I recently heard from a virtual team leader facing challenges in building ownership in his team. It got me reflecting on my own experience with virtual work and the importance of ownership. I have found that when team members think of the project as “their project,” they have a positive attitude towards it and they put in a lot more effort. Their self-esteem is higher and so is their commitment to project’s success.

What can you, as a team leader, do to build ownership in your virtual team? The first thing that you should do is to lay down the team’s mission and explain the reasons for that mission (e.g., connect it to your organization’s goals or a new initiative that may be driving the project). Then engage your team and share control over defining the team’s objectives and process with it. Sometimes, the virtual team’s sponsor may already have provided the team with a set of objectives. In such a case, help the team think about additional objectives related to the development of team members and the team itself (e.g., each members should be capable of leading a virtual team project by the end of this project or we will create a model for virtual work for other virtual teams to follow in our organization). Sharing control over the definition of the team’s objectives and process helps build a climate of self-determination, which, in turn, builds a feeling of ownership of the team’s project.

Another thing that you should do to build self-determination and, consequently, ownership is to make sure that team members believe that they have the necessary skills to help the team succeed. In my experience, one capability that is often overlooked is the capability to work in a virtual team. If team members have not worked in a virtual team before, they need a good introduction to how working in a virtual team is different from working in a traditional team and what it takes for a virtual team to succeed. Bringing in someone who can talk to team members about these issues helps as does providing team members with relevant popular press articles about working in a virtual team. Remember to educate the team about the mechanics and proper use of technology. Subsequently, engage the team in a discussion about how it plans to put its knowledge about virtual teams and technology to practice in the team’s project. As the team is making progress on its task, provide positive feedback to further build team members’ beliefs about their capability to work in a virtual team.

One important thing to keep in mind: you have to model ownership of the project. Take initiative. Clarify the project and member roles. Be timely in responding to the messages or concerns of your team’s members. Show enthusiasm about the project and communicate about it on a regular basis. As Mahatma Gandhi said,”You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Your team’s members will take cues from you. If you don’t show ownership for the project, I can assure you that none of the methods that I mention above will work.