Crafting effective communication in remote workspaces
We often hear the saying, “A team that plays together stays together.” Employers understand this well, so they put a lot of effort and resources into keeping their teams happy and connected. They offer everything from virtual parties and fun games to bigger perks, even though these can sometimes be pretty costly.
A survey shows that employers might spend hefty amounts, up to hundreds of millions of dollars, on their employee engagement programs. Despite these works, the data still reveals that engagement scores remain disappointingly low.
Adding another layer, a report from FlexOS uncovers that employees typically give ‘average’ ratings when evaluating their managers’ effectiveness in managing remote team dynamics. This finding highlights the need to shift focus: rather than funneling funds into costly engagement initiatives, organizations should prioritize the fundamentals – communication. With 30% of employees expressing major frustration due to unclear directives from their leaders, further surveys indicate that much of this discomfort stems from the isolated communication environments often created by remote work setups.
Navigating communication within a remote team can be tricky, especially when team members are spread across different time zones. To tackle these challenges, organizations must rethink and refine their approach to communication, ensuring it bridges distances and connects them with their team members more effectively. Here are some suggestions, and what the research tells us about how to address them:
Working physically apart means you do not have the chance to pop by your employee’s desk to check on his progress. However, it’s important to know how far your colleague is along with the projects.
To work around the lack of face-to-face communication, schedule a weekly touch point with each and every team member. This can be over a phone call, a short work email or a video conference.
This can also be a platform for your staff to air their concerns, clear misunderstandings about instructions or for you to set certain goals for them. We recommend a weekly touchpoint on every Monday so that your staff would feel fresh and motivated.
Unlike the traditional workplaces where teams meet up every month to update each other face-to-face on projects, remote teams have a limited opportunity to do so. Relying solely on text messages and work emails may spell disaster by creating internal tension. When people are tense, miscommunication in remote teams becomes more blatant.
Schedule a video conference each month so everyone is able to do a virtual meet-up and brainstorm ideas or share updates. Doing so would ensure that everyone is on the same page, and everyone gets the same messages. Not only does this get productivity going, it also helps to keep the team tighter.
*Tip: Remember to consider each other’s time zones when it comes to scheduling the video conference. Take into consideration your team’s lifestyle habits too. Not everyone is a morning person/ night owl.
Having a sense of community and belonging in a team makes communication a little easier. If your colleagues can understand each other better and know each other personally, you can expect work emails and messages to be a little less paggro (read: passive aggression).
Traditional work teams often schedule quarterly retreats or team bonding events in order to improve communication among staff. In a remote work team, your members work from different ends of the world. It can be challenging to prevent miscommunication.
An alternative could be to create a common online platform (make Facebook groups great again!), where everyone can share non-work stuff and just let their hair down. Whether it’s cat GIFs, silly memes or mind-blowing articles, there is surely one thing that all your members can laugh together (behind the screens) and bond with each other over.
Create a work calendar such that everyone can share their schedules and working hours. This way your staff will know when they can look for each other, instead of impatiently sitting behind their computers wondering why a colleague is not replying. A work calendar is definitely an essential for teams with international staff from all over the world.
The thing about not having any physical interaction at the workplace means that there’s a huge reliance on texts and emails to get things done. And one danger of written communication, is that it is hard to tell the intent of each message. What this means is that emails can be a hotspot for miscommunication, and so it’s always good to drop your staff a reminder to be mindful of the tone they are using. It’s cool to use emojis, so don’t hold back!
Enhance Your HR Processes in Southeast Asia with Glints TalentHub
Navigating HR management across Southeast Asia brings its own set of challenges, from diverse regulations to cultural differences. At Glints TalentHub, we’re not just about providing Employer of Record (EOR) and Professional Employer Organization (PEO) services; we’re about enhancing your team’s engagement and cohesion. With our expert support in managing the entire employment lifecycle, we ensure your HR practices are not only compliant across regions like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, but also conducive to building a vibrant, connected workforce.
Discover how our tailored services can transform your HR strategies. Connect with us for a no-obligation consultation and take the first step towards more engaged and cohesive team management today!
