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📌 Welcome to Virtual Collaboration Solutions 4 U

Hi! I’m Lisa Holding, the third team member in this training series — and I get to cover everyone’s favorite topic: team dysfunction.

This Padlet is your interactive companion to the session and functions as your handout. It includes:

🧠 Key takeaways

📚 Full source list

🔧 Practical strategies

🔗 Extra links for further exploration

Feel free to scroll, click, or save anything that speaks to your team’s needs. Let’s dig in and make virtual collaboration a little more human.

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References

Alkoud, S., Zainudin, D., & Mhd Sarif, S. (2023). Challenges, barriers, and obstacles facing virtual teams: A conceptual study. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 13(4), 1473-1487. https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v13-i4/16723

Best, (2014, January 22). A conference call in real life [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ

Degbey, W. Y., & Einola, K. (2019). Resilience in virtual teams: Developing the capacity to bounce back. Applied Psychology, 69(4), 1301-1337. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12220

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., Many, T. W., Mattos, M., & Muhammad, A. (2024). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work (4th ed.). Solution Tree Press, a division of Solution Tree.

Ferriter, W. M., Sonju, B., Baker-Busby, A., & Monkres, K. (2025). Part 1: Highly effective teams have a common foundation. In Handbook for Highly Effective Teams in a PLC at Work® Essential Actions for Tackling Critical Issues (Building Highly Effective Teams) (pp. 7-64). Solution Tree.

González-Anta, B., Orengo, V., Zornoza, A., Gamero, N., & Peñarroja, V. (2020). Collaboration and performance in virtual teams with faultlines: An emotional management intervention. Revista Psicologia: Organizações & Trabalho, 20, 1237-1246. https://doi.org/10.17652/rpot/2020.4.08

Hacker, J. V., Johnson, M., Saunders, C., & Thayer, A. L. (2019). Trust in virtual teams: A multidisciplinary review and integration. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 23. https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1757

Kislik, L. (Presenter). (2017, September). Why there's so much conflict at work and what you can do to fix it. Lecture presented at TEDx, Baylor School Chattanooga, TN, United States. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l-AOBz69KU

Lencioni, P. (2024, November 24). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75bO_XWk7fw

Lim, C. (2023). Beyond fatiguing virtual meetings: How should virtual meetings for workplaces be supported? International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 40(18), 5103-5118. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2023.2231279

Mashek, D. (2022, June 23). Collaboration is a key skill. So why aren't we teaching it? MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved July 18, 2025, from https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/collaboration-is-a-key-skill-so-why-arent-we-teaching-it/

Mitchell, R., von Stieglitz, S., Gu, J., Boyle, B., & Ocampo, A. C. G. (2024). Tackling adversity with open minds: Team personality composition facilitates shared leadership and team resilience. Applied Psychology, 74(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12568

Moore, S. M., & Geuss, M. N. (2020). Familiarity with teammate's attitudes improves team performance in virtual reality. PLOS ONE, 15(10), e0241011. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241011

Olsen, O. K., Ågotnes, K. W., Hetland, J., Espevik, R., & Ravnanger, C. A. (2023). Virtual team-cooperation from home-office: A quantitative diary study of the impact of daily transformational- and passive-avoidant leadership? and the moderating role of task interdependence. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1188753

Syynimaa, K., Lainema, K., & Lainema, T. (2022). Identifying challenges in virtual teams: A case study of teamwork in a game-based learning environment. In 19th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age. CELDA.

Wong, S. I., Zhang, L., Černe, M., & Moe, N. B. (2024). Influence of digital communication configuration in virtual teams: A faultline perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 41(4), 1111-1141. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2024.2415776

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1. Identifying causes of and early signs of dysfunction

in virtual teams
2. Addressing dysfunction early and intervening
3. Rebuilding and realigning after dysfunction

damages the team

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Miscommunication ≠ Dysfunction… Until It Builds

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Miscommunication ≠ Dysfunction… Until It Builds

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Causes of Miscommunication:

1. Verbal Communication is not clear.

2. Nonverbal Communication is lacking or misinterpreted.

3. Technology is misapplied or faulty causing a barrier to communication.

Causes of Conflict:

1. Miscommunication

2. Personality or Cultural friction

Additional sources:

Hacker, J. V., Johnson, M., Saunders, C., & Thayer, A. L. (2019). Trust in virtual teams: A multidisciplinary review and integration. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 23. https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1757

González-Anta, B., Orengo, V., Zornoza, A., Gamero, N., & Peñarroja, V. (2020). Collaboration and performance in virtual teams with faultlines: An emotional management intervention. Revista Psicologia: Organizações & Trabalho, 20, 1237-1246. https://doi.org/10.17652/rpot/2020.4.08

Hacker, J. V., Johnson, M., Saunders, C., & Thayer, A. L. (2019). Trust in virtual teams: A multidisciplinary review and integration. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 23. https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1757

Lim, C. (2023). Beyond fatiguing virtual meetings: How should virtual meetings for workplaces be supported? International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 40(18), 5103-5118. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2023.2231279

Moore, S. M., & Geuss, M. N. (2020). Familiarity with teammate's attitudes improves team performance in virtual reality. PLOS ONE, 15(10), e0241011. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241011

Olsen, O. K., Ågotnes, K. W., Hetland, J., Espevik, R., & Ravnanger, C. A. (2023). Virtual team-cooperation from home-office: A quantitative diary study of the impact of daily transformational- and passive-avoidant leadership? and the moderating role of task interdependence. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1188753

Syynimaa, K., Lainema, K., & Lainema, T. (2022). Identifying challenges in virtual teams: A case study of teamwork in a game-based learning environment. In 19th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age. CELDA.

Wong, S. I., Zhang, L., Černe, M., & Moe, N. B. (2024). Influence of digital communication configuration in virtual teams: A faultline perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 41(4), 1111-1141. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2024.2415776

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·    Silence or limited participation

·    Emotional exhaustion or screen fatigue

·    Disengagement during video calls

·    “Zoom burnout” (Lim, 2024)

·    Team members avoid feedback

·    Emotional tone becomes neutral, cold, or inconsistent

·    Team members stop acknowledging each other’s contributions (Meier, et al., 2022)

·    Uneven participation or social loafing

·    Team members making decisions without full input

·    Over- or under-dependence on certain individuals

· Uncoordinated actions or duplicated efforts (Syynimaa, et al., 2022)

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Teams do not fall apart overnight. The signs are almost always there…we just need to know what we are seeing, and what it means.

“The early signs: Misunderstandings due to language barriers (Alkoud, et al. 2023), directions misread due to wording (Mitchell et al. 2024), team friction from undefined jargon (DuFour et al., 2024), incorrect assumptions and asking no questions (Hacker et al., 2019).  The interventions for this set of causes are to clarify in the moment (DuFour et al., 2024; Hacker et al.), but be sure to do so tactfully.  Correcting in front of a large group can bring embarrassment, so how you clarify is as important as when you clarify.  Restate key terms/redefine is another remedy, and checking for understanding. Other interventions would include using common vocabulary (Alkoud et al.), utilize clearer wording for instructions (Mitchell et al.),  Just remember, you are working with adults.”

->Cause #2: Nonverbal Communication

“The early signs for this cause included: People seem emotionally off, withdrawn, or misreading tone

The interventions are to ask direct questions in a one-to-one setting (Lim, 2023) if there is silence, burnout, or distraction. When communication has been strictly written, switch to video or audio communication to restore or enhance tone and body language or change to a higher quality technology to improve those (Hacker et al., 2019 and Moore & Geuss, 2020). To help with interpreting tone, Chamakiotis et al. (2021) suggest “reframing” or restating in one’s own words back to the writer what the reader interpreted to make sure tone was understood.”

->Cause#3: Tool Mismatch

“The early signs for a mismatching of tools to usage can include conflict over written messages, slow response times, frustration, misread tone, task failures, and stress.  The interventions include ensuring tools support tasks (Syynimaa et al., 2022) to cut down on slow response times and frustration due to technology lags, avoiding platforms that encourage faultlines and switch to technology that will enable more mixing of differing groups and avoid relying on written channels as the only form of communication (González-Anta et al., 2020), and upgrade technology when context or emotion matters to help clarify tone, emotion, and meaning (Hacker et al. 2019).”

->Cause #4: Personality and Cultural Faultlines

“The early signs for personality and cultural causation of dysfunction can include cliques forming, certain people going silent, uneven input, and reticent vs dominant personalities may continue to grow apart if left unchecked.  The interventions for this seem quite simple: purposefully mix team members across projects (González-Anta et al., 2020; Wong et al., 2019), use inclusive group norms to prevent subgrouping (González-Anta et al.), provide training on culture awareness (Wong et al.),  and establish balanced participation norms while inviting quieter voices to take part in discussion (Ferriter et al., 2025).”

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“Some of the same strategies we just covered as interventions — like clarifying terms or simplifying instructions — also serve as prevention tools when used up front. The key difference is whether you’re reacting to a problem or planning ahead to stop it from happening. We will be focusing solely on preventions in this section.”

->Cause #1 Verbal Communication

“Three key preventions were listed by sources to avoid dysfunction arising from verbal communication issues.   These include normalizing a culture of ‘not having all the answers’ as ok and building vocabulary explanations into training materials (DuFour et al., 2024).  Alkoud et al. (2023) had a similar prevention of creating shared vocabulary lists during onboarding.”

->Cause #2 Prevention:

“Preventions to dysfunctions of nonverbal communication, training is a key aspect. Chamakiotis et al. (2021) encourages establishments and institutions to train team members to “tone check” before reacting to messages.  This includes the tone they are inferring from the message they received and reading their outgoing response for potential miscommunications due to implied tone.  Additional training as suggested by Lim (2023) is to train teams in nonverbal awareness to ensure the messages being sent are accurate. One last training for employees is following established norms when using voice and video during “high stakes” conversations (Hacker et al., 2019).  The remaining two preventions are aimed at the administration and both are suggested by Lim: Design shorter, more intentional meetings, and, as a result, limit multitasking and overscheduling to avoid virtual fatigue. Training and time awareness seem like obvious suggestions, but in the moment, the obvious fails to be known to the oblivious.”

->Cause #3 Prevention:

“The preventions for tool mismatching, similarly to the preventions for nonverbal communication, include trainings and time awareness for administration.  Team members should be trained on the strengths and limits of each tool (Hacker et al., 2019; Syynimaa et al., 2022), be trained on team norms on which tool to use under which circumstance (Hacker et al.) which includes avoiding handling emotionally delicate messages over text/email/chat (González-Anta et al., 2020). Administration is advised to schedule synchronous touchpoints for clarification during asynchronous work (Syynimaa et al., 2022).”

->Cause #4 Prevention:

“The preventions for personality and cultural conflicts relies some on training and open, honest discussion.  To have the honest discussion, some cultural training must take place regarding cultural comfort zones when dealing with confrontations.  Teams also need to come to agreements on how to give feedback and disagree.  Conflict does not have to be a negative word as conflict/difference of opinion can help expand the group’s thoughts and create something better.  Conflict does not need to become crisis.”

The scary part is most professions are not trained in collaboration. For more information, see this article.

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“When trust is already broken, communication has fractured, or the team has become disengaged, it’s not too late — but it does take intentional effort to realign.

There is no quick fix. Rebuilding trust takes time and a willingness to be vulnerable — and a willingness to be hurt again. A team is, at its core, a relationship. And as Patrick Lencioni (2024) notes in his model of team dysfunction, trust begins when people are willing to be open, exposed, and human with one another.”

->“Drawing from the insights of Lim, Wong, DuFour, Ferriter, Hacker, and Chamakiotis, here are five concrete steps a team can take to rebuild and realign after dysfunction:

1.   Acknowledge what went wrong

2. Reestablish psychological safety

3.  Clarify or rebuild shared norms and goals

4.Use structured reflection and repair tools

5. Set visible changes in motion — follow through with action”

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Mehrabian’s 7-38-55 Communication Model: It’s More Than Words - The World of Work Project

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Albert Mehrabian’s 7-38-55 Communication model says 7% of communication is words, 38% through tone and voice and 55% through body language.

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Why There’s So Much Conflict at Work and What You Can Do to Fix It | Liz Kislik | TEDxBaylorSchool

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Referenced, but did not have time to go into in depth.

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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

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No Wonder there is Conflict in the Workplace!

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No Wonder there is Conflict in the Workplace!

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New research finds that despite the importance of collaboration, most organizations fall short when it comes to helping workers build their relationship skills.

Americans spend more time on work than on all other waking activities combined. Many of these working hours are spent collaborating with colleagues. We think together in meetings. We act together on project teams. We manage up and manage down. Across sectors and levels, collaboration is the name of the game.

In spring 2022, Dev Crasta and I fielded the Workplace Collaboration Survey to better understand collaborative relationships in the modern workplace. The 1,100 people who participated in the survey were employed full-time in the United States; to qualify for inclusion, they had to work with others at least some of the time.

We asked respondents what proportion of their job entails collaborating with others to advance shared goals. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of the sample reported collaborating at least 41% of their work time. This means that in a 40-hour, five-day workweek, people spend an average of 3.2 hours per workday collaborating with others.

Given how much time people spend working and being with others at work, it's no surprise that relational challenges generate stiff and persistent headwinds in the workplace. In fact, 72% of respondents said they have been involved in at least one workplace collaboration that was "absolutely horrendous." Such collaborations create operational drag, bust timelines and budgets, trigger managerial headaches, and occupy already overloaded HR staffs.

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What is surprising, especially considering these costs to organizations' bottom lines, is how little professional development people reported receiving on how to build healthy and productive collaborative relationships at work. (See "Professional Development Training Time on Collaboration Skills.") When asked how much professional development they had received on this front in total, 31% of the respondents said "none." Six percent said "a few minutes," which is roughly the length of a TikTok video or the time it would take to read a Dilbert cartoon. An additional 14% said "about an hour," 23% said "a couple of hours," and only 26% said they had received substantial development - "more than a couple of hours" - in this critical workplace skill. Yet professional development in how to build collaborative relationships correlates positively with a host of desirable mindsets that benefit both organizations and individuals.

About the Author

Deb Mashek, Ph.D., an experienced business adviser, professor, and national nonprofit executive, is the author of the forthcoming book Collabor(h)ate: How to Build Incredible Collaborative Relationships at Work (Even if You'd Rather Work Alone) (Practical Inspiration Publishing).

More Like This

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Collaboration Is a Key Skill. So Why Aren't We Teaching It?

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New research finds that despite the importance of collaboration, most organizations fall short when it comes to helping workers build their relationship skills. Americans spend more time on work than on all other waking activities combined . Many of these working hours are spent collaborating with colleagues. We think together in meetings.

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To review, today, we covered the very tough topic of identifying causes and signs of dysfunction, addressing early intervention and prevention of dysfunction, and rebuilding and realigning after dysfunction damages the team.  I would like to thank you all for being such a great audience.  Remember, the Padlet is there for you if you would like to revisit it in the future. (Hopefully, you will never need it.) I welcome any feedback you have on how I can make this portion of the training more effective for teams in the future. Have a wonderful rest of your day!

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Lisa Holding  Preventing and Managing Dysfunction in