Due to the Coronavirus, many companies had to ditch office culture, and shift to remote work. One of the biggest challenges of remote work is effective communication between teammates. Communication is an essential part of every team's functioning. So, if you want your team to continue working smoothly and efficiently, you need to find ways to improve communication in an online setting.
Since you’re no longer able to communicate face to face, discovering alternative ways of getting in touch is crucial. Here are 7 new and original ways that can help you keep up with your colleagues.
1. Generate ideas for effective communication
Do you have trouble communicating with the team while working remotely? While you were in the office, you could simply walk to your co-worker. But now, since you’ve shifted to remote work, communication is becoming one of the main issues. Maybe it’s time to generate some ideas that will help you overcome that obstacle.
Create a mind map of all the ideas on how to improve communication and get your teammates to participate. By generating more ideas you’ll have a visually appealing broad network of ideas you can try together and see what works the best for you and your situation!
Image by Pixaline from Pixabay
2. Be clear with deadlines
Whether you work in the same room or kilometers apart, assigning tasks has to be followed by clear and proper instructions that depend on your communication skills. If you can’t clearly explain to your team members what they need to do, there’s no wonder you have troubles with communicating while working remotely. How can you overcome that?
For better team communication learn how to assign tasks and set reachable yet rewarding goals for your employees. Setting clear deadlines and understandable instructions can help your team achieve the wanted task or project faster and improve intrateam communication.
3. Regular check-ins are a must!
As you probably know, remote work can be isolating and lonely, especially during the world pandemic crisis. Even though you have a lot of assignments and tasks to do, you always need to find time to check in with your employee and see if they are doing okay. How can that help?
Besides getting the information about their wellbeing, you can also find out how long they have come with their work and whether they have any struggles you can help them with. Such communication can create a stronger bond amongst team members. As checking in can be a part of your daily or weekly routine, use that ideal opportunity to get a report and track employees’ progress.
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
4. Pictures over words
In this fast-paced world, nobody has the time to read boring emails. They are a thing of the past! With the advancement of technology and the implementation of the newest discoveries, it's only logical to improve our communication. That's why pictures may be the best way to express ourselves!
With various emojis, gifs, and memes, communication has been made easier. However, they aren’t really formal or professional. That doesn’t mean that you should give up using graphic content as a way of communication. Use graphs, charts, and diagrams to convey your message and get your point through. They are easy to read, simple to follow, and don’t demand comprehensive cognitive activity to understand, which makes them perfect for business presentations.
5. Create an online office culture
Since the start of coronavirus, many companies have shifted to full-time remote work. Two of the most common feelings people experience are isolation and loneliness. That's probably because you miss the buzzing atmosphere of an office and its culture altogether! How can you bring it back while working remotely?
Besides installing different tools for non-disruptive workflow, you can create office culture online by acting as if nothing changed! Chat with your co-workers about anything you would do in the office. Share lunch and pet pictures, talk about your day or discuss the latest topics in the world. You can even organize after-office video calls a happy hour and relax with your teammates.
Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay
6. Implement new tools
Engagement software and communication tools can do a fantastic job when it comes to improving your teams’ communication. Since emails and text messages are a thing of the past, we need to find new and simple ways of getting in touch with other people and sharing important notices and information. How can you do that without risking your confidential files?
Believe it or not, practical intranet systems can recreate the office atmosphere and engage your employees better than anything. Intranet systems like Blink can make communication easier and your colleagues more accessible. Besides solely chatting, you can exchange files and different information all co-workers can access.
7. Set communication guidelines
Last but not least, you should consider setting communication guidelines for your team. This doesn’t have to be anything serious. Just ensure that everyone understands what type of communication is appropriate and when. As you’re working remotely, people may get a bit loose with a concept of time and formality. So, be precise.
Whether you’re using the intranet solely for informal chats or official matters, set rules about the language, topic, and other important aspects of communication that should be followed. Set clear expectations of how you want your team to communicate daily, after office hours and emergencies. That can help you sort out any misunderstandings and possible conflicts.
Image by Mary Pahlke from Pixabay
Conclusion
Modern problems require modern solutions. Even though remote work isn’t relatively a new concept, many companies tried it out for the first time during the last year and a half. That's how they noticed that in-team communication is one of the biggest struggles they face.
Luckily, with these tips, you can solve your modern problems and improve communication with your co-workers in no time!
Featured image from Pixabay.