Globalization and technology have made it both essential and possible for companies to create opportunities for employees to work away from the office HQ. As a result, teams can become fragmented and managers may find communicating with remote or "virtual" individuals a challenging task.

In a recent article on the Internal Comms Hub website, Chris Gay of Bridge Consulting says, "If you take the right steps to form, build and manage the group, virtual employees can function as high-performing teams." One of these steps, she says, is to assign each team member a "virtual buddy".

Below is Chris' 5-step guide to ensuring the virtual buddy technique delivers great working relationships and maximum productivity from your virtual teams.

1. Have a first face-to-face employeemanager meeting
The following should take place in the new employee's first face-to-face meeting with the manager:

• Welcome the employee to the team.
• Provide a tour of the home office, regional or corporate facility.
• Review the team mission, purpose, charter and objectives.
• Review the roles and accountabilities for the new team member.
• Introduce the new employee to other team members.
• Introduce and provide profiles of customers and partners – on and off the team.
• Review communication protocols and meeting schedules.
• Assign a virtual buddy or partner.
• Arrange for some informal time when any team member is in the manager's location.

2. Assign the new employee a virtual buddy
A new employee's first meeting with the virtual buddy, which should be held within the first week, should include the following:

• Introductions and some time spent getting to know each other.
• Overview of each team member's background and role on the team.
• Additional information on internal and external customers.
• Overview of the team norms and culture.
• Review of technology, including training as needed.
• Clarification of how the new employee will be introduced to the entire team.
• Overview of knowledge sharing, document-management protocols, etc.
• Opportunity for the new employees to ask questions.

3. Arrange a follow-up call from the manager
A follow-up call from the manager a week after the new employee's first buddy meeting should include:

• A general check-in on how things are going.
• Conversation for the manager and team member to further get to know each other personally.
• A check-in on the employee's initial meeting with the virtual buddy and any outstanding questions the new employee may have.
• Clarification and questions on the team member's roles and accountabilities.
• Time for the employee to ask any general questions.

4. Hold a second meeting with the virtual buddy
The second meeting with the virtual buddy, which should take place 2 weeks after the new employee joins the team, should include:

• Review of the first 2 weeks and identification and resolution of general questions and issues about the work of the team.
• Feedback and questions on team norms.
• Clarification of the roles of other team members.

5. Hold regular follow-up meetings
The manager and the virtual buddy should check in with the employee at least weekly for the first 3 months to ensure that things are going well and to answer any questions or resolve any issues.

The full article is available to members of Melcrum's Internal Comms Hub website.

See you next week,

P.S. Melcrum's new special report "How to create, manage and engage a virtual team" is an invaluable resource for managers and virtual team-members alike. It lays out the behaviors and tools that are essential for establishing and maintaining a virtual team, and provides case study examples of successful teams working in this way and delivering real business results.

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