How to work together while working apart

The media is full of news about the epidemiological situation and recommendations for self-isolation.

But there are no simple recommendations regarding business. Company executives are faced with a new challenge - how to transfer employees to remote work with minimal productivity losses and arrange their work so that everything is “as before”.

What worked in the office often doesn't work remotely. What can be done to ensure that distributed teams maintain effective collaboration and interaction within and outside the team?

The availability of mobile communications, fast Internet, convenient applications and other modern technologies, in general, help to overcome many barriers and build productive work with partners or colleagues.

But you need to be prepared.

Everything will go according to plan. If he is

Remote work requires a special construction of internal processes and communications. And the preparatory phase can eliminate many questions and problems before they arise.

Both in the office and in remote working conditions, everything is built on four pillars:

• Planning
• Organization
• Control
• Motivation

First of all, you and your team need to set the right goals, rebuild accountability, and properly combine asynchronous and synchronous communications within the team. Asynchronous communication is letters, chats, updated reporting and any communication options that do not require an immediate response. Synchronous communication is real-time communication with fast feedback.

It is very important to remember here that when working remotely, planning requires regularity. It is necessary to maintain a balance of work with strategic and operational tasks, set the pace of work on priority tasks on a weekly or even daily basis. Proper planning and goal setting will make work clear and help avoid employee burnout. They will not feel isolated from the process.

Video conferencing: the number one tool

The isolation of remote employees is more informational than social. They don't miss sitting next to someone as much (although it varies), they mostly worry about the lack of quick access to information and communication with colleagues. They don't have the opportunity to ask a colleague a question and get an immediate answer, to celebrate a small victory, or to debrief, brainstorm, or just chat about their weekend plans.

In part, this deficit is compensated by video conferencing services.

Video conferencing allows one or more people to have a real-time conversation, either over the phone or through online video conferencing platforms. Calls are a synchronous communication channel, but can also be used when only one person is talking to a group - for example, to conduct webinars. Examples of such services: OVKS from MegaFon, Zoom, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting.

Advantages:

1. Video calls transmit intonations, emotions, facial and other verbal signals of the interlocutor, thereby helping to clarify and understand his mood.
2. The extra information makes messages clearer, adds emotional content, and helps build bond and trust.

Disadvantages:

1. Time coordination. Calls can only take place in real time, which makes it difficult for a team that is spread across different time zones to communicate.
2. The course of communication is not documented in any way. Challenges do not leave a written result.
3. Interpretation. The quality of communication is not optimal for everyone (especially for those who self-isolated in the country). Words are not always understood correctly.

When to use video conferencing?

• Regular meetings, both one-on-one and group meetings
• Team meetups
• Planning and brainstorming (best with video)
• Resolving misunderstandings or dealing with escalating or emotional situations from other channels (such as mail, chat)

If you think that your remote teamwork is not productive enough, do not waste time - try to change the situation.

1. Enter daily checkups with the team.
2. Clearly follow the timing and goals of the meeting, write them down in the invitation and remind them at the very beginning.
3. Do your homework. Prepare for the meeting and write down on paper what ideas brought you to this meeting, what expectations do you have from the participants, and what do they expect from you?
4. Ask participants to share roles (take notes, present information, act as moderator of the meeting).
5. Do not hold meetings for a large team (more than 8 people).
6. Don't forget to sync your appointments with the participants' time zone.

When all together: how to organize general meetings of the company

Meetings of all employees of the company have become a popular way to exchange information.

Here are some tips on how best to organize them:

1. Time. For companies in Russia, it is best to hold such meetings at 11-12 noon. Try to choose a time that is convenient for as many employees as possible. Be sure to record the meeting. In many platforms, including those from MegaFon, this can be done in one click, and then uploaded in mp4 format.
2. Live Stream. Perhaps this is not necessary for small companies, but for large ones with a distributed network of branches, it makes sense to conduct live broadcasts.
3. Questions and answers. You can ask people to ask their questions in advance, then you can prepare information that is relevant to the audience.
4. Don't forget humor. This is not a ruler at school, but an opportunity to provide a personal connection and help build trust between distributed teams.

Brainstorming: Eliminate the Confusion

When it comes to brainstorming, it's important for distributed teams to use a common digital tool. It allows you to collect, group and classify ideas while brainstorming.

Here are some important tips to help you "storm" effectively:

1. A remote team might choose a collaborative project management tool that supports kanban-board functionality that many teams are already familiar with, such as Trello.
2. An alternative would be the platform-provided Webinars tool - a drawing board that everyone can see and can be edited by any of the participants.
3. Use the voting option to evaluate which of the ideas is the most interesting to implement. All statistics can later be downloaded in csv or xlsx format.

   
   
   

4. Experience shows that it is better to warn employees about the assault in advance so that they have time to think about ideas. When the group comes together, the participants will no longer come empty-handed.

Synchronous communications, such as video calls, when used properly, can be a great tool for teamwork, performance tracking, and emotional support for all team members. And when combined with asynchronous tools, they help distributed participants in the process be as productive (and sometimes more) as their counterparts in the office.

Source: habr.com