How do you develop trust among your team in a virtual, or work-from-home, setting?

"I have not led a team of remote employees; however, I believe that the fastest way for a team of virtual employees to get to know each other would be to have a Google Hangout at least once per week. Perhaps, I would even start with asking each team member to develop an introduction video and share it with the team."

"Technology allows for so much these days, which I believe you can quickly make a connection with someone, even if you are across the world from them. I would suggest multiple contests where team members still have to collaborate, to get to the end goal."

"Relationships are built when trust needs to be established, right off the bat. If I had a team that worked remote, I would create a goal that everyone needed to work toward, attached to a tight deadline, using everyone's strengths to complement the other."

"I have worked in remote sales teams in the past and what I found worked very well were regular video calls through Go-To-Meeting. These calls worked so that everyone had a turn running the meeting, giving a presentation on an area in which they were considered a subject matter expert. This strategy established each team member as an influencer in their own right. The results were an incredible team environment, despite many of us never meeting each other in person."

"Although I have never taught or worked in a virtual setting, I can imagine the challenges would be making a personal connection with the other team members. I would suggest starting with a discovery video or questionnaire of which each person would participate. Also, developing a list of questions for us to ask each other could be helpful for discovering personalities, strengths, and overall background."

With technology taking over, and many workplaces offering more remote opportunities, the interviewer wants to know that you can build relationships - even under the absence of face-to-face interaction.

Here are a few ways that you can develop trust among your team members in a virtual setting:

- Building relationships: You might share how you have everyone introduce themselves, share their professional background, personal interests, and even a little about their interests in each meeting.

- FaceTime or Go-To-Meeting: Talk about how you ensure that you have video conferencing capabilities. Discuss that being able to see each other, even virtually, allows you to build camaraderie and creates trust among your team.

- Creating a Transparent Culture: Tell the interviewer how you open up the door for trust with your team by being an open and transparent leader or co-worker. You might share that you have open conversations about how the group will hold each other accountable.

You may also share other ideas that have worked for you such as: holding one-on-one meetings with each member of the team, providing recognition for things well done, holding fun contests, or allowing team members to understand each other better by utilizing a personality assessment.

Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.