The realities of doing business today often require that employees and their managers work from different locations. When you’re not co-located with your boss — often separated by large distances and time zones — a different set of considerations comes into play, as you’ll never casually run into each other in the office hallway or by the water cooler. You’ve got to change your approach to work with and adapt to the realities of having a virtual boss.

Here’s the good news: As long as you and your virtual boss can develop trust, keep the communication channels open, and establish clear lines of accountability, there’s a good chance that you can work smoothly together. According to research from our Greenlight Research Institute, the following best practices will help you successfully manage the relationship with your virtual boss:

1. Create a virtual contract. First, acknowledge that making your interactions with each other as productive and efficient as possible is going to require a proactive approach. You need to establish the ground rules. How? Start with an email to your boss. Try something like this: “I’ve attached an article that describes how virtual teams can work best together. Can we discuss it in our upcoming call to see if it’s how we want to work together?” What you’re doing is setting up a virtual contract that you can both agree on.

2. Establish rules for communication. People on virtual teams misguidedly assume that connecting more often — via more teleconferences, WebEx meetings, emails and the like — is the answer to the problems of distance. But the result is usually an acute case of information overload. The real key to managing the relationship with your boss is setting an appropriate cadence of communications so you’re aligned on outcomes. Is it a daily call, or a weekly call? Set the frequency that works best for you and your boss, and have your boss confirm that cadence, keeping these two rules in mind:

• Specify how quickly you both need to respond to emails and calls
• Determine what follow-up steps should be taken so you never let important issues slip through the cracks

There are other rules to consider as well. Michael Watkins, professor, author and cofounder of Genesis Advisers, conducted research that found that having regular meetings helped set a rhythm in virtual team work. Here’s what also worked:

• Sharing meeting agendas ahead of time
• Starting and finishing meetings on schedule
• Rotating meeting times so people in different time zones could share the load fairly

3. Set clear goals and expectations. Think through your personal goals for your work: What would “hitting it out of the park” mean in one month, six months or a year? Spend some time reflecting and write down your performance goals and targets. Then, send them to your boss and have her sign off on them.

Next, in the cadence of meetings that you established in step 2, be sure to have frequent discussions with your boss to make sure you’re both checking in on your progress on a regular basis. It’s important to establish clear lines of accountability from the start. This means holding yourself accountable to what you said you’re going to do by when, and getting your boss’s confirmation from the beginning. Let your boss know that you believe feedback along the way is a gift.

4. Get personal. Next, build interpersonal trust. What binds virtual teams of any size together are the personal details — the similarities that lead us to trust the people around us — even when they’re far away. You can do two things to get personal:

• Send an email to your boss that shares more about who you are. Human beings are social by nature — something that can’t be ignored in your virtual relationship. Use the email to tell her about what gives you energy inside and outside the workplace, your hobbies, etc. Ask your boss to reciprocate. Maybe you’ll find some interest that you could participate in together, such as a nonprofit you could volunteer for, or even a “World of Warcraft” game session to build teamwork and strategy skills in the off-hours.
• Have regular, personal-professional check-ins at the start of meetings. Take no more than 30 seconds to share what’s going on personally and professionally in your life, including the happy events (e.g., family and career milestones) and challenges you’re facing. Don’t dismiss any opportunities to do check-ins; make them important and don’t be afraid to show some vulnerability: “Hey, let’s do a quick check-in. What’s going on?” This simple storytelling and social bonding builds empathy, trust, and camaraderie.

Research conducted by Northeastern University professors found that many employees working from home felt isolated or disconnected, making it difficult for them to develop personal relationships and trust. The study recommended informal social interactions like the ones described above to increase trust and build stronger connections.

5. Be generous. Go overboard to be of service to your boss. Generosity accelerates emotional bonding because it enables you to selflessly focus on your boss’ success, which strengthens the relationship.

Start with acts of generosity that are about doing your job extraordinarily well, and then focus on those that go beyond your job. Concentrate on your boss’ personal and professional goals to deliver against his or her legacy. Finally, “get personal” and do small things that matter to your boss. Each act builds on the one prior. For example:

• Beat a deadline. (Doing your job extraordinarily well)
• Ask about skunkworks projects that you could get extra credit for working on. (Going beyond your job)
• Ask what legacy your boss wants to leave and find a way to help him or her achieve it in some way. (Delivering against legacy)
• Suggest a great, hidden restaurant near Notre Dame that would be perfect for your boss’ trip to Paris. (Doing the small things that matter to your boss)

6. Agree to be candid. Don’t be conflict-avoidant — it’s one of the most destructive attributes of many company cultures. And this is especially true for virtual workers, since you’re missing the regular face-to-face interactions that make it easier to develop strong relationships. Transparency and candor build trust, and should be negotiated in advance, as we said in step 3, when you told your boss that feedback is a gift. Always attack conflicts head-on. Ask for candid feedback from your boss, and give feedback to him or her when appropriate. Nip any problem in the bud.

7. Tap into technology. Technology is sometimes labeled as a “distraction” that prevents us from really connecting. But when you’re working virtually, technology brings you together with your boss.

When you’re connecting in a generous way, doing a personal-professional check-in or getting feedback, it’ll help to use Skype, WebEx, or some other kind of video so you can see the person’s emotions and facial expressions. This connection reinforces the relationship. Other technologies to consider using include:

• Communication platforms (such as Yammer, Slack, Hipchat, Google Talk)
• Online scheduling tools (like Doodle, Calendly)
• In-the-cloud document storage and file-sharing tools (like Dropbox, Box, Google Drive)
• Project management tools (like Basecamp, Trello, JIRA)
• Document co-creation tools (like Google Docs)
• Virtual wormholes: 24/7, two-way video connections between two locations where “virtual officemates” can literally see each other continuously

Physical distance is not the death knell to effectively collaborating and forming strong relationships. In fact, physical distance may be irrelevant altogether, because in many organizations where workers are co-located, relationships are often still strained. Why? What’s lacking is not physical closeness, but emotional closeness, clarity, and alignment. That’s why those who work virtually must take a proactive approach to close and overcome strategic and emotional distance. If you truly take these tips to heart, and put clear process and rigor around them, you can have a better, stronger relationship with your boss than the average face-to-face one, regardless of how far apart you work.

This blog first appeared on Harvard Business Review on 12/11/2014.

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