Virtual intelligence : the 10 skills of a successful remote work team

On the other side

Getting an extra thirty minutes of sleep. Starting a load of laundry at 9:37. Taking advantage of our lunch break to continue watching our latest favourite show. Avoiding the traffic on the way home… There are many advantages to remote work.

So when the whole world had to go virtual and set up an emergency work space at home, most of us were thrilled! We know how to work and we have a home, so we should be able to figure out how to work at home without too much trouble.

However, the more time went by, the more we discovered the less practical side of remote work, the one we weren’t familiar with.

Another Zoom meeting?
Another new technological tool to learn?
Another lunch hour… on our own?

The thing is, while it’s true that remote work can be awesome and have an array of advantages, teams first need to be well equipped in order to continue to perform and feel good in a remote work environment

Just as a new person would be trained to assimilate the workings of their new employer, we must also learn and formalize several practices in order to smoothly live the cultural shift imposed by remote work.

De la même façon qu’on formerait une nouvelle personne pour qu’elle assimile les rouages de son nouvel employeur, on doit également apprendre et formaliser plusieurs pratiques afin de vivre en douceur le changement de culture que le télétravail impose.

Because while an ergonomic chair and a second monitor will undoubtedly help you have a better day, what will really make you more fulfilled and effective at remote work is not hardware.

Virtual intelligence : what is it?

A work team is a complex social entity. Team members need to be able to rely on each other when they need help, while at the same time having a high degree of autonomy. They need to feel comfortable sharing their accomplishments as well as their fears. They need to trust and let their colleagues lead their own projects, but be proactive when necessary.

So, for a team to work to its full potential, it must master several technical and relational skills. In remote work, some of these skills, naturally present in the office, become more important while others emerge.

These 10 skills allow the team to grow and increase its efficiency, since this efficiency depends on everyone’s wellbeing.

Soft-skill #1 : Kindness

You’ve probably heard about the importance of giving yourself moments that make you feel good. Some will take a bath, others will enjoy a glass of wine — it doesn’t matter, the idea is the same in any case: to take care of ourselves and show ourselves gratitude.

Kindness in a team means applying this principle to our colleagues and therefore wanting to do something good for others without expecting anything in return.

The relevance of this skill within an organization can be explained by the natural need of human beings to feel understood, supported and valued.

That being said, although kindness is a key part of our interpersonal relationships, it is not necessarily a natural quality that everyone can easily demonstrate. It is therefore wise to provide team members with tools to ensure that each of them understands the value of kindness and how to apply it to their colleagues.

Kindness at work means recognizing, without judgment, that everyone may react differently to a situation or change.

In remote work, it also means adapting schedules according to the reality of each person, for example when there are children at home, and respecting reasonable start and end times for the whole team.

Finally, kindness is also about making sure that no one is left out or feels isolated or excluded.

Soft-skill #2 : Learning

When we look at the development of a young child, we are impressed by the amount of things they discover, test and learn every day. At work, for those who are curious and open-minded, it is quite possible to reproduce the same phenomenon.

In a learning culture, challenges and issues are seen as new opportunities to learn, not as obstacles. The learning process goes well beyond formal training and is embedded in the employees’ daily lives.

Add the drastic culture shift that remote work has created to all the new processes that have been quickly put in place and it is easy to demonstrate why it is important to embed Learning in an organization that works remotely.

Mastering this skill means taking stock at regular intervals of what is working well and what could be done differently within the team, while respecting everyone’s pace and ability to assimilate new ways of doing things.

Soft-skill #3 : Proactivity

Being reactive to a situation is much different than being proactive about it.

Imagine that everyone on your team has recently switched to a new technology to file and share important information while working remotely.

As you navigate this platform, you realize that it is not very user-friendly and that one wrong move can delete data.

A proactive individual will take action and show initiative by sharing their concerns. This person will also offer to be part of the solution.

A reactive individual will wait for a real problem to occur, i.e., important data to be deleted, and then do everything possible to help their colleague recover it and prevent the next error.

In a remote work environment, which is constantly changing, the proactivity of a team leads to team innovation. Each team member is often confronted with specific situations where they can choose to take action or not. And if proactivity already requires stepping out of one’s comfort zone at the office, it is true that it represents an even greater challenge at a distance.

Being proactive means offering our help to colleagues who are working on priority projects or when our schedule permits.

It also means going ahead and communicating with colleagues to find out how they are doing.

In short, proactivity means taking action!

Soft-skill #4 : Psychological proximity

One of the most important things we take for granted in the office, but completely lose in remote work, are impromptu interactions with our colleagues.

Since social affiliation is a basic psychological need, these moments with our team are an integral part of our work experience. In fact, it is said that these conversations around the coffee machine foster creativity, productivity and compassion within a team.

Although it may not be as natural at first, it is essential that all team members can engage in these social rituals even when working remotely in order to maintain a strong psychological proximity.

It is important to allow for adjustments in these moments of exchange when we feel that the team needs it, for example by increasing the frequency of communication or by organizing a more informal meeting with the cameras turned on.

Also, regularly validating how our colleagues are doing and deliberately organizing moments dedicated to sharing and celebrating are practices that will help to overcome the feeling of isolation that can sometimes arise from working remotely.

Soft-skill #5 : Trust

Even if you have a lot in common with one of your colleagues, if you don’t trust them enough to hand over a task or project, working with them could become a burden.

This skill is even more important between managers and the rest of the team, as remote management presents its own set of challenges. For leaders who were used to working in the same office as their entire team, working remotely throws off many of their cues.

For these reasons, prioritizing trust within an organization is a winning strategy.

Building trust in remote work is about meeting commitments and deadlines and informing colleagues if there is a delay or issue.

It is also about ensuring that follow-ups are done with kindness and with the goal of being supportive rather than with the intention of monitoring or of reporting.

Finally, it is also about not letting things drag on: we allow ourselves to address sensitive issues quickly and to exchange constructive feedback.

As you have seen so far, developing virtual intelligence does not require reinventing the wheel, but rather deliberately embedding reflexes in your team.

While these first five skills referred to self-awareness and connectedness, the last five raise two other important aspects of remote work 2.0: teamwork and organizational support.

To discover the ten key skills of virtual intelligence and to find out if your team has mastered them, download this 100% free checklist.

With this checklist, you will be able to quickly assess your areas of improvement in virtual intelligence and take action!

Anchoring reflexes

As you have seen so far, developing your virtual intelligence does not require reinventing the wheel, but rather deliberately anchoring reflexes within your team.

While these first five skills refer to self-awareness and closeness between colleagues, the last five raise two other important aspects of remote work: teamwork and the essential support of the organization.

To discover the 5 other key skills of virtual intelligence and identify if your team has mastered them, download this 100% free checklist. Thanks to it, you will quickly take stock of your areas of improvement in terms of Virtual Intelligence and be able to take action!