Secret Guide To Master Remote Communication

Work has suddenly turned every employee's life from high spirited office spaces to “just me, mobile, and PC.”

While both of them have their own pros and cons... communication with remote teams is the biggest challenge HR’s are facing currently.

This is how the story of our remote team's communication looks like:

We all are constantly surrounded by the social fire hose of content. And this digital workspace in crisis increased it 10x more. We also take pride in ourselves on our ability to multitask—work, email, chat, check Instagram, talk on the phone, enjoy family dinner with the flashing lights of smartphones on our table.

The list just goes on...

Think about the distractions of your employees, each time their phone beeps..

However, most of the time they miss out the important details or delay the replies to important messages, or sometimes even make silly errors in the email. Sometimes the essence of very important conversation might go unheard in the pool of distractions at home and our multitasking…

If you are an HR leader or C-suite employee who is worried about communication methods in your virtual teams...

Here is the most effective 3 step secret guide you need, to master remote team communication and create the best virtual team engagement

Create the best employee experience:

For every problem, your employee is facing, create the answers with your remote team and for your team. Each of us has a lot of questions as everything seems so uncertain, and being an HR leader, you must help your employees talk openly to each other in order to co-create solutions for all the existing and emerging challenges

Right now, the little things mean a ton.

• Read it again, It applies to both good and bad. Take a look at these little things employees expect from you.
  
  
• Set prior timings for work meetings
  
  
• Solve employee inquiries
  
  
• Empathize with the changes you’re making and how they are affecting your remote employees.
  
  
• Set clear goals
  
  
• Communicate your decisions in a thoughtful and transparent way to eliminate misunderstandings and to earn trust and credibility from everyone.
  
  
• Always explain the ‘why’ of your decisions and how they reinforce your company’s mission and values, and don’t omit anything important, in the absence of information, people tend to build different narratives.

There is another C-word behind the great communication, that is compassion.

Also read: How to build a remote team that works together?

Be Compassionate:

Compassion means being courageous enough to acknowledge that we are all in the same dark tunnel, but not everyone's journey is the same to reach the end.

• Be proactive and ask, don't assume, you never know what your employees are going through.
  
  
• Give your people additional flexibility, equipment, tech support or anything else they need.
  
  
• Acknowledge and respect your employee's timings and all other constraints.
  
  
• Instil confidence in your employees with positive talks.

Set up a virtual fun room: Be it an informal WhatsApp group where the teammates can have open conversations and casual chit chat or an online meeting room just dedicated to exclusive virtual team building activities and other online team building games to boost their creativity and remove all their stress.

‘Now’ is the wakeup call to bring out the human side of HR. Not the business or managerial side, but the humane side.” 

Avoid confusion with clarity and transparency:  

• Guide them with very clear instructions because there is already a pool of distractions and worries blurring their focus.
  
  
• Set prior rules for what type of communication to go on which online platform. So that employees know when to expect a mail, message, or call instead of over flooding them with information.
  
  
• Establish a disciplined but also flexible work culture in your virtual team.
  
  
• Shift all your workplace important communication to one online platform, to minimize the delay and improve remote team engagement. 
  
  
• Keep your employees updated with all the company decisions so that they get the sense of belonging and plan earlier to adapt the changes.  
  
  
• Be flexible and transparent.

“Not the workforce for the workplace. But the workplace for the workforce. Not employees for leaders but leaders to uplift the employees’’

One factor is certain: This crisis can involve a good amount of adapting and adjustment for everybody.

And the blend of compassion, innovation and transparency while maintaining good virtual team engagement among your employees make all the difference!