REMOTE WORK SUCCESS

Remote work is growing in popularity, but succeeding as a remote worker isn’t as easy as it looks.
To succeed as a remote worker, keep the following  tips in mind;

• • Practice working remotely: Here’s a quick and easy way to become a better remote worker; if you don’t have remote work experience yourself, create it by working remotely voluntarily for a few weeks. With permission from your higher-ups, relocate temporarily to your home office, a local coworking space, or even your neighborhood coffee shop. Doing so will make the challenges associated with remote work immediately apparent, improving both your empathy for the remote experience and your ability to create conditions that allow distributed team members to thrive.

• Set expectations and routines around communication: One of the challenges employees associates with remote work is a feeling of disconnection from the team — especially if it’s only partially distributed, and some members of the group are able to work together in an office setting.Set times for weekly stand-ups, one-on-one meetings, and even team brainstorming sessions. When remote workers know how and when they’ll be able to connect with others, get information, and receive support, they’re likely to feel less isolated from the rest of their team.

• • Be meticulous about note-taking and documentation: Despite their best intentions, remote workers can sometimes fall victim to an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality. This can be particularly challenging when impromptu brainstorming sessions fail to bring in all relevant remote team members- potentially leaving them-out-of-the-loop on major updates or decisions.

• Invest in the right tools to deliver these expectations and routines: Your remote team isn’t the place to skimp on your tech stack. Plenty of solutions exist today that make it possible for you to deliver on the communication and documentation standards you set for your team and yourself.

• •   Look for and eliminate barriers preventing collaboration: Just because you’ve built your remote team tech stack doesn’t mean you can sit back and assume your job is done. As a remote Check-in with your team members regularly to make sure they’re happy with the solutions you’re using.  

• Use the conference call as a relationship-building tool: As mentioned above, the conference call can be useful for running remote meetings but don’t overlook its importance as a culture-building tool.

• Learn to recognize more subtle signs of conflict: In remote work environments — where you don’t typically have regular exposure to team members’ body language, tone of voice, and other nonverbal communication signals — it can be easy to miss the early signs of the growing conflict. And even if you do catch them, dealing with them appropriately requires a willingness to address them head-on, rather than sweep them under the rug.

 
One of the easiest ways to increase your awareness of remote team members’ frustrations is to develop an understanding of their baseline communication habits.  
 

• Develop trust by following through on commitments and holding team members accountable to theirs: Establishing a successful remote work environment requires a tremendous amount of trust. You’ve got to trust team members to handle their responsibilities on their own.