask for their input, ideas, and feedback on virtual collaboration goals.

As a result, you will foster autonomy and accountability and help you set relevant and achievable goals.

🚀 Check out our remote work survey template and 16 extra surveys templates in our engagement survey templates collection.

Establish clear communication channels

As discussed before, the primary pitfall of virtual collaboration is the communication barrier. 

To counter that, you must have effective communication channels in place. 

Since virtual teams communicate with each other electronically, choosing the right communication tools is crucial. They can: 

• Deliver prompt information. 
• Minimize the chance of employees missing essential updates.
• Ensure alignment by tracking progress. 
• Close location and schedule disparity.
• Enhance virtual meetings with smooth connectivity.

Let's take Covid Moonshot as an example. It was a global project involving more than 150 researchers working together to develop a pill that could help fight the coronavirus. The team used online collaboration tools to conduct experiments and analyze data. As a result, the project saw impressive breakthroughs in identifying critical compounds showing excellent antiviral activity against the virus. 

Besides using communication tools, here are some more steps to take to streamline effective communication in remote collaborations:

• Schedule regular updates to keep every team member in the loop and practice transparency.
• Be consistent with communication channels and frequency. For example, you can use business phone services to stay in touch with both your team and your customers.
• Be diligent with performance evaluation and recognition. 
• Hold regular one-on-one meetings.

📝 Check out our collection of 17 powerful one-on-one meeting templates. We can guarantee you will find something for your team! 

Cultivate strong team relationships

The success of your projects and the company's overall growth depends on how well you nurture the team and the internal bonds. Strong team relationships in remote collaborations establish trust, improve workplace culture, boost employee satisfaction, and enhance productivity.

To build rapport in virtual teams, take the following measures: 

• Keep a segment in virtual meetings for your employees to connect over personal interests. 
• Set up group chats on instant messaging platforms to help employees bond beyond professional obligations.
• Create a virtual breakroom.  
• Pair up team members who don't get to interact much for a project. 

Organize team-building activities to strengthen workplace relationships. Here are some virtual team engagement ideas you can use: 

• monthly virtual luncheons;
• interactive games like charades, pictionary, show and tell;
• virtual brainstorming sessions;
• online yoga sessions and other group wellness initiatives.

Tip: You can also conduct virtual social events to boost morale and foster meaningful workplace relationships. 

Establish structured workflows and processes

Virtual collaboration thrives on clarity and organization. Without the physical presence of teammates to clarify doubts or provide instant feedback, a well-defined structure becomes crucial. Moreover, structured workflows and processes ensure everyone is on the same page, reducing the likelihood of miscommunication and overlaps. Here are some steps you should consider:

• Audit your existing resources and assess the current workflow. 
• List tasks based on their importance and urgency. 
• Understand the scope, difficulty, and timeline for each.  
• Break down each task into small steps and allot realistic deadlines. 
• Assign roles according to the respective stakeholders of each task. 
• Build workflow diagrams to visualize the process. 
• Use platforms with comprehensive dashboards to monitor progress. 
• Collect employee feedback on the new workflow and make improvements accordingly. 

For instance, imagine a marketing team launching a new online campaign. A structured marketing workflow might start with content creators drafting campaign material. Upon completion, they could use a collaborative tool to notify the graphic design team to add visuals. Once designed, the project might move to the analytics team to integrate tracking mechanisms.

Every step would have clear guidelines, deadlines, and designated personnel, ensuring that the campaign progresses smoothly without any member feeling lost or overwhelmed.

Similarly, a sales team will benefit from Salesforce dashboards allowing them to track leads, analyze revenue growth, or optimize customer acquisition.

Encourage active participation and engagement

Virtual employees often shy away from actively participating in collaborative projects. To avoid this, build a culture of open communication in the workplace. 

Show that your team can candidly share ideas, offer criticisms, and talk about challenges they face, even if they work remotely. Allowing an open exchange of thoughts, views, and opinions boosts employee engagement and motivates them.

Encourage active listening and empathy. If you see an employee getting interrupted, intervene and give them another chance to speak. 

Damian Grabarczyk, co-founder of PetLab Co., shares some of his company's activities for encouraging employee engagement:

‍"We create events, competitions, and activities to help build effective relationships between remote and in-house employees — which, in turn, can encourage active participation. For example, PetLab Co. holds a bi-weekly Lunch and Learn, where different colleagues and departments can showcase what they do, their wins, and future plans, either in the office or virtually. This is also the chance to discuss other important issues, including mental health, LGBTQ+, and personal financial support. These sessions give individuals and teams a chance to engage with each other."

Emphasize time management and productivity

Virtual teams often struggle with using their hours judiciously. To avoid this pitfall, use time management strategies. This way, your remote teams will stay focused and productive without experiencing burnout. 

Here are some techniques you can use: 

• Timeboxing: In this technique, individuals allocate a fixed time to a planned activity. This technique helps teams juggle multiple important tasks without compromising quality or delivery time. 
• Pomodoro technique: This method involves 25-minute sessions of focused work followed by five-minute breaks. Employees can take longer breaks of 15 to 30 minutes after four consecutive work intervals.
• Pareto analysis: This technique assesses competing problems, measures the impact of fixing them, and lets you focus on solutions with the most benefit.

➡️ Enable your teams —anytime, anywhere with Zavvy

It's not entirely possible to replicate the spark of face-to-face human connection. But virtual collaboration doesn't have to be a compromise. It can also be a catalyst for growth. 

While replicating in-person connections might be challenging, Zavvy empowers you to overcome the obstacles of remote work and foster meaningful collaboration.

Here's how Zavvy can help you enable effective remote collaboration: 

• 💬 Effective remote collaboration hinges on open communication. Zavvy facilitates regular 1:1 meetings and feedback loops, bridging the gap between team members and managers. Constructive feedback, guidance, and alignment on priorities become seamless, creating a cohesive virtual environment.
• 🧑‍🎓 Knowledge is a powerful catalyst for collaboration. Zavvy's training journeys allow teams to seamlessly contribute, access, and collaborate on information. Fuel your projects with collective expertise and ensure that physical boundaries don't limit collaboration.
• 👋 Zavvy breaks down barriers, connecting teams across distances. Our connection program initiates valuable interactions, fostering relationships and insights that go beyond projects. From casual coffee chats to deep-dive discussions, build networks that transcend geographical limitations.
• 🎯 Set SMART goals and objectives that align teams toward success. Our platform ensures clarity, accountability, and a shared purpose, driving collaborative efforts even when miles apart.

📅 Book a free demo to discover how Zavvy can help you engage and grow your people.

Author Bio: Mehdi Hussen is a SaaS marketing and organic growth consultant. He helps SaaS businesses drive organic growth and customer acquisition through SEO and data-driven content marketing strategies. Mehdi spends his spare time musing about startup growth strategies, personal productivity, and remote work. Connect with him through Twitter or LinkedIn.