We have said often and heard from others that maintaining positive social communication and relationships and creating opportunities for socialization are important for effective and satisfying work in virtual teams (e.g. see New Year Resolution: Be Happy ; Spread Your Virtual Smile, Really). Even though team members are often communicating over geographical distances, personal interaction and forming bonds with distant co-workers can help with conflict resolution and overall satisfaction with the team. Research is backing up the importance of friends to our health and well-being. A recent article in the New York Times discussed research that has shown that friends are often more important to survival rates of those facing health crises than family or a spouse. Friends not only helped in the face of crises, but seemed to contribute to overall well-being and longevity. Surprisingly, distance among friends does not lessen the positive benefits.

What does this mean for virtual teams? Although our best friends often aren’t the same people we work with, it is easy to conceive that the benefits of friendly and personal relationships would carry over to co-workers that we spend a considerable amount of time working with. One of the most enlightening studies described in the article consisted of taking university students to the base of a steep hill with weighted backpacks. The students that were shown the hill along with a friend estimated the steepness of the hill lower than those that looked at the hill alone. In virtual teams facing difficult and possibly high-pressured tasks, bonds among team members could make the tasks seem easier and reduce stress. Like friendships in our personal life, social connections in virtual teams might be an under-appreciated resource.