The COVID-19 pandemic upended nearly every aspect of our daily lives; from the way we spend our leisure time down to our work routine. Since 2020, many companies have embraced the switch to remote work and allowed employees to keep their home office for good, giving workers better work-life balance, cost savings on commuting, and many more benefits.
On the other hand, studies have also shown that online communications tend to be less inhibited and possibly more hostile because of their asynchronous nature and the sense of anonymity it creates. Without the benefit of face-to-face interactions, how do you keep tensions from boiling over and damaging team morale?
However, with the right strategies, leaders can navigate these challenges and foster a healthy, collaborative virtual work environment. In this blog, we’ll explore how to manage conflict in virtual teams, ensuring smoother communication and stronger team cohesion despite the distance.
Types of Conflict in Virtual Teams
Before we explain how to respond to conflict in virtual teams, we must go over the most common types of conflict specific to virtual teams:
Communication Breakdown
Virtual teams rely heavily on written communication, which can lead to misunderstandings due to lack of tone, context, or non-verbal cues. One person’s passive and happy tone may be another person’s snarky comment. Misinterpretations in emails, chat messages, or video calls can quickly escalate into conflicts. It all comes down to each person’s communication style in the workplace.
Workload Imbalance
In a remote setting, it may be difficult for team members to see or understand each other’s workload. This can result in perceptions of unequal task distribution, where some feel overworked while others may seem less involved. On the other hand, some employees may actually get away with working less due to less oversight, which can lead to resentment from coworkers.
Social Isolation and Loneliness
Remote work isn’t for everyone and can leave many people feeling isolated from their work and team. This sense of detachment may lead to disengagement or miscommunication that escalates into conflict. However, there are tools to get workers more involved and included.
Micromanagement
Remote work can sometimes lead managers to overcompensate with excessive oversight, which can cause frustration among team members who feel they aren’t trusted to manage their own tasks.
Strategies to Manage Conflict in the Virtual Workplace
Don’t skip the team building
We have previously mentioned that team building not only boosts morale and strengthens camaraderie, but also fosters a more transparent working environment where issues can be addressed freely and without fear of backlash. Through team building, team members can be better oriented towards common goals, and we all know that a sense of belonging – the feeling of being “in this together” – can be a powerful motivator to get things done.
Team building doesn’t have to be an elaborate affair either. Something as simple as holding virtual game tournaments or happy hour nights over Zoom can go a long way towards improved team dynamics and relationship building.
Have a communal online workspace
For years, e-mail has been the go-to medium for virtual messages. But while it has its own merits, we cannot keep relying on e-mail alone for our workplace communication needs, as it is simply too inefficient and can actually be a chronic stressor for most employees.
Luckily, there are various tools such as online whiteboards, or Slack, where teams and topics can be compartmentalized to help parse the noise of team communications. This shared workspace also aids in democratizing decision-making, as it can serve as an online forum of sorts that encourages vetting and back-and-forth among colleagues. This open line of communication acts as a conflict resolution strategy for virtual teams. By opening up channels for discussion, festering grievances can easily be nipped in the bud.
Connect with your employees
In a physical office setting, it’s fairly easy to pick up on negativity and frustration through visual cues. But working remotely removes a lot of the social context which we use to communicate. It’s up to you as a business leader to pick up the slack and fill in that missing information yourself.
As always, talking openly is key. And we don’t mean small talk about the weather or team quotas. Dig deeper, but more importantly, be genuine and empathetic; everyone’s had a hard time during the pandemic, and your employees are no different. Attempting to connect also shows that you are an emotionally intelligent leader who actually cares about your employees as valued individuals, and not as mere cogs in a corporate machine.
Adding a slack channel where employees can share their past weekend activities or channels with common interests provides a space where remote employees can engage in conversation other than work like they would in person. These personalized channels allow virtual teams to continue to get to know one another and create strong relationships.
Recognize the little victories
These past two years have been difficult for everyone to adjust, so it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the little victories where we can get them. Doing this helps bring the team together and relieves some of the stress when much of your workplace communication is about business. In this case, it can range from the work-related – an outstanding proposal perhaps, or excellent feedback from a pleased client – to something more personal, like getting a new dog or even just celebrating the end of another workweek.
All employees love to be incentivized and rewarded for their hard work. Consider creating an employee incentive program to get employees motivated and give them a purpose that connects them more closely with their coworkers.
Avoid Virtual Conflict with TeamBonding
Conflict in the workplace is inevitable in every team, more so when most are in a work-from-home environment. But the right tools and proper conflict management strategies can ease the transition, make the digital workspace more welcoming for everyone, and build a better team. Proper conflict management strategies are shown through effective communication tools and skills, team building, expectations and productivity, and most importantly understanding.
