It’s pretty remarkable that these days, we can meet people on different continents without leaving the comfort of our own home.
The problem is that the experience can sometimes be frustrating because of poor communication, which can affect employee engagement, morale, output, and innovation.
Rules for remote communication
When changes in how we communicate lead to changes in how others receive and regard our communications, a new set of rules becomes necessary. Authors Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Erica Dhawan did just that – by proposing new guidelines for communicating with remote teams.
- Because clarity and consistency are crucial in workplace communications, consistently following a set of agreed upon norms can help avoid confusion.
This, for instance, can range from following a set of acronyms about your employees’ processes, to standardising the use of a video calling platform within your team. - Know that you can never be too clear when communicating. Unless you’ve already established some form of shorthand to help your employees concisely express or refer to something, don’t presume they understand your language shortcuts.
Make the extra effort to explain and be clear, regardless of what medium you’re using. - Don’t inundate your employees with messages. Every time you text, send an email, or call, imagine that you’re physically walking into their workspace. If you follow up an email by text and call, it’d be like opening their office door three times in a row.
Minimise your digital volume and think wisely before hitting send. - Notice that employees who are more introverted in person can really benefit from written communications. Physical barriers can actually level the playing field for those who may be less inclined to speak in group settings.
- Find ways to celebrate and socialise remotely to strengthen relationships among your employees, and your individual relationships with them. Investing in this will improve remote team collaboration.
For example, switching from conference calls to video can develop rapport and empathy within your team.
The challenges of managing a remote team won’t ever truly go away, but creating consistent rules and rituals will go a long way in making remote team collaboration flow more smoothly.
Enhance your team
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