The Virtual Project Manager: Seven Best Practices for Effective Communication

  Teams   Knowledge Shelf  

With the surge in telecommuting practices, the twenty-first century project manager faces increasingly more complex challenges in managing his or her team. One of those crucial challenges is conducting effective communication in a virtual environment. To ensure the ultimate success of a project, the project manager must make sure that the factor of effective communication is addressed as a top priority. Consequently, the project manager should implement several actions, including establishing a clear communication plan, accounting for informal discussions, and mastering the technology used. He or she should also understand how to conduct structured meetings and leverage email as a tool to efficiently communicate with his or her team. This white paper discusses the challenges faced by the virtual project manager and specifies the best practices that should be employed for effective communication.

Over  the past decade, organizations have increasingly shifted toward hiring a more mobile workforce. Findings from the 2010 Cisco Connected Technology World Report, which was conducted in thirteen countries, indicate that employees expect greater mobility in their jobs and that over 65% of them rate flexibility as a more important factor than salary.As such, the number of companies adopting a more collaborative virtual workspace is on the rise, and the projections signify …

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