Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

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You can gauge the health of a virtual team by measuring the average lag time between when team members identify a problem and when they discuss it. If you and your colleagues don’t trust one another, issues will go unaddressed for much longer than they should.

o That’s why it is critical for members of a virtual team to establish trust and a sense of safety up front.

o Trusting people is hard when you don’t work with them face-to-face, but even the smallest of gestures can help: Be generous with information. If someone is struggling with a project or task, be the first to offer help. And when someone on the team has even a minor success, send a congratulatory email.

o A little kindness goes a long way in encouraging others to give you the benefit of the doubt when stresses inevitably arise.

Adapted from “How to Raise Sensitive Issues During a Virtual Meeting,” by Joseph Grenny

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