It can be challenging for remote teams to work together effectively, as distance makes it hard for people to build rapport with one another. As a result, you may struggle to encourage creativity and problem solving when your team members are dispersed across different countries or time zones, and rarely, if ever, meet face-to-face.

In this article, we explore how you can use virtual ice breakers to help remote teams break down communication barriers. We look at when they can benefit your team, as well as the situations where they might not be appropriate. We also include four virtual ice breakers to get your virtual meetings off to a great start.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/virtual-ice-breakers.htm?utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=30Jun15#np

We all want to feel confident and competent in our work. Much of that confidence will come from putting in the time and attention that’s needed to do a good job, being open to learning and development, and having a healthy level of self awareness.

But you, as a manager, also play a powerful part in your team members’ confidence. If you give “credit where credit’s due,” fairly and appropriately, you will reinforce what your people know to be true, and encourage them where they have doubts. However, if you rarely acknowledge “a job well done,” or constantly criticize them, there’s a risk that their motivation will slip away.

You might wonder why you should bother to bolster your team members’ self esteem. After all, aren’t they just doing what’s expected of them? Sport shows us that self assured teams don’t usually “rest on their laurels.” Instead, they want and expect more success, and go on performing well. That pattern is just as clear in the workplace, so acknowledging and celebrating achievement is part of Building an Effective Team.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/celebrating-achievement.htm?utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=30Jun15#np

You know those guys with the clipboards and checklists? Those annoying folks who drone on about compliance and procedure? Those sticklers who find reasons why things can’t be done? Every large institution has them. They are the process nerds. And within many companies, a tribal war is raging between these nerds and everyone else. But the world’s best organizations are calling a truce: They are learning how to turn the potentially destructive power of process and procedure to everyone’s benefit.

https://hbr.org/2015/06/dont-set-process-without-input-from-frontline-workers

“Look to your left, look to your right: One of you won’t be here next year.” This intimidating line was immortalized as a greeting for incoming students at Harvard Law School in the classic movie, The Paper Chase. The explicit (and intended) message is that hard work is needed to be successful here. The implicit (and perhaps unintended) message is that your success occurs when others fail. In a competition, others must lose if you are to win, and so it’s natural to withhold information that might help others, or to fail to provide help when help may be needed. Clearly, this message inhibits teamwork. It’s hard to collaborate if you view (consciously or not) your colleague as the competition. Self-preservation is a powerful force.

https://hbr.org/2015/06/get-rid-of-unhealthy-competition-on-your-team

Have you ever wondered why two people can say exactly the same thing in a meeting, but only one of them gets credit for it? Many times it’s the way wesound that makes the difference between whether or not we are actually heard.

https://hbr.org/2015/06/breathing-is-the-key-to-persuasive-public-speaking

This guidance is aims to promote the use of traineeships in the NHS and explains how traineeships can be used as part of a holistic strategy to address the workforce supply challenges facing the NHS.

http://nhsemployers.org/~/media/Employers/Documents/Recruit/Harnessing%20young%20talent_FINAL.pdf

Yes, there is an “I” in team. But it stands for incentives. Discussing teamwork without identifying its incentives is akin to debating effective diets while ignoring willpower: the most important ingredient may be missing. Whether working in teams, groups or as individuals, people respond to incentives. They also respond to the absence of incentives. And the incentives top management ignores can prove more revealing than the ones they celebrate.

https://hbr.org/2015/06/reward-your-best-teams-not-just-star-players

The English grandmaster Nigel Short recently declared that computers are stripping chess of its mystery; by crunching reams of data, computers can deconstruct once-obscure board positions in a matter of seconds and reveal the optimal move. Something similar is just starting to happen in health care.

https://hbr.org/2015/06/using-data-to-increase-patient-engagement-in-health-care