Working with a virtual team distributed around the globe has its pluses and minuses. On the plus side, you can build a team with the skills and talent it needs regardless of geographic preferences.
For example, if you’re in Hungary, your team might have engineers in Ireland, developers in Japan, accountants in Luxembourg, and sales reps scattered around the world. Thanks to technologies that facilitate group communications, it’s no longer necessary for team members to be seated in the same building — or located in the same country for that matter.
On the minus side, managing individuals from around the globe can be challenging. It’s more difficult to build relationships when team members don’t interact with one another on a regular basis. Getting feedback on ideas doesn’t tend to happen spontaneously because of this lack of interaction. Team members can also feel isolated.
One way to take advantage of the positives and minimize the minuses is with global group calls. Using our virtual team in Hungary as an example, here are a few ways that you could manage your virtual team using international conference calls.
- Hold regular virtual team meetings in a group phone call. Relationships build slowly, over time. By meeting in a conference call each week, your team members will have the opportunity to get to know each other, become familiar with each other’s mannerisms, and build empathy toward others as human beings rather than just another name on an email distribution list.
- Include icebreakers, team-building activities, brainstorming sessions, and question and answers sessions in your regular meetings to help foster these relationships. These regular group calls can also counter that feeling of isolation some virtual team members get.
- Try to create a fair schedule for your group conference calls. As you know, time differences between Hungary and other regions of the world could cause some team members to join the call at an odd hour. While some may not mind a midnight meeting for work, others will resent it — especially if every single conference call is scheduled at such an inconvenient time. One workaround would be to rotate the call’s scheduled time so that the scheduling hardship is shared evenly. Another option would be to record each group conference call so that those who can’t attend due to the odd hour can listen in later.
Global group calls require the use of an international conferencing service so that each participant can conveniently join the call. Our international conferencing service uses PSTN fiber optic networks and supports dozens of countries around the world. Our rates are highly competitive, and you can choose from toll free or local access. If you’re in Hungary, select one of our pay-as-you-go plans and gain access to a cost-effective way to stay in touch with your entire team.
Are you using international conference calls to manage a global team in Hungary or elsewhere?
