​The productivity of a person working away from their team is strongly dependant on their self-motivation and personality. However a good manager can adjust his communication methods and management
style according to the individual needs to achieve the desired efficiency.
 
Let's picture two different people on a virtual team with two extremely different personalities:
Eve is a very sociable and energetic person. Frequent and spontaneous contacts with other people are  sources of her motivation and innovative ideas. If she works with clients every day (in sales or service team), she feels in her environment and is very creative. However, working in a generative or problem team can create a sense of isolation and lack of control. In this case, a good virtual team leader should ensure her frequent interaction with other team members. 
Illustration: Insights Discovery ™ 
Carl is a person who pays extra attention to the quality of work. He is analytical and inquisitive and makes decisions only after thoroughly determining all the facts and options. If his goals and tasks are clearly defined he does a great job working in isolation. In this case, interaction with the team can be less frequent; nevertheless the manager needs to  show interest in Carl's operating methods, as this will provide a source of motivation and inspire innovative ideas.
 Illustration: Insights Discovery ™
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These are just a couple of examples. At the start of training, it is worth identifying the individual temperaments of the virtual team members, ex. by conducting psychometric analyses. Of course, their results won't show how well a particular employee is suited for work on the team, but they greatly help in building cohesion and choosing the right communication methods.
For this purpose we use the Insights Discovery ™ Method. 
Other main aspects of virtual team management:
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