The pandemic has plunged many companies into the world of virtual work. But, with office rental prices drastically increasing in cities and constantly busy public transportation, this hasnât necessarily been a bad thing.Â
Many companies have realized virtual teams can save them money and allow access to a much larger pool of potential employees. But the only way you can create a successful virtual working environment is by ensuring teams can communicate effectively.Â
Without communication; organization, productivity, and even morale can suffer. In this article, weâll explore the techniques you can implement to ensure your virtual team communication is up to standard.
Whether your company has been forced into virtual communication or has willingly adopted this approach, you must create a communications strategy as early as possible.Â
Due to various digital complications, such as device failure and connectivity issues, a mistake that occurs virtually can be more difficult to resolve than in-person. So, the quality of virtual project management needs to be improved.
One of the best ways you can do this is by setting tasks. A mistake virtual team leaders make is outlining the goals without clarifying the specific processes and methods required of members. This is an issue because it can result in team members feeling lost, coasting, and general task failure.
Itâs important to ensure each team member is aware of their exact role and everyone elseâs and that theyâre assigned tasks that are meaningful, doable, and can be realistically delivered by the deadline.
The most successful virtual teams create defined targets that start from the top down. For example:
This should be coupled with a set date for completion. On top of that, evaluations and reviews shouldnât be left till the last minute. Regular meetings should be scheduled to ensure each member, team, and department is keeping up with the workload.
Another typical virtual team error is assuming everyone communicates or works in the same way.
Consider this scenario. Youâre the leader of a team working on software that can send a fax from a PC. Youâve decided to work late and notice one of your team members is online, so you send them a message. In reality, your co-worker was using video conferencing software to communicate with friends. But now theyâre compelled to reply to their senior leader.
These actions are what often make working virtually and from home uncomfortable. It can be challenging to distinguish between work time and rest. This problem can be exaggerated when various team members are working from different geographic locations and time zones.
The solution to this is asynchronous communication, which is a fancy way of saying communication that doesnât occur at the same time. This means communicating without expecting an immediate answer. Weâre not saying itâs okay for team members to disappear on project deadline day, but there needs to be a clear separation between an urgent message and a general request.
The best way for you to define this is by agreeing on specific criteria to âurgencyâ and a code or symbol you can add to the message to alert the recipient. For example, using â!!â or marking â*URGENT*.â
Team building is a crucial part of successful project management. This also applies to virtual teams. Whether itâs a new or old team, partake in ice-breaking exercises during the early stages of a project. This allows members to form personal bonds and promotes teamwork, leadership, and, most importantly, communication.
The greatest difficulty with virtual team building is ensuring positive emotions and outcomes from the team-building exercise last beyond that specific day, as often employees go back to their old ways after itâs completed. So, during the virtual exercise, create actionable ideas that coincide and help with the project objectives.
Itâs vital to stress continued learning and improvement by arranging a follow-up workshop or exercise later on in the project timeline. These shared experiences allow team members to feel involved, included, and free to communicate opinions.
Effective virtual team building ensures team members perform well, are interdependent, trust each other, are enthusiastic, and understand the project objectives. The result is a team that has high productivity and works together to complete the task at hand.
Research and statistics show that:
Weâre all aware of the âwater coolerâ concept. Itâs an area where employees can talk freely about work or non-work-related subjects. This type of internal communication can be missed during remote work. So, it can be a good idea to offer a specific space on your messaging board or team collaboration platform for this to take place.Â
Here are some common virtual team building activities that encourage teamwork, critical thinking, and communication:
Communicating effectively with your remote teams is impossible without virtual collaboration tools. The big question is, which ones should you use? Before we discuss this, itâs essential to note that different employees have different technical knowledge and capabilities.
The first step should be ensuring all employees are at the desired level of education necessary to operate these tools and software. This is particularly important if your company has had to adapt to the pandemic and suddenly work remotely. There are various courses and educational sites that you could make available to your team members to encourage furthering their knowledge and skills.Â
Also, you need to be mindful of hardware. Not every employee has an Apple device. So, providing Apple-centric tools may be an issue. For example, instead of deciding to use FaceTime as a means of communication, the best thing to do is sit down with team leaders and brainstorm 6 alternatives to FaceTime for small businesses.
Video conferencing tools
Video calling is key to a successful virtual team communication strategy. Statistics show almost 90% of virtual team members agree video calling improves decision making, and over 50% of companies say it increases employee engagement.
Whether your remote work is temporary or permanent, video calling ensures communication feels more natural and makes the transition between the office and home more straightforward.Â
Many companies collaborate with influencers so they can associate their company with a face. This is precisely what video calling does. It makes other team members feel real and allows employees to build professional relationships more easily.
Instant messaging software
Having the ability to quickly and directly message someone is vital in virtual team communication. Not everyone has the time for a âquick chat or video call,â and some requests are too small to warrant an email.Â
Instant messaging provides you with that intermediate platform where employees can efficiently share thoughts and ideas without overloading each otherâs inboxes.Â
You might do a Google search for âthe 10 best free messaging apps for small businessesâ and find a million different results. The key to an excellent instant messaging system is choosing a tool thatâs compatible with all devices and can be integrated with whatever project management tool your company uses.
Other softwareÂ
We briefly mentioned it above, but reliable and efficient project management software is crucial for company organization. These tools allow you to integrate video conferencing and instant messaging. This means they appear on your softwareâs calendar, and the tools send you alerts. You can also track team results, submit work, and schedule meetings.
You can even use CTI software. You might be thinking, âwhat is a CTI?â This is software that allows workers to integrate their home computer system with the companyâs phone system. This means employees have access to all company communications from their private devices. This is useful for companies that rely on phone-based communications.Â
A challenge many people face when communicating virtually is providing both praise and criticism. The problem with email and messaging is they can seem blunt, and the message's nuance may not be fully received. Miscommunication in this manner may cause confusion or a lack of motivation.
You must develop a way to provide honest feedback to employees. The best medium for this is face-to-face, and in the virtual world, that means during a video call. Here are some tips you can use:
Along with finding a way to deliver useful feedback to your teams and employees, itâs necessary to implement a system so they can assess your virtual communication strategy. Encouraging a feedback culture will help to optimize your company and increase overall productivity.
This feedback culture needs to stress the idea of âspeak out before itâs too late.â This doesnât mean thereâs an expiration date on criticism; it means long-term dissatisfaction can result in unengaged employees and project failure.
The best way to encourage this is by setting up regular and consistent meetings where feedback can be given. Itâs advisable to implement an anonymous feedback method. This is because more junior members may feel shy or worried about speaking out in meetings.
Another technique you can use is a regular data collection method. This involves creating a questionnaire thatâs presented to employees, and the results remain anonymous. Data collected can be analyzed, and data-driven decisions made to hone your virtual communication strategy.
Research shows almost two-thirds of employers have reported an improvement in productivity since adopting remote working conditions, and remote workers score higher on the Workforce Happiness Index than in-office workers. But the only way to ensure your company follows suit is by creating a clear work communication protocol.
A great way to implement this is by creating a manual thatâs distributed, reviewed, and signed by all employees. Weâve briefly mentioned above the idea of boundaries and easy-to-use review systems.Â
Here are a few more tips you can add to your companyâs virtual etiquette manual that will drastically improve communication.
Working virtually isnât some dystopian future fantasy anymore. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the process of companies switching to remote work, and the reality is that a lot of employees are enjoying the freedom.Â
One of the biggest challenges to remote work is the communication aspect, but if you follow the points above, thereâs no reason why your company canât overcome this obstacle.Â
Letâs quickly summarize our main points: