Managing Virtual Team Dynamics

Working with people is hard, but making them prioritize your work is even harder. Hence, one of the key skills you have to build is getting things done by others. Ensuring things get done without nagging, micromanaging, or offending the people is an art. I have led many cross-functional work at Practo, Unacademy, and Google, here are a few actionable insights 1. be empathetic to others' priorities as they might have competing tasks 2. phrase your follow-up messages in a way that shows you value their time A well-written message signals that you’re not just asking for a status, but also offering support to make progress, something like """ Hi [name], just checking if there’s an update on [task]. I know you’re busy, so let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. """ 3. space out follow-ups, and give people enough breathing room to act 4. build strong relationships with your peers Remember, people naturally prioritize tasks for those they respect and enjoy working with. Invest in building these relationships by acknowledging their contributions in public forums like meetings. When I was a Platform Engineer at Practo, on day 1, I was told to be friends with everyone, and a few months later I realized why. I learned that people will help you, not because they have to, but because they value your partnership. This stays true in any role. 5. escalations should feel like collaboration, not confrontation. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a task gets stuck. In such cases, start with direct communication and clarify expectations and blockers with the individual. If things still don't move, loop in senior, but frame the escalation not as a complaint but as a team effort to unblock the work. For example, """ Hi [senior], I wanted to bring this to your attention since [task] is crucial for [goal]. [Name] and I have discussed this, but we’re still facing [specific issue]. Could you help us figure out the next steps? """ 6. people do what gets tracked, so make sure that regular status checks are brought up during common meetings, or periodically over async platforms like Slack and Teams. But irrespective of all the above points, there is one thing that matters the most. After someone helps, don't just move on, thank them meaningfully. Public appreciation in a team call, a quick Slack shoutout, or even a private note goes a long way. When people feel valued, they're more likely to go out of their way to help you or prioritize your work. btw, enrollments open for sys design feb cohort - arpitbhayani.me/course #AsliEngineering #CareerGrowth

“Let’s celebrate our differences!” — easy to say when you’ve never actually had to WORK through real differences. Here’s the thing: Real differences don’t feel like a celebration. They feel messy, uncomfortable, even threatening. 🧠 Our brains are hardwired to detect difference as potential danger. When someone thinks, works, or communicates differently than we do, our first instinct isn’t to embrace it—it’s to resist it. Recently, I worked with a team trapped in conflict for years. The problem wasn’t competence or commitment. It was cognitive diversity they didn’t know how to handle. 👉 One part of the team was task-focused—eager to get to the point and skip the relational aspects of collaboration. 👉 The other part was relationship-driven—prioritizing emotional connection and dialogue before diving into action. Celebrate their differences? Not likely. 🚫 The task-focused group saw the others as emotionally needy attention-seekers. 🚫 The relationship-driven group saw their counterparts as cold and disengaged. So, what changed everything? Not a shallow celebration of their diversity, but finding their common ground. 🚀 I used my D.U.N.R. Team Methodology to transform their conflict into collaboration: 1️⃣ D – Diversity: we explored their differences without judgment and recognized the strengths in both approaches. 2️⃣ U – Unity: we found their shared purpose—every one of them cared deeply about the team’s success, just in different ways. 3️⃣ N – Norms: we co-created practical norms that guided their interactions and set clear expectations. 4️⃣ R – Rituals: we introduced rituals to honor both styles while reducing friction and fostering collaboration. The real breakthrough? Not pretending their differences were easy, but building bridges through shared values. My honest take: If you’ve truly worked through real differences, you know it’s not about celebrating them—it’s about navigating them with care and intentionality. 💡 Celebrate your common ground first.  That’s how you unlock the power of team diversity. What’s your experience with managing real differences on a team? 🔔 Follow me for more insights on inclusive, high-performing teams. ___________________________________________________ 🌟 If you're new here, hi! :) I’m Susanna. I help companies build an inclusive culture with high-performing and psychologically safe teams.

Meetings cut in half. Escalations down 75%. No new tools required. A cross-functional marketing team at a major global retailer was drowning: only 22% thought their meetings were a good use of time, and just 39% understood the metrics they were being evaluated against. No calendar audit fixed it. What did? Getting their team working norms aligned, starting with cross-functional goals. With help from Sacha Connor at Virtual Work Insider, the team worked through five intensive 90-minute sessions over two months. Three focus areas made the difference: 🔹 Align goals before anything else. They mapped KPIs side by side and found one function's top priority barely registered for the other. They worked to get aligned, and shared understanding of team metrics went from 39% to 83%. 🔹 Clarify decision rights first. Designated points of contact absorbed a brutal 15:1 staffing ratio, without adding headcount. It also cut down on meetings ("where are we on X") and reduced escalations by 75%! 🔹 Create norms for communication. One rule on Teams: drop an eyeball emoji to acknowledge you've seen a message. Information-flow effectiveness jumped from 41% to 83%. As Sacha put it about Team Working Agreements: most companies put a toolkit on the intranet, maybe a couple teams download it, work through the logistics and call it done. It's not. Three-quarters of teams have never established formal norms. If you're about to layer AI on top of that foundation, you're building on sand. 👉 Full case study in today's newsletter, linked in comments What's actually standing in the way of your team doing this work? #Meetings #Management #AI

I have managed people in 23 countries without leaving Bangalore. That experience taught me something surprising. People are different. Yet people are remarkably similar. Different languages, accents, customs and ways of communicating. But beneath those differences, most people want three things: 1. They want to do a good job and be trusted to do it. Across Sweden and New Zealand, everyone wants to do a good job. Over the years I have remained amazed at how this remains a constant across countries. Adam in Sweden and Jan in NZ remain some of my best team members. 2. They want clarity about what is expected and why it matters. Lack of clarity has nothing to do with upbringing and culture. Everyone hates it. Teams in Egypt hate lack of clarity and so do teams in the Philippines. Moataz and Jonas both wanted clarity and were excellent at what they did once they got clarity. 3. They want to be treated fairly, respected for their contribution and recognised when they deliver. To be treated fairly is a deep human need. Kieron in England had been denied a promotion for years and felt, rightly, unfairly treated. Same for Colette in the USA. They all expected fairness and transparency. Names are changed for obvious reasons. I also learnt that culture across countries is overrated. Culture matters. But we sometimes use it to explain everything. “That is how Americans communicate.” “That is how Europeans make decisions.” “That is how teams in Asia behave.” These generalisations may help us prepare. But they can also stop us from seeing the individual. Personality, experience, organisational context and incentives often explain behaviour better than nationality. A few other lessons stayed with me. Clarity becomes more important with distance When people cannot walk across the floor and ask what you meant, vague communication becomes expensive. Silence does not always mean agreement Some people disagree openly. Some ask questions later. Some remain silent because hierarchy matters to them. A global leader must actively create space for disagreement. An accent is not a measure of competence. Fluency can create an impression of confidence. But the person who speaks most smoothly is not always the person who understands the problem best. Trust travels through consistency You build it by keeping promises, sharing context, being available when things go wrong and not taking credit when things go right. Nobody wants to be treated as a pair of hands in a distant location People want ownership, not just tasks. They want to understand the outcome, contribute ideas and exercise judgment. Managing globally did not teach me how to manage 23 different nationalities. It taught me to avoid managing people as nationalities. Global leadership is not about knowing every cultural rule. It is about remaining curious, checking your assumptions and treating every person as an individual. You do not lead countries. You lead people. #leadership #GCC

Interview Conversation Role: RTE/Sr. Scrum Master Topic: Scaling Concepts 👴 Interviewer: "How do you approach scaling Agile when multiple teams work on complex, interdependent features?" 🧑 Candidate: "I ensure each team follows Scrum properly and join the syncs to stay updated." 👴 Interviewer: "Alright, but imagine dependencies between teams are causing bottlenecks, and each team’s progress feels disconnected. How would you address this to create a more cohesive flow and alignment across the ART?" 🧑 Candidate: "I’d remind teams to bring up any blockers in the sync meetings." 📝 How a Sr. Scrum Master/RTE Should Answer: ------------------------------------------------------ When multiple teams are involved, I focus on ✍ Enhancing cross-team communication and dependency management. During Program Increment (PI) Planning, I encourage teams to surface dependencies early and map them out on the board. ✍ I also facilitate regular syncs, like Scrum of Scrums, where each team discusses dependencies and blockers, prioritizing any interdependencies that impact our roadmap. ✍ For example, in a past ART, I implemented ‘dependency champions’—each team appointed a member to track and communicate cross-team needs. This helped us tackle blockers sooner, reduced delays, and improved alignment across teams, allowing us to deliver on time consistently. 🔑 Insight: Effective scaling requires structured dependency mapping, regular cross-team alignment, and proactive facilitation to prevent bottlenecks and keep all teams aligned with ART goals. #SAFe #ReleaseTrainEngineer #AgileScaling #DependencyManagement

Trust is not something you have, but something you do. 6 proven ways to build unshakeable trust with your team, TODAY: (Sample situations and scripts are included) 1. Say what you do. Minimize surprises. ➜Why: Consistency in communication ensures everyone is on the same page, reducing uncertainties and building reliability. ➜Situation: After a meeting, promptly send out a summary of what was agreed upon, including the next steps, owners, and deadlines. ➜Script: "Thank you for the productive meeting. As discussed, here are our next steps with respective owners and deadlines. Please review and let me know if any clarifications are needed." 2. Do what you say. Deliver on commitments. ➜Why: Keeping your word demonstrates dependability and earns you respect and trust. ➜Situation: Regularly update stakeholders on the project's progress. Send out a report showing the project is on track, and proactively communicate any potential risks. ➜Script: "Here's the latest project update. We're on track with our milestones. I've also identified some potential risks and our mitigation strategies." 3. Extend the bridge of trust. Assume good intent. ➜Why: Trust grows in a culture of understanding and empathy. Giving others the benefit of the doubt fosters a supportive and trusting environment. ➜Situation: If a team member misses an important meeting, approach them with concern and understanding instead of jumping to conclusions. ➜Script: "I noticed you weren’t at today’s meeting, [Name]. I hope everything is okay. We discussed [key topics]. Let me know if you need a recap or if there's anything you want to discuss or add." 4. Be transparent in communication, decision-making, and admitting mistakes. ➜Why: Honesty in sharing information and rationale behind decisions strengthens trust. ➜Situation: Be clear about the reasoning behind key decisions, especially in high-stakes situations. ➜Script: "I want everyone to understand why we made this decision. Here are the factors we considered and how they align with our objectives..." 5. Champion inclusivity. Engage and value all voices. ➜Why: Inclusivity ensures a sense of belonging and respect, which is foundational for trust. ➜Situation: Encourage diverse viewpoints in team discussions, ensuring everyone feels their input is valued and heard. ➜Script: Example Script: "I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this, [Name]. Your perspective is important to our team." 6. Be generous. Care for others. ➜Why: Offering support and resources to others without expecting anything in return cultivates a culture of mutual trust and respect. ➜Situation: Proactively offer assistance or share insights to help your colleagues. ➜Script: "I see you’re working on [project/task]. I have some resources from a similar project I worked on that might be helpful for you." PS: Trust Is Hard-Earned, Easily Lost, Difficult To Reestablish...Yet Absolutely Foundational. Image Credit: BetterUp . com

2 — Solving Goal & Priority Misalignment with Is/Is Not + Perspective Circle.  SOLVING THINGS with SYSTEMS THINKING (STwST) — a series of mini, real-world applications of DSRP. When a team says, “We’re working hard but not pulling in the same direction,” it’s usually not a motivation problem. And it’s rarely a communication problem. It’s a distinction + perspective problem. Different people are carrying different mental pictures of what the goal is and is not, and different perspectives on what actually counts as a priority. So even when everyone uses the same words, they’re not aiming at the same thing. They might be reading the same page but interpreting it differently. Two simple thinking moves fix this. The first is an Is / Is Not list. Take the goal and the priorities and make them explicit: what this goal is, what it is not; what matters now, and what does not. This forces clarity where assumptions usually hide. The second is a Perspective Circle. You don’t need everyone to think the same way—but you do need everyone looking at the same picture. Different roles, levels, and functions can keep their own viewpoints, as long as they’re all anchored to the same shared view. Then keep that shared model on the table. Revisit it at the start of meetings. Use it when tradeoffs show up. Let people argue with it, stress-test it, and refine it. Don’t laminate it. Put it to work. Alignment doesn’t come from hearing the right words once. It comes from people rebuilding their own internal picture until it matches the shared one. When that happens, language cleans up, decisions get faster, resources line up, and the friction fades—because action always follows the mental model. If you listen carefully, misalignment announces itself in sentences that shouldn’t exist if the goal were truly shared. Those sentences are the signal. #STwST #SystemsThinking #CabreraLabPodcast #SystemsThinkingStandardsInstitute

Virtual Cards Go Enterprise But Two-Thirds of Suppliers Still Fumble the Checkout Enterprise CFOs are pushing virtual cards up-market, yet 66 % of suppliers admit they can’t meet buyer payment preferences That’s not a gap ➡️ it’s a moat waiting to be crossed ⸻ 5-Point Download from the Mastercard report: 🔑 Reality check: 66 % of suppliers regularly miss buyer expectations on payment experience—one-third even get paid late because the buyer’s preferred method (often a virtual card) isn’t on the menu. 🔑 Demand is rising, fast: 48 % of suppliers say buyers will ask to pay by card more often within five years. Ignore that signal and watch competitors steal your wallet share. 🔑 Working-capital win: Card-accepting suppliers are 14 pp more likely to rate themselves “efficient” at maximising cash flow, and 12 pp less likely to struggle with working-capital gaps. 🔑 Complexity crunch: 89 % of suppliers find it hard to balance their own needs with those of B2B customers—exactly the friction virtual cards automate away. 🔑 Shift-to-digital mandate: 92 % say optimising payment choices is a C-suite priority, and 94 % link payment efficiency directly to profitability. Card rails—and their virtual offspring—are the clearest path there. ⸻ Why It Matters 🌍 Up-market momentum: Virtual cards aren’t just for ad-buy invoices anymore; Fortune-100 procurement teams are baking them into every PO. 🌍 Cost vs. Conversion: The right acceptance stack flips cards from “expensive” to “revenue-safe”—think early-pay discounts and real-time cash application. 🌍 AI + Automation tailwind: When virtual card data lands perfectly mapped to the invoice, dispute cycles vanish and AP teams finally get their evenings back. ⸻ Sound Off (for suppliers) 🤔 Do you accept virtual cards today - yes or no? 🤔 If a customer sends a virtual card payment, how quickly does the cash hit your account? 🤔 What’s the single biggest blocker stopping you (or slowing you down) from taking virtual cards? 🤔 What one change - from networks, banks, or tech platforms - would make you flip the switch? #FutureOfPayments #B2B #VirtualCards #WorkingCapital #ProcuretoPay

Improving both human-human and human-AI collaboration is vital. One of the best research domains is Wikipedia. A wonderful new study by Taha Yasseri uncovers recurring patterns of collaboration and conflict, and specifically how to maximize the benefits from using agents and bots in large collaborative pools. Here are some of the key insights in the study "Computational Sociology of Humans and Machines; Conflict and Collaboration" (link in comments): 💡 Collaboration Patterns Reveal Insights into Conflict Dynamics. Platforms like Wikipedia highlight recurring patterns of conflict and cooperation, such as "serial attacks" by experienced editors on novices and "revenge edits" in reciprocated disputes. Bots play a dual role, automating repetitive tasks while sometimes causing unique conflicts like persistent bot-bot reverts. Understanding these dynamics enables better system designs to foster collaboration and reduce friction. Lessons for Maximizing Human-AI Collaboration: 🤖 Bots Streamline Work but Need Thoughtful Integration. Bots effectively automate tasks like vandalism detection, freeing humans for higher-level contributions. However, their impartiality can disrupt social dynamics. Transparent and adaptive bot design fosters trust and smooth integration into workflows. 💡 Shared Goals Drive Consensus and Stability. Aligning human and bot efforts around shared objectives, such as content quality, promotes collaboration. Regularly updating guidelines and managing participant turnover ensure these goals continue to foster harmony. 🌟 Human-AI Synergy Unlocks Greater Potential. When bots function as co-participants, they amplify collective intelligence by processing data and supporting decision-making. Integrating bots at cognitive and informational levels allows teams to achieve results neither could on their own. 🔍 Cultural Context Enhances Bot Effectiveness. Bot behavior mirrors the cultural and linguistic environments they operate in. Tailoring bot frameworks to these contexts reduces friction and maximizes effectiveness in diverse communities. 🛠️ Transparent Design Builds Trust and Equity. Bots that exhibit predictable and clearly communicated behavior enhance human trust and cooperation. Transparent design, coupled with balanced automation and human oversight, ensures productive and fair collaboration. In any collaboration domain the judicious introduction of well-designed AI agents has the potential to result in substantially better outcomes. While there is a lot more research to do, this paper provides an excellent foundation for establishing the principles to apply.

Shared digital context means people can understand what is happening and what has been decided, even when teams work across time zones and different tools. Global teams do not struggle only because they are far apart. They struggle when information is scattered and people have to rebuild the context before they can do the work. The solution starts with making decisions visible. A team should be able to see what was agreed, who owns the next step, and where the relevant information sits. Without that shared view, every handover becomes slower and more fragile. Asynchronous work also needs better closing habits. A clear update at the end of one person’s day can become the starting point for another person’s work, but only if the context is easy to find and written for people who were not in the room. Culture needs the same care. The same message can be read differently across teams, so shared expectations help reduce misunderstanding and keep collaboration more human. Tools should connect conversations and decisions, not create new fragments. The goal is simple: help people see the same picture and continue the work without waiting for someone else to reconstruct it. #DigitalWorkplace #FutureOfWork #CreateImpact