Running a virtual team comes with its own unique set of challenges, but when you get it right, the results can be truly rewarding. I had a really inspiring conversation on this topic with Emma Campbell recently and I'm so excited to share this conversation with you. Emma Campbell is a performance and culture coach with over 12 years experience in leadership and culture, a background in HR, and qualifications in performance, coaching, psychology, and business. For more than a decade, she has coached leaders of six, seven and eight figure startups to expand their mindsets, uplevel their leaders and scale their teams.

One thing Emma and I completely agreed on is that strong relationships remain the foundation of everything, even in virtual spaces. Whether you're working with virtual assistants, online business managers, or a full remote team, creating an environment where people feel safe, seen, and appreciated isn't optional—it's essential. Emma really emphasised how clearly defined values are vital for creating positive team culture—it's not enough to just have them written down somewhere, you need to embody those values in your daily interactions.

Our conversation highlighted the necessity of robust communication and having the courage to provide feedback in real time. So many challenges arise when difficult conversations get avoided, which only leads to misunderstandings that could have been prevented altogether. Creating psychological safety—where team members feel comfortable speaking up and sharing their thoughts honestly—is what separates high-performing teams from the rest. At Swift Ventures, we rely heavily on asynchronous communication in Slack to keep everyone connected without drowning in unnecessary meetings.



Throughout our conversation, Emma and I both agreed that embracing vulnerability is critical for effective leadership, especially in virtual settings. Sharing our human side—not just our strengths—builds a solid foundation of trust that you simply can't fake. By focusing on genuine relationships, clear values, honest communication, and vulnerable leadership, you can cultivate teams that don't just perform well, but actually thrive.

Connect with Emma Campbell:

Website: https://www.emmacampbell.com.au/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emma_lou_campbell

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