It has been several months now since our companies are working remotely across the globe with almost no planning because of the covid19 pandemic. Employees have become little comfortable working remotely after all the hiccups of creating remote working strategies. But working remotely becomes quite challenging when you need to juggle between office work and housework. The quarantine has directly affected the employee’s work experience. When it comes to working efficiently remotely and optimize team collaboration, it is firstly vital to understand the challenges faced under remote work strategies. Above all, teamwork with remote teams is critical.
Some Challenges Faced By A Remote Team
· Isolation
At times, employees feel lonely when they lack social interaction with their peers and also look for some opportunities to connect with their coworkers. Stress levels and bad decision-making are some of the common symptoms of isolation. Therefore, these charcuteries tend to be a matter of concern for companies.
· Some Distractions
When workers are working from home, there are a plethora of distractions around them which can make it challenging for them to complete their work. Even in everyday situations working remotely isn’t easy; consider the home and family needs. But working during the pandemic has made things challenging for people than ever before.
· Lack Of Communication
When a company fails to have collaborated with remote teams, they indeed see some significant impact on the company’s productivity. Additionally, remote teams don’t tend to work in the same way the typical teams do because their requirements, challenges, and expectations are different.
Tips For Building Collaboration With Remote Teams
· Establish Communication Rules
The team leaders or the managers need to come up with some communication guidelines when the entire team is planning to work remotely. They need to decide to perfect communication method, expected response time, and tools which need to be used for video or phone calls. If teams members need to work collaboratively, they need to communicate clearly and be as direct as possible, so no one is confused about what to do. The team leaders mainly need to encourage employees to think before they shoot any message or announcements. The team managers can perform in a better way if they know what is to be done and when.
· Limited Meetings
The best part about remote teams is that team members can come together and complete the meeting at a time and discuss all the work in one meeting. Ideally, a plethora of meetings tend to hamper the team’s productivity besides affecting the work quality. So, ideally, the charm of remote working is that employees get a chance to work independently as per their schedule, and they can make the most of their productivity.
Above all, companies need to have minimum meetings that are only for routine discussion and essential decision making. They should be scheduled in advance so employees can get a chance to schedule their work. Then, the employees can use messaging apps or mails to complete all other discussions.
Infographic provided by TeamBonding, a corporate team building company
