* Sharing knowledge about different products and markets

* 24/7 productivity by teams working across global time zones¹

¹Frank Siebdrat, Martin Hoegl and Holger Ernst, "How to Manage Virtual Teams," MIT Sloan Management Review Summer 2009

To achieve these potential benefits, however, leaders need to overcome liabilities inherent in the lack of direct contact among team members and managers. Team members may not naturally know how to interact effectively across space and time. They need strong team skills such as setting goals, sharing responsibility for getting things done, and providing mutual support. And they need smart leadership to make sure they can leverage those skills in a virtual working environment. Without team skills and effective leadership, a virtual team can become ineffectual and dysfunctional. Problems can include:

* Difficulties in communicating and understanding one another, resulting in a lack of common ground, trust, and shared responsibility