Explore all of Coursera

Browse
Top Courses
Log In
Join for Free

Three types of remote teams

Loading...

Communication Strategies for a Virtual Age

University of Toronto

4.8 (905 ratings) | 45K Students Enrolled

Enroll for Free

Communication has changed! The traditional rules for speaking and presenting, meeting coordination, influencing people, negotiating and selling ideas no longer apply in a world of skype, messenger, video and teleconference. This course will act as an overview on several concepts each of which could be a course of their own and our goal is to give you tools that you can practice and perfect on your own. By the end of this course, you will be able to: • Apply communication principles and techniques for in-person and virtual teams • Use a science based approach to create impactful presentations • Refine your communication style to better persuade and influence others • Run more effective and impactful meetings • Incorporate strategies to have positive difficult conversations and make people feel valued and listened to *** This course will require you to record yourself speaking. Therefore you must have a phone/computer with a functional camera and microphone.*** WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE? Anyone looking for professional and/or leadership development. This class mainly uses examples from the professional, business environment. If you are looking to advance at your current organization or to enhancing your personal value for potential employers this course is for you. WHAT MAKES THIS COURSE EFFECTIVE? Many educational experiences describe and explain, but in this course we will apply and demonstrate. We teach practical and proven concepts, show you how to apply them and give you opportunities to practice them in a safe and supportive environment. This course is full of opportunities to put the ideas presented into practice and test their effectiveness for yourself. WHY SHOULD YOU TAKE THIS COURSE? We will challenge the preconceived ideas about what it means to be part of a virtual team, and support you to be a dynamic team contributor no matter where you work. In this course you can expect to be both energized and uncomfortable – like in most experiences that result in positive growth and change! This course is offered through the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (https://learn.utoronto.ca/).

Skills You'll Learn

Communication Theory, conflict resolution, Meeting, Public Speaking

Reviews

4.8 (905 ratings)

5 stars
82%
4 stars
14%
3 stars
3%
2 stars
0%
1 star
1%

AH

May 12, 2020

Ivan is a fantastic presenter. I never felt overwhelmed by the content or that I couldn't follow along. I see a tremendous value in the easy to digest modules in this course.\n\nThank you so much!

MC

Apr 27, 2020

It was a great course! I did enjoy the lectures and found myself constantly engaged with the topics. I will surely be able to use the lessons I learned from here in the workplace/virtual space.

From the lesson

Introduction to Virtual Teams and Virtual Communication

This module is intended to create a foundation for the course by challenging your ideas of not just what virtual communication means, but also communication as a whole. This module will also introduce the foundational ideas of the whole course.

Three types of remote teams5:50

Taught By

Ivan Wanis Ruiz
Instructor

Try the Course for Free

Transcript

So now, we understand the three major traps in communication that apply both virtually and in person. But one thing we haven't done is identify, what do we mean when we say virtual communication? So by the end of this lesson, you will understand the three major types of virtual teams and how you make people feel like a strong part of that team, irrespective of which one it is. So here are the three types of virtual teams that we will be discussing. Number one, a team where everyone is in one location except for one person. Number two, a team where everyone is in a different location, and you never see each other in person. And number three, and here is the most common. Where you all work in the same location but still talk virtually. That is the biggest, most misunderstood, and often forgotten virtual team. So let's look a bit more specifically at the first one, a team where everyone is in one location and one person is broken apart. That could be a team where everyone's here, but the manager is somewhere else. It could be a sales team that is responsible for a region, but the manager of that team is somewhere else. It could be a virtual assistant helping out an organization with some filing work or dictation work. It can be a friend of mine who was a translator. She works in the woods, but she works with a very, very large law firm in downtown Montreal. So that is one virtual team. What's a virtual team where everyone is in a different location? Another friend of mine was a sales rep for rather large medical devices, and she was responsible for the West Coast of North America. There were five people on her team. Each one had a different region of North America, and their manager was in one of those locations. So this team almost never met. They knew each other for years, but they were almost never in person. And lastly, there's the team where you all work in the same place, and you know exactly what I'm talking about, where you send an email to someone you can see. Where you're working with someone who is one halfway over. But still, it's way easier to just send them a text message. And that is the most common type of virtual team. Now, why am I bringing this up? What's the point of this lesson? because up to this point, you're going like, yeah, aha, yeah, yeah, makes sense, so, so? How do you reward someone where the whole team is in one place except for them? How you can you use that same thing to reward when no one is in the same place? How do you reward someone in the exact same way when you're all in the same place? because right now, you're thinking of three different ways to reward, and you're saying, well, what do you mean by reward? Someone does a good job. What do you do? Exactly. What do you do? And the answer is very simple, and here's the main learning. We are in a virtual age, but we are still human beings. And the one way you can reward, irrespective of what your virtual team that you work on, is recognition, virtual recognition. So here's a pro tip. When you want to recognize someone, it's great to go one-on-one and say, you did a great job today. But if you want to be a master at making people feel valued and rewarded in the virtual age, recognize them with a group email, recognize them with a group message. Because recognition in front of your peers is the thing that'll really make people loyal. it's a thing that will work irrespective of which virtual team you work on. So how does that apply to communication? Let me give you a little story. I used to work on a sales team, and the manager of the sales team was in a virtual location. Half of our team was in-person, and the other half we saw only occasionally, so they were virtual as well. We would have bi-monthly meetings, so we always had virtual conversations, and they were almost always by audio, so phone conferences. And the reason was some of us were so remote that we didn't have really good internet access, but we all had good phone access. So some of us would dial in on our computers, and some of us would dial in on our phones. And the manager would start off every single meeting by recognizing one person in that group, and we all felt like such a part of a team. And you better believe that as that conference happened, that video conference with our manager, usually when the manager was talking, we were sending emails following up on that congratulations. So the key to strong virtual teams, irrespective of which one it is, is recognition in front of your peers.

Explore our Catalog

Join for free and get personalized recommendations, updates and offers.

Top Online Courses

AI for Everyone
Introduction to TensorFlow
Neural Networks and Deep Learning
Algorithms, Part 1
Algorithms, Part 2
Machine Learning
Machine Learning with Python
Machine Learning Using Sas Viya
R Programming
Intro to Programming with Matlab
Data Analysis with Python
AWS Fundamentals: Going Cloud Native
Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals
Site Reliability Engineering
Speak English Professionally
The Science of Well Being
Learning How to Learn
Financial Markets
Hypothesis Testing in Public Health
Foundations of Everyday Leadership

Top Online Specializations

Deep Learning
Python for Everybody
Data Science
Applied Data Science with Python
Business Foundations
Architecting with Google Cloud Platform
Data Engineering on Google Cloud Platform
Excel to MySQL
Advanced Machine Learning
Mathematics for Machine Learning
Self-Driving Cars
Blockchain Revolution for the Enterprise
Business Analytics
Excel Skills for Business
Digital Marketing
Statistical Analysis with R for Public Health
Fundamentals of Immunology
Anatomy
Managing Innovation and Design Thinking
Foundations of Positive Psychology

Online Certificates

Google IT Support
IBM Customer Engagement Specialist
IBM Data Science
Applied Project Management
IBM Applied AI Professional Certificate
Machine Learning for Analytics
Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization
Construction Engineering and Management
Instructional Design

Online Degree Programs

Master's in Data Science
Bachelors Degree in Computer Science
Computer Science and Engineering Degrees
Master's in Machine Learning
MBA and Business Degrees
Master's in Electrical Engineering
Master's in Public Health
Master's in Information Technology

Coursera

About
Leadership
Careers
Catalog
Certificates
MasterTrack™ Certificates
Degrees
For Enterprise
For Government
For Campus
Coronavirus Response

Community

Learners
Partners
Developers
Beta Testers
Translators
Blog
Tech Blog

More

Terms
Privacy
Help
Accessibility
Press
Contact
Directory
Affiliates

Get it on Google Play

© 2020 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.