Professional interactions are going virtual - but our communication methodologies are stuck in the 20th century. Learn to navigate this brave new world with the tools you need to succeed in the virtual space.

A proliferation of new technologies has lulled many into thinking that we actually have to think less about how we communicate. In fact, communicating and collaborating across time, distance, and cultures has never been more complex or difficult. Written as a series of bulleted tips drawn from client experiences and best practices, Leading Effective Virtual Teams: Overcoming Time and Distance to Achieve Exceptional Results presents practical tips to help leaders engage and motivate their geographically dispersed project team members. If you’re a leader of any type of virtual team and want to help your team members collaborate more effectively, then buy this book. You will learn how to: Build trust and cultivate relationships, virtually, across your team Design and facilitate virtual meetings that are focused and engaging Influence without authority Motivate and galvanize a virtual team for top performance Blend asynchronous and synchronous communications for better virtual collaboration Navigate cross-cultural and generational differences in the absence of vital visual cues Assess skills, strengths, aptitudes, and preferences from afar Handle other tough issues that can trip up virtual teams The ideas in this book are based on Nancy Settle-Murphy’s decades of experience working as a change management consultant, facilitator, and trainer for project teams around the world. Designed to be read section by section in any order, this book shares approaches and techniques to help you address some of the toughest challenges virtual team leaders face, including keeping team members engaged from afar.

Check out The Better Conversations trailer: https://youtu.be/y3FrWTXC8Uw "I thought I knew how to have a conversation; I’ve had millions of them. Some were good, others not so much so. But I want to have GREAT conversations, and Jim Knight has taught me how. The proof is in: better conversations are possible and the results are worth the investment." --DOUGLAS FISHER Coauthor of Rigorous Reading and Unstoppable Learning Because conversation is the lifeblood of any school You don’t want this book—you need this book. Why this confident claim? Think about how many times you’ve walked away from school conversations, sensing they could be more productive, but at a loss for how to improve them. Enter instructional coaching expert Jim Knight, who in Better Conversations honors our capacity for improving our schools by improving our communication. Asserting that our schools are only as good as the conversations within them, Jim shows us how to adopt the habits essential to transforming the quality of our dialogues. As coaches, as administrators, as teachers, it’s time to thrive. Learn how to: Coach ourselves and each other to become better communicators Listen with empathy Find common ground Build Trust Our students’ academic, social, and emotional growth depends upon our doing this hard work. It’s time to roll up our sleeves, open our minds, and dare to change for the better of the students we serve. You can get started now with Better Conversations and the accompanying Reflection Guide to Better Conversations.

Please don't read this book in order. We created this compilation to serve as a just-in-time reference guide that you could turn to when you needed to increase engagement. Each chapter stands on its own, and you have the freedom to jump around. In fact, you'll get the most out of this book if you:1) Start at the table of contents.2) Find a topic you are most curious about.3) Read only that chapter. 4) Put the book down and experiment with what you've learned.After adapting to a remote work environment, online teaching, virtual training and distance learning during the pandemic, we all discovered some things we loved and some things we loathed. Being able to switch back and forth from virtual to in-person environments can give us all more flexibility. When done well, it can be more inclusive. Moving forward, organizations that are great at both will rise to the top. Will and I firmly believe that genuine connections, high engagement and fantastic collaboration are all still perfectly possible when remote.Each chapter of the book is based on a video from our YouTube channel dedicated to helping leaders and educators make connection easy. If you don't feel like reading, take out your phone and scan the QR code to make the chapter come to life! You'll find the main channel page, where videos are neatly sorted by topic: You may also notice that almost every chapter and video title is a question. That's because each one of the 200+ videos on our channel is a response to a question that a leader or educator has asked. For example, a participant once stuck around on Zoom after I finished leading a workshop on the "5 Ingredients for Virtual Engagement." After everybody else clicked "leave meeting," they whispered, "OK, so this is amazing, but how do you engage somebody when attendance is mandatory?" Two weeks later, we released a video tutorial answering that very question.

To advance in today's workplace requires virtual team skills. Most individuals assume their face-to-face skills will translate, but competency with virtual communication and teamwork requires an entirely new set of skills. This book guides readers down the path to success. Electronic communication is now embedded in our daily experience, as is work involving off-site collaborators. Virtual communication has become an essential job skill that is critical to individual and group success, yet most people just muddle through it without giving it any thought. Drawing on decades of scientific research in the fields of psychology, organizational behavior, and sociology, this book explains how to master the art and science of communicating virtually. The author first analyzes the subtle but significant changes that result when conversations are moved online, providing examples and tips to avoid common pitfalls, then discusses how team behavior and decision making can best be guided in this realm. Readers will fully understand what makes teams "click"—what inspires trust, how to get a team "off on the right foot," and what steps to take in order to make good collaborative decisions—as well as other key topics for virtual teamwork, such as best practices for working in the cross-cultural environment. The book serves as an ideal guide for anyone who participates in or manages a virtual team but is also suitable as a supplemental textbook in a business school course on organizational behavior or business communication.

Keep your cool and get the results you want when faced with crucial conversations. This New York Times bestseller and business classic has been fully updated for a world where skilled communication is more important than ever. The book that revolutionized business communications has been updated for today’s workplace. Crucial Conversations provides powerful skills to ensure every conversation—especially difficult ones—leads to the results you want. Written in an engaging and witty style, the book teaches readers how to be persuasive rather than abrasive, how to get back to productive dialogue when others blow up or clam up, and it offers powerful skills for mastering high-stakes conversations, regardless of the topic or person. This new edition addresses issues that have arisen in recent years. You’ll learn how to: Respond when someone initiates a crucial conversation with you Identify and address the lag time between identifying a problem and discussing it Communicate more effectively across digital mediums When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation poorly and suffer the consequences; or apply the lessons and strategies of Crucial Conversations and improve relationships and results. Whether they take place at work or at home, with your coworkers or your spouse, crucial conversations have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you'll never have to worry about the outcome of a crucial conversation again.

Get remote team members to interact as if they’re in the same room! Whether you’re videoconferencing with team members across the world or e-mailing a colleague sitting ten feet away, the truth is evident: technology has permanently altered the way we communicate. The virtual workplace can facilitate quicker decision making and reduced overhead. But the lack of face-to-face interaction can also impede trust, innovation, and creativity among team members. The Big Book of Virtual Team-Building Games is packed with games and activities for developing productive virtual teams across all digital platforms, including e-mail, mobile devices, web-based conferencing tools, and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. The Big Book of Virtual Team-Building Games helps you: Build a greater sense of community and reduce conflict Increase levels of engagement Get the most out of more-introverted team members Boost team members’ productivity Make sure that the only thing separating your people is distance. The Big Book of Virtual Team-Building Games is just the tool you need to develop trusting relationships, foster clear communication, and use technology to enhance the team’s connections.