How To Manage A Vitual Business

I am a business coach

to both traditional and virtual businesses and have noticed some distinct differences between managing the two.  Some of these differences go beyond the obvious, so I think it’s worth spending a little time looking at the special things you need to do as a business owner of a virtual business.

In my business coaching,

I have noticed that business owners are often attracted to virtual businesses because of the advantages they afford them.  Low overhead, for one.  When your employees are scattered all over the place, you don’t have to pay to house them anywhere.  Virtual businesses are also very flexible.  You can scale them up or down much more easily than traditional businesses.  They often use contractors, rather than employees giving them the advantage of flexibility.  All this is great, but is there a downside to a virtual business?  In my business coaching, I have seen that there is a huge one.  It all centers around communication.    Here are some keys I have learned through my business coaching.

Communication is an issue in most companies, but even more so with virtual businesses.  In fact, it is one of the top issues I deal with in my business coaching.  Here are some things to do to avoid costly communication gaps:

Business Coaching

Tip #1: Create a Virtual Water Cooler. Because people can’t meet around the water cooler or in the break room in a virtual business, key information doesn’t get passed on as it normally would.  Find a way to “gather” on a regular basis.  Technology is a big help here.  Have lunch together once a week, everyone can Skype or teleconference in.  Some of my business coaching clients meet once a day for 15 minutes, just to get an update from everyone.

Business Coaching

Tip #2: Establish Communication Guidelines. When you have a virtual business, the majority of your communication is by email.  And, we all know the pitfalls of that.  It’s hard to read tone in an email.  People often misinterpret intent.  In fact, they often attribute negative intent when none exists.  Relationships can spiral out of control. In my business coaching,  I’ve seen some ugly situations that were completely avoidable.  Work with your team to establish communication guidelines.  Here are a couple of examples from my business coaching clients who run a virtual business to start with:

• If I feel emotional, I will pick up the phone, not write an email.
• When I have an issue with someone, I will speak only to them about it first.
• When two of us cannot reach an agreeable outcome, we will seek a third party to moderate.

Business Coaching

Tip #3: See each other in person on a regular basis. Nothing beats face to face to build relationships and establish a foundation so that the virtual interaction will go much more smoothly.  My business coaching practice is a virtual business.  I am really good at “reading” people and situations over the phone.  Still, I find it very useful to look a client in the eye from time to time.  Take some of the money you are saving on facilities and invest in some plane tickets.

Business Coaching

Tip #4: Hire self-starters who like to communicate. You won’t be able to closely monitor the activity of your virtual employees.  Some virtual businesses put in all sorts of expensive structure to make sure their employees are actually working.  In my business coaching, I have found a far better solution:  Hire the right people from the beginning and you won’t have to monitor them.  Screen them in the interview process for those who are high achievers and who work well on their own.  Find people who will communicate naturally with you, so that you won’t have to track them down to find out what they are up to. Use a DISC profile to find the right people.  Those with a high I or S score are a pretty good bet.

I love virtual businesses, as you might guess by the fact that I own several of them.  The freedom is great.  And, if you take into consideration some of the special communication needs a virtual business has, you can love yours, too.

Nan O’Connor, MCC

noconnor@mindspring.com

www.nanoconnor.com