The working world is significantly different from what it was a few years ago. Remote work arrangements, particularly, are growing in popularity among workers and becoming more permanent in companies worldwide.
But the hard part about remote work is ensuring your team is as communicative and collaborative as possible to fuel a productive operation.
Ultimately, increasing, maintaining, and celebrating remote collaboration is a must. Before we offer some tips on encouraging and supporting collaboration in a remote workforce, let’s assess the importance of collaboration in general.
How Valuable is Collaboration?
As mentioned above, remote work is tough. Mainly because getting your team to communicate, collaborate, and work productively requires intention and effort on everyone’s part.
Remote work also comes with some isolation and loneliness that can diminish the spirit of innovation, creativity, and togetherness in your team. That’s where authentic collaboration can play an integral part.
Collaboration is valuable, specifically in a remote workforce, because it creates a well-oiled crew, no matter each team member’s location. When your remote team collaborates, it brings them closer, which boosts morale and the quality of each team member’s work.
In addition, collaboration enables the formation of a global workforce. You can take your company to another level with the perspectives, skill sets, and experiences of a diverse group of employees.
With genuine collaboration, a remote workforce, or any workforce for that matter, can excel.
Four Tips for Encouraging and Maintaining Collaboration in a Remote Workforce
As remote work becomes more common, you need to create an environment and company culture that supports it, starting by improving collaboration. Here are six tips to increase and maintain remote collaboration.
Lean on technology
Without the right tech tools, facilitating collaboration and communication in a remote team is impossible. Because remote employees work in different places, at different times, and in different ways, technology is that much more important to keep everyone on the same page.
Implement video conferencing and real-time chat tools to keep communication consistent. Use project management software, so everyone knows their roles and responsibilities in each project. A customer relationship management software solution and content management system are also helpful.
Even enabling things like e-signatures is vital for maintaining remote collaboration because they’re a huge part of keeping projects progressing.
Another tip for encouraging and maintaining collaboration in a remote team is to foster open communication.
Open communication is critical
Open communication is critical if you want to increase and maintain remote collaboration. Supporting employees that work outside the office requires intention, particularly in how, why, and when you communicate with each one.
Set and document communication expectations within your team to ensure everyone knows who to contact for various kinds of support during their remote work journey. It’ll also help everyone understand how to best communicate with each team member to initiate effective collaboration.
Your communication expectations should include:
- Each employee’s title, role, and contact information
- A little on each employee’s preferred communication methods
- The communication channels and platforms your team uses
- What each communication channel and platform is used for
Feedback is essential for collaboration too.
Encourage an ongoing conversation about bettering collaboration
Every remote workforce will require different things to make collaboration a top priority. Asking for and listening to feedback directly from your employees can help you figure out what those things are.
Ask your employees what a collaborative remote team looks like and their suggestions for bringing that vision to life in your company. Meet with your remote employees regularly. Do group and individual meetings to open up a two-way conversation about how to better collaborate and communicate within the team.
Also, grow personal relationships with your employees so that it’s easier for them to be honest with you about what they are and aren’t getting in terms of collaboration and support. That way, you can give them what they really need to work together better with their coworkers.
Our last tip for bettering collaboration in your remote workforce is to do everything you can to enhance team camaraderie and connection.
Enable team camaraderie and connection
Fostering a high level of collaboration in your remote team is even more challenging when your employees don’t like, let alone know, each other.
But if you commit to enabling team camaraderie and connection, your remote employees can get to know each other and form genuine personal relationships that prompt a streamlined workflow.
Encourage your team to connect beyond work and nurture authentic relationships. Set up social hours, remote lunch rooms, and separate chat channels for less formal conversations at work. Monthly team dinners, bonding activities, and other events inspiring team camaraderie are also brilliant ideas.
When you encourage your team to get to know each other outside of work, they tend to collaborate more effectively while at work.
Conclusion
Collaboration is incredibly valuable in a remote workforce. Without it, your team won’t ever reach the level of productivity and engagement you want it to. No collaboration also leads to less happy workers, which can negatively impact your ability to retain them.
So, implement the tips above to encourage and increase collaboration in your remote team. It will ensure each team member feels their best and does their best for your company.
