Many of us had recently to embrace the concept of work-at-home unexpectedly and forcibly due to the current pandemic crisis. While adapting to the “new normal” may have been simple for some, when it comes to remote teamwork, change can be more complicated.
When we talk about teamwork, whether at home or in the office, there are plenty of key factors that contribute to success, however, the most important thing, for a team in a totally remote environment, is communication. Even with today’s advanced communication technologies, such as instant messaging services, videoconferencing platforms and online learning systems – such as TP Cloud Campus VARK – good communication between employees and managers is vital for the success of the projects.
Why is communication so important? In the transition to remote teamwork, many of the interpretations of face-to-face conversations can be lost by email or chat, due to the absence of body language in the same physical space; and employees may feel alone and with difficulties in organizing work, which can result in a lack of motivation.
Also, how do you build an office culture when the office doesn’t exist?
We have collected some key points about communication that can help to improve the remote teamwork and, of course, to keep the team spirit high!
Right methods at the right time
If you are particularly busy, it can be tempting to write a ton of information about what you want to say in an email. However, if a five-minute call seems more appropriate, this is probably the communication channel you should use when working as a team.
Effective collaboration
Some several platforms and services aim to make remote teamwork more effective and easier. It is always important that each employee participates and actively shares what they are working on. It is necessary that even outside the office, everyone has an overview of the goals and objectives of the team within the company. Tools like Trello and Asana are very useful to help connect remote employees effortlessly.
Motivation
The role of managers in motivating a remote team is extremely important. The best way to boost team performance is to focus on reducing the distance to increase social interaction. One way to do this is to switch most remote communications to regular video calls, divided by smaller teams. This can be a much better vehicle for establishing relationships and empathizing than emails and/or voice calls.
The creation of virtual habits that allow employees to interact regularly can help reduce the feeling of loneliness and increase their motivation.
Online office culture
In remote teamwork, what is it possible to miss most? People!
Company’s culture is an important contribution to good work environments and much of that culture is based on the feeling of belonging to the group and work-life balance between professional life and friends at work.
Social interactions, whether it is a quick chat over coffee in the morning break or a happy hour after work, are crucial for employees to feel integrated.
But how do you create an office culture at a distance? Digital events can help!
Creating fun online activities like team buildings, quizzes, polls or even just friendly discussions about trendy series and movies at the end of a video call meeting can be a way to bring office culture to the entire team. Conversations at work don’t have to be exclusively about work, even in a remote team!
Teleperformance’s TP Club, for example, has been dedicated, during the pandemic, to the creation of numerous online activities, using both internal and external communication platforms, for all company employees, and has maintained initiatives to value the present cultural diversity, as Nations Day.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
There is a direct correlation between teamwork and communication between its members necessary that everyone is aware of everything that is going on: Placing documents, files, resources and assets in a commonplace with a good organizational structure can help in this regard.
Keep your communication as comprehensive as possible, always knowing the issues at hand, sharing the most important messages on public channels to which everyone has access, whether through email, or other platforms.
Last but not least: pay attention to your tone when writing messages, provide more context if necessary, use proofreading to avoid misunderstandings and use many emojis to convey emotions
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