Being in a remote team and working in it doesn’t mean that communication is flowing correctly. Today we will address the topic of how to make collaboration in a remote theme effective.
Communication is a cornerstone of all businesses and it’s not unusual to get no response when discussing virtually. We are all part of a revolution in communication which has radically changed the way we work. The way we speak is changing, and it’s influencing how we behave, most likely because we are all in all overwhelmed by information and this can lead to frequent misunderstandings and confusion.
People working on remote teams face these challenges consistently and a new range of behaviours and skills is required to deal with it.
Remote communication can distort the normal rhythm of our conversations. The delay between our messages can often put off or hide emotional reactions to our comments. How many times have you written an email and immediately after sending it felt worried about how it was going to be perceived? Could your boss see your email late at night and consider it an intrusion on his private time? While we may have gotten used to these types of asynchronous interactions, they can still conflict with our normal rules for social interaction. Lacking an immediate response, we can get distracted, second guessing, or even become frustrated with our teams.
Which at the end brings to being ineffective.
In order to address the problem we need to consider that there are three types of distance in remote collaboration: physical (location and time), operational (team size, bandwidth, and skill levels), and affinity (values, trust, and interdependence).
The best way for managers to drive team performance is to focus on narrowing the affinity gap. Try moving most of your remote communications to regular video calls, which are a much better vehicle for establishing rapport and building empathy than emails or voice calls.
How to do it?
Short is not necessarily clear. Don’t confuse short communications and clear communications: In our efforts to be efficient, we sometimes use fewer words to communicate. But such brevity can mean that the rest of the team waste time trying to interpret your messages. Don’t assume that others understand your cues. Spend the time communicating with the intention of being ultra-transparent, no matter the medium.
Too much information is no information. Don’t bombard your team with messages: Do you tend to ask people if they got your previous message? Abusing access points can be a form of digital domination, a form of relentless and inconvenient harassment. The medium you choosen creates different demands on the receiver’s time.
Set tight rules. Remote teams need to create new norms that establish clarity in communication. And norms can also exist on an individual level, such as preferred response time, writing style, and people’s tone.