There are many advantages to working from home, including not having to go out in public for long periods of time, staying in your pajamas all day, and having fewer interruptions. But anyone who has done remote work knows that there are drawbacks, especially when working as part of a team.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, we have all had to get used to the new normal of working from home. This situation has left many people completely baffled. Workers all over the world are thriving after successfully assimilating into this culture. Concurrently, there are leaders who are making concerted efforts to foster collaboration among their remote staff.
The Future of the WFH World
Working from afar is nothing new. Businesses all over the world now rely on remote workers to help them communicate more effectively across borders. Furthermore, remote work has been foreseen as a growing trend for quite some time. No one, however, anticipated that the pandemic would result in the majority of the world’s workforce being forced to work remotely overnight.
The unexpected change has presented many new difficulties. The inability to work together effectively and increase output is a major barrier. The world is becoming more adept at using remote cooperation to maximize productivity.
What Is Virtual Collaboration, and How Can It Help?
The term “virtual collaboration” refers to working together on a project virtually by utilizing various digital tools. Virtual teams collaborate by utilizing digital technology to share ideas, work files, and communicate in real time. This eliminates the need for members of the team to connect physically with one another. In this section, we will point out the seven most effective ways you can achieve this at your workplace.
1. Always Foster Transparency
It may be difficult for managers or team members to maintain open communication when employees are working remotely. One of the main causes of low morale, a lack of trust, and a lack of enthusiasm among workers is a lack of transparency. Without internal and external information sharing, companies will never reach their full potential. Establish an environment where people feel safe confiding in one another.
But how do you keep things open and honest when working remotely? It’s tough but not impossible. Avoid passing important information along via team leaders and, instead, hold brief video or audio chats to share it with everyone. This can be greatly boosted by virtual phone systems.
Virtual phone systems are pretty easy to set up and use. It’s a fast, flexible and obviously intelligent solution. Another advantage of virtual telephony
is the ability to easily collaborate across remote teams. You can’t let projects be held up due to communication breakdowns. And with virtual phone systems, regardless of where your employees are, they can seamlessly communicate.
2. Make the Most of Time Zones
Having your entire team in the same time zone has many advantages. One of the many benefits is the simplification of arranging gatherings for multiple people. On the other hand, there are many benefits to having a team that spans multiple time zones.
Do some of your programmers stay up late to code while others sleep? That’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance for your group to work nonstop. When one team member’s shift ends, they can hand off their responsibilities to a new starter. As an added bonus, delays can be reduced, and turnaround times sped up if your developers are located in a different time zone than your reviewers.
Discover the optimal time for communication and cooperation if there is at least some overlap between time zones. Then, when fewer people are online, you can maximize productivity.
3. Multi-Layered Support
When it comes to working efficiently in distributed teams, this may be one of the most crucial factors. An organization’s leaders are ultimately responsible for fostering an environment where employees feel supported. When you’re not physically present with your team, it’s easy to let your mind wander. There might be lots of things at play here.
For instance, a group’s morale may plummet if its members feel ignored by their colleagues. A team’s motivation could suffer if its members don’t feel valued. Reaching out and keeping lines of communication open is crucial for this reason. Even if you do your best to introduce people to the benefits of remote work, not everyone will adapt well to the new environment. The adjustment period may be longer for some people.
The key to building a strong, effective, and cohesive team is mutual support.
4. Bond Over Activities
Don’t forget to schedule in time for parties and team building. Today, the world is filled with limitless opportunities. How we choose to respond to this information is entirely up to us. The stress we feel from our workload, and other responsibilities is real. Having some lighthearted fun together is crucial for bonding and getting to know one another.
Team building exercises not only encourage workers to work together but also instruct them on how to work together effectively. One of the best ways to encourage cooperation among members of a distributed team is to have them participate in a team-building exercise.
Teamwork and a positive work environment are fostered through participation in team-building activities, which are often attended by successful teams. Furthermore, there is a risk of having too much fun with online pursuits because they provide so many creative options. Touring each other’s homes and gardens is one option; playing an online trivia game, making bucket lists, creating a shared story, etc., are others.
5. Clarify Goals and Objectives
A key responsibility of team leaders and managers is to ensure that their teams understand their instructions. The team’s leaders are responsible for establishing the mission and objectives. In order to maximize team output, it is essential that remote workers understand their roles and responsibilities and learn to cooperate with one another.
If team members don’t know what they’re working toward, then the collaboration tools are useless. As a result, it is essential to hold regular virtual team meetings and keep each other apprised of the progress and tasks to ensure the processes run smoothly. Having regular team meetings is a great way to make sure everyone is up-to-date and on the same page.
6. Practice Proper Communication
Improving collaboration among a distributed team is all about establishing strong lines of communication. The team’s internal communication style will determine the company’s ultimate success or failure. Remote teams must find creative ways to collaborate and communicate, as face-to-face interactions are often impractical or even impossible.
Make sure everyone on your team is comfortable using chat and video conferencing software when working remotely. Plus, everyone must share the same methods of contact. Most of a remote team’s time is taken up by social activities such as chatting, emailing, and holding meetings.
7. Create Dedicated Channels for Conversations
Live chat is a useful tool for distributed teams, but it can also lead to information silos if everyone uses it exclusively. Furthermore, people can tune out if they are constantly bombarded with irrelevant information.
To better manage your online communications and avoid information overload, use channels for different discussion topics. To ensure that our engineers have easy access to pertinent information in one centralized location without overwhelming those who don’t need to read it, we have instituted a channel specifically for engineering teams to discuss tasks and technical issues and share engineering resources.
Separate groups, topics, sprints, etc., into their own channels. Create a “water cooler” channel for informal chats and team-building exercises.
Bonus Tip: Always Ask for Feedback
In order to improve your ability to collaborate with remote teams, it is important to solicit feedback from both the team leaders and the members of the teams. Inquire about their pain points, as well as the things that they find challenging and the things that come easily to them. Inquire about their use of collaboration technologies and whether they feel connected to their teams and can work together effectively.
You always have the option to use an anonymous survey to collect input from remote teams, even if you have reason to believe that those teams won’t be able to answer questions truthfully. You will be able to set up productive remote teams in no time at all if you use all that feedback and combine it with your expertise in project and team management.
Conclusion
Collaboration within a team is essential for the success of any team. When members of your team are geographically dispersed, however, it can be difficult to establish and sustain an atmosphere conducive to collaboration. You can encourage collaboration among the members of your remote team to assist them in improving their level of efficiency and productivity, which will ultimately lead to the completion of more successful projects if you put into practice the six strategies that have been discussed above.
