3 Virtual Team Leadership Challenges (And How to Fix Them)

Rhetta Standifer • June 2, 2025

Things virtual team leaders can do to make their team better.

A woman with a shaved head is sitting in front of a laptop

Leading a virtual team (VT) involves a lot of challenges. Sure, some challenges are the same as traditional team management, but others are completely unique to the remote world. And then there are the challenges that exist everywhere but are amplified when your team is scattered across time zones.


Let's dive into three of these challenges — and more importantly, let’s talk about what you can actually do about them.


"My people don't feel like their work matters."

This one hits every team leader at some point, but it can be especially prevalent in virtual settings. Why? Because it’s easy for remote workers to feel like they're working in a vacuum, wondering if anyone even notices what they're doing.


The fix: Communicate more than feels necessary. I know — VT leaders are already drowning in video calls and emails. But you need to check in with remote workers more often than seems logical. And here's the key part: be specific about why their work matters.

Don't just say "great job" or "you're valued." Tell them exactly how their work connects to the bigger picture. Explain how what they did last week helped their teammates hit a deadline. Show them how their project moves the team closer to its strategic goal. And don't forget the personal angle—help them see how this work is building their skills and advancing their career.


"My people don't feel challenged."

Let's be honest: working from your kitchen table or spare bedroom/playroom isn't the most inspiring setup. Boredom and inertia can creep in fast when you're isolated from the energy of face-to-face interaction.


Virtual team leaders can tackle this in two ways that might seem contradictory but actually work great together:


Give them structured challenges. Use SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) to create tasks that feel meaningful and rewarding. Research backs this up—these kinds of goals make work more engaging.


Let them create their own challenges. This is where things get interesting. Some companies do "Freedom Fridays" where employees can work on whatever interests them for a full day. People love having choice and control over their work. Pro tip: have a quick weekly meeting where everyone shares what they worked on during their freedom time. This can create accountability and inspire more good ideas within the team.


"My people want more growth opportunities."

Smart VT leaders invest in growing their team's capabilities. One great way to do this is to have growth opportunities that connect members with other people.


Set up cross-mentoring pairs within your team. Let people teach each other their specialized skills through cross-training sessions. Have team members share knowledge from their different experiences and backgrounds. This approach is golden because it tackles multiple issues at once: people grow professionally, they feel challenged, their work feels meaningful, and they build stronger connections with their teammates.


Plus, when you create these learning partnerships, you're fostering understanding across different generations and backgrounds, something that can be harder to achieve naturally in remote settings.


The Bottom Line

When you nail these three areas—meaning, challenge, and growth, something powerful happens. You're not just making individual team members happier (though you are doing that). You're building a stronger, more resilient virtual team that actually performs better.

Investment in intentional communication, creative challenges, and connection-building growth opportunities pays off in ways that go far beyond individual satisfaction. Your team becomes more engaged, more productive, and frankly, more fun to lead.

In the virtual leadership world, these aren't nice-to-have skills—they're the difference between teams that thrive and teams that just survive.

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By Rhetta Standifer • July 15, 2025
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A woman is sitting in a chair in front of a laptop computer.

Beyond the Mute Button: Transform Virtual Meetings from Time-Wasters to Team-Builders

By Rhetta Standifer • July 8, 2025
If you are like me, you often sigh when you know you have a meeting coming up. Meetings can feel like productivity black holes—no structure, no energy, and honestly, no clear reason for existing. Virtual meetings? They're often even worse. People show up in body only, cameras off, muted, or clearly multitasking their way through whatever's happening on screen.  But there are things that team leaders can do to make virtual meetings useful and engaging. In fact, virtual meetings are opportunities to connect with members and for members to connect with each other. In this post, we’ll talk about managing virtual meetings and what to do once you are in them. As team leader, you have the ability to transform these digital gatherings from dreaded time-wasters into meaningful opportunities for your team to connect and get stuff done. Make Every Meeting Matter First thing to remember: everyone is busy and may not be jumping for joy about the prospect of having to make time for another meeting. So right off the bat, virtual meetings should be announced in advance (ideally, as part of a regular schedule or meeting routine) and distribute an agenda ahead of time that clearly describes the purpose of the meeting and whether attendees are expected to do anything in advance or in preparation for it. (Sure, emergencies happen and sometimes you need to call an urgent team huddle, but that should be the exception, not your go-to move.) Set Ground Rules That Actually Work Some companies have "topless" meetings (calm down—that means no laptops). In virtual meetings, that's obviously not realistic. But you can still create norms that encourage real engagement. Gently but firmly discourage multitasking. Make it clear that you want people to be fully present, not half-listening while they tackle their inbox or play solitaire. And here's a counterintuitive tip: ditch the mute button as much as possible. Research shows that ambient noise—the dog barking, the baby crying—actually humanizes virtual meetings and makes them feel less sterile. (Unfortunately, Zoom has filters in place now that damp down such noise, but you can try.) When someone's cat inevitably walks across their screen, lean into it. Let people enjoy the moment. The key is explaining the why behind these expectations. Help your team understand that asking questions, responding to each other, and actually connecting during meetings is how trust and relationships develop. It's not just about getting through the agenda—it's about building something together. Model the Behavior You Want to See As the team leader, you're setting the tone for everything that happens in that virtual space. How you listen, how you respond, how you handle conflict—it all matters more than you might think. Model active listening. Keep conflict productive and focused on ideas, not personalities. When you see collaborative behavior, call it out and celebrate it. If someone highlights a teammate's success or builds on someone else's idea, acknowledge that publicly. You're not just running a meeting—you're shaping your team's culture one interaction at a time. Share the Spotlight If you're the only one talking, you're doing it wrong. Virtual meetings work best when they're actual conversations, not one-person monologues with a captive audience. Call on people to share what they're working on. Ask for input and ideas. Consider having the team discuss agenda items in small groups, then come back together to share their collective thinking. The more people actively participate in real dialogue, the more value everyone gets from the time investment. The Bottom Line Virtual meetings—like their in-person counterparts—are opportunities to build team cohesion, strengthen relationships, and reinforce the behaviors that make your team effective. Don't just march through your agenda items. Create space for connection and collaboration. Your team members (and their cats) will thank you for it.