RULES FOR VIRTUAL TEAMS

Voice mail

• Check your voice mail daily and call back within 24 hours.
• If you cannot check the voice mail, speak a friendly message that you have limited access.
• Speak slowly and clearly when leaving messages for others.
• Say exactly and clearly what you need until when.
• If you leave your number, leave it complete with the country code at the beginning and end of the message.

Email

• Check your mails daily and answer the important mails within 24 hours at the latest.
• If you do not have the possibility to check mails, use the “Out of Office” message (without limited Access).
• When you send a “cc” message, you assume that the “cc” receiver only considers it information and does not react.
• Keep in mind that e-mail messages can be very short and narrow.
• Be careful in your choice of words.
• Do not write an email if you are angry, but wait a day and rephrase it.
• Do not use e-mails to discuss personal topics or send sensitive information.
• Use a subject line that describes the content.
• FYI means that the email is not urgent, but contains something important that you should read.
• URGENT FYI means that you should read the information immediately.
• Call if a topic goes back and forth more than three times.
• Always check your email for spelling.
• Send appointments via the calendar function and not via e-mail.

Instant messaging

• Log in when you come into the office.
• Use the “Logout” or “Busy” function if you are not available.

Mobile

• Switch to vibration mode during meetings.
• Only accept the call if it is very urgent.
• Use this medium if it is acceptable to both sides.

Audio and video conferencing

• All participants welcome those present when they join the conference.
• Say your name before communicating content.
• Use the “Silent” button when someone is not speaking.
• Avoid side calls during a conference.
• Ask for repetition if you do not hear or understand something.
• As an invitee to the conference, you should be there earlier to keep the technology stable until everyone else joins in, so as not to waste any time.

Organization of meetings

• Be on time.
• Use all relevant time zones for your meetings and rotate them.
• Agree on a time specification to which all are aligned (e.g. CET).
• Take a longer break every 60 – 90 minutes.
• Let others finish.
• Let the moderator do his job and respond to his requests.
• The agenda should be sent at least 48 hours before the meeting. The protocol is the more or less completed agenda.
• Slow down your speech rate and give time for questions if you have language problems.

Teamwork

• Do not discuss long documents with the whole group on the phone. 1:1 meeting, and the content will be forwarded to all.
• Keep to agreed times when documents must be passed on.
• Observe confidentiality rules.
• Review the collaboration process and implement regular reviews.

Decisions and problem solving

• Use team interests and goals as a basis for decisions and problem solutions.
• Keep local interests and those of the entire team in balance.
• If advice is needed, first see if there is an expert on the subject in the team before going outside to obtain information.
• Try to act by consensus.
• If this is not possible for good reasons, other decision-making paths (expert decisions, voting, etc.) should also be considered.

Conflict management

• Solve conflicts according to your guidelines.
• Do not try to resolve conflicts via e-mail. Call the person or speak directly to them. Always speak with the affected team members first, never with superiors or other team members first.
• Use a known conflict resolution process.
• Conflicts are part of everyday life, don’t dramatize them.
• Be attentive in order to recognize conflicts very early, because they become visible in virtual teams rather late. Do not wait until tension builds up.