2020, the year is making us imagine things we would not have otherwise. The coronavirus outbreak has bought the life of many to still. With the guidelines in place keeping in mind of Social Distancing norms. Companies almost all over the world are shifting from on-premise work to work from home policies. In order to keep businesses afloat, it is important that the workforce contribute as much as they can.
According to a study conducted in The United State, only 1 in 3 employees have experienced working remotely prior to the pandemic. Therefore, there is an utmost requirement of adjusting to the new situation and ensuring smooth communication between everyone. You need to learn how to collaborate effectively, work efficiently, and keep your team engaged.
Tips to maintain effective communication while working from a remote location?
There is a lot of added pressure of being cohesive with your team and being productive when working from home. Communication acts as a cement that bonds together team members, leaders, and supervisors into a seamless architecture. It helps you stay on the same page with others in the organization. Although there is a lot of furor around and the situation is overwhelming, the following are a few tips that can help you communicate better and keep the business running as usual.
Be Proactive
We more often than not take the small things that are around us (in normal circumstances) for granted. The biggest example being communication, we don’t realize how valuable it is to have your team members and colleagues physically present in front of you. Just remember, whenever working from home it is imperative to be proactive in having all the channels of communication wide open. You help people in your team to feel a warmth, brings them closer and ensure no one is left isolated.
If you are a leader you must communicate as much as you can, with utmost transparency to encourage accountability and engagement. Also, a seemingly small gesture takes you a long way. That could be checking on your team first thing in the morning, which can create a tremendous difference on the ground.
Schedule your daily huddle
Since everyone is working from far off and there are higher chances of people being on different pages, therefore, daily huddles are important. Scheduling daily huddles, maybe the first thing in the morning, allows you and your team to synchronize the work and set priority. It enables you and other team members to focus on things with synergy and get it done. Make sure that huddle meetings happen consistently, especially in uncertain times, it is imperative to have a process in place which helps keep people focussed and on the same page.
You may use this time in creative ways. It can also be leveraged as the time you can build connections with people in and outside your team. Small things like ensuring everyone is in good shape and have a sound personal life. When a team feels connected they are likelier to collaborate better.
Focus on Video calls
There is nothing better than being able to meet your team in person as far as productivity is concerned. Know that, video calls are the best alternative, providing a platform to see face-to-face virtually. If you are used to seeing people on a daily basis, there are chances you will feel isolated. Even experts suggest staying in contact with colleagues throughout the day by using video chat. It is essential that you explicitly mention video chat in your meeting invites so that team members are not taken by surprise or are unprepared.
Watch out for your tone
We know that facial expressions and body language speak a lot in the physical world. According to a lot of surveys conducted, an average employee is sending more emails and doing more video calls than ever. It is important to realize that your typed email carries a lot of weightage. Make sure you make people feel respected and heard and have warmth in your tone while you communicate. Have a balance of formal and candid messages while you type.
It is a good habit to check your tone and grammar using other available tools like grammarly.com. Grammarly has recently released a tone checker that review digital messages and suggest edits to sound more encouraging and positive.
