A project manager leads a global virtual team that frequently misses important messages, causing missed deadlines. What should the project manager do to improve team effectiveness?

The best first step is to determine the root cause of the communication problems. Without understanding why messages are being missed, any solution implemented might be ineffective or temporary. This aligns with the "Plan-Do-Check-Act" cycle, where understanding the problem precedes action. Implementing team colocation is often impractical for global virtual teams and doesn't address the underlying communication issues. Starting daily communications might overwhelm the team or still miss the mark if the root cause (e.g., time zone differences, platform issues, information overload) isn't identified. Scheduling a communications control board meeting is a reactive measure for managing changes to the communications plan, not for diagnosing fundamental communication breakdowns.