Creating a work atmosphere that fosters a high level of collaboration and productivity is hard. Cultivating the same environment when working from home is even harder and brings about a unique set of challenges. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. In fact, both workers and companies can benefit from having remote teams with a high degree of collaboration among team members. Studies show that remote employees have a higher likelihood of working over 40 hours a week and being more productive than their on-site peers. But how can you achieve that level of productivity with your remote team? Here are a few effective ways to collaborate while remote-working.
1. Embrace Digital Communication
Effective communication is the key to seamless collaboration. No matter the technique or tools you leverage to keep everybody connected, ensure all your remote workers have an easy and straightforward means of communicating with each other or as a group. You can take advantage of the powerful intranet software to keep your employees communicating and collaborating together through videos, direct messaging, audio calls, private messaging, online forums, and much more. Also, ensure they’ve got the right programs to unzip files free to help them fast-track turnaround times and meet deadlines.
2. Build Collaboration Spaces
How do you encourage collaboration among your collocated workers? Perhaps you just hold meetings and give out tasks to be performed in groups. But how do you deal with remote teams where physical meetings aren’t possible? The answer is building virtual collaboration spaces. Choose the best digital platforms that are built for team collaboration. That way, your employees will have a dedicated space for virtual meetings, asking questions, sharing valuable insights and updates, and for effective collaboration. Skype, Google Hangouts, Slack, and Zoom are great platforms for building a collaborative remote office environment.
3. Streamline Project Management by Integrating the Right Online Tools
Are you using any project management software? If not, then you need to integrate one to enjoy the many benefits it offers. With the right project management system, you can delegate tasks to team members based on their capabilities, which enhances accountability and productivity. It eliminates confusion and blame games, which are common when you’re dealing with virtual teams. Some of the best program management software programs include Trello, Wrike, Basecamp, and Asana. Many of these programs come with special features that allow everyone involved in a project to discuss the tasks on their to-do lists.
4. Make File Sharing and Opening a Cinch
Having the best file sharing and opening tools will help you maintain a continuous flow of information among your remote employees. Tools like Google Docs allow the creation and editing of documents in real-time. More than two people can review and edit the same document at the same time. What’s more, Google Docs also has a comment feature that enables project managers to incorporate their suggestions and ask for edits. Other than file-sharing tools, providing your virtual team with the best programs that enable them to unzip files free can help take their collaboration a notch higher. You can try WinZip, Ashampoo Zip, or Zipware.
5. Put Emphasis on Leadership Support
Although remote working offers many benefits to both workers and businesses, it’ll never be the same as working in a physical workspace. That said, you should show your remote staff that you understand their needs and appreciate their remote efforts. Without genuine support and encouragement from the leadership, remote teams can feel isolated and unmotivated to engage in collaborative efforts with full energy.
6. Perform Performance Reviews Each Quarter
Transparency is an important aspect of any successful remote team. While every team member may have the relevant skills to perform their work responsibilities, you still need to determine if your team is performing at the speed and quality you expect. This is where quarterly performance reviews come in. Through performance reviews, you can see the strengths and weaknesses of your virtual team. With this information, your staff will know the improvements they need to make to boost their performance.
Collaborating while remote-working takes a lot of effort and determination. Embracing digital communication, building virtual collaboration spaces, investing in the best project management tools, emphasizing leadership support, and performing quarterly performance reviews are a few of the strategies you need to implement to develop a strong collaborative culture for your remote team.