Remote Leadership Institute

Helping Remote Leaders Succeed in a Virtual Workplace

Login
  • Organizational Solutions
    • Coaching
    • Customized Training
    • Speaking
    • Workshop Previews
    • Not-for-Profit
  • Individual Learning
    • Topics/Skills
    • Live Events
    • On-Demand
    • e-Learning
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Books
    • Free Whitepapers & Resources
    • Videos
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Meet the Team
    • FAQs
    • Media Mentions
  • Contact

5 Steps to Ease Virtual Team Communication Struggles

1 Comment

Only about half of employees understand what is expected of them, according to a Gallup poll.

Let that sink in. That’s 50% of employees who don’t understand what they need to do to excel at the job. 50% of employees who have no idea how to meet the expectations of their supervisor or the organization. That means 50% of employees make too many mistakes and waste too much time. And you know what? Their managers are to blame.

Why? Because that is a clear sign that managers aren’t communicating effectively enough.

For leaders of remote employees, the communication struggle compounds. If communicating your expectations to employees’ in person leaves half of them unsure about what to do next, imagine the confusion remote employees feel when the majority of the communication happens via email, text or collaboration tool. That percentage likely jumps up a bit, and your team’s productivity could be taking a serious hit. To improve communication on your remote team, follow these steps:

Talk about it

Talk to employees about how they like to communicate. Ask what is helpful to them, what times of the day work best for them and more. Then do your best to match people’s preferences. If someone outright tells you they prefer to hear instructions, don’t detail instructions in an email.

Additionally, as a team, come to some agreement on the best way to communicate as a group. For example, perhaps you schedule daily online “huddles” using chat functions in your collaboration software, and then plan more in-depth brain-storming conference calls every other week.

Pick your tools wisely

You have sooooo many choices. Are you going to call or email? Are you going to Skype, Facetime or Hangout? Text, IM, Yammer or Slack? The conference line or GotoMeeting? Are you going to use video or not? Is a voicemail helpful or not? Business line or cell phone? Whew!

Think about the tools you have at your disposal, and talk about which ones you are going to use. Then, whichever ones you select, make sure employees are comfortable using them by providing plenty of training. Tools are worthless if people don’t actually use them.

Use the right tools at the right time

Not every tool works for every situation. Sometimes a text message will meet the communication need. Other times (like when your message is long or requires discussion) it’s the last tool you should use. Email works for many tasks, but you shouldn’t be conducting a full on conversation through emails; you have to pick up the phone. And when discussing a truly complex or challenging issue, you may need to jump on video chat so that you can read people’s body language.

Commit to improving communication

Because virtual communication is more complex, you can’t just take it for granted or just “let it happen.” You won’t see people as you pass in the hallway or in the break room, so you have to create opportunities for conversation. Casual conversation won’t just happen, so you must work to build relationships and connections with employees.

That leads to the fifth point …

Plan time to communicate 

Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with employees. Face it, you get busy and time slips away from you. You must put those meetings on the schedule to ensure that they happen. Plus, you’ll improve your relationships with employees because they know you care enough to block out time for them. Don’t underestimate the emotional value of that.

Looping back to the first point above, make sure you schedule those appointments when it is most convenient for employees. Making time for employees can be a big moral booster, but if you schedule those meetings during the worst possible time for them, it will feel more like a punishment.

For more resources…

Download our free Team Tech Assessment to see how well your team is using technology and communicating.

 

Photo Credit: Aaron Landry, Bo Hakala, Talula and I via photopin

Filed Under: Communication Tagged With: collaboration, communication, remote teams, Virtual Communication

Comments

  1. Prasanta Shee says

    May 30, 2017 at 4:44 am

    Above mentioned tips helps one to effectively communicate with virtual teams. Tools like webex, gomeetnow, gotomeeting, R-HUB web conferencing servers etc. can be used for effective virtual team communication.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

What Would You Like to Learn About Today?

Career Development
Coaching
Communication
Engagement
Future of Work
Human Resources
Leadership/Management
Meetings
Productivity
Remote/Hybrid Work
Sales
Teamwork
Technology
Training
Trends

Want to Reprint an Article?

Check Out Our Reprint Policy
Order your copy of The Long-Distance Teammate
Demystify Remote Leadership with this free, 4-part video series! Click to sign up!
Meet Like You Mean It
Top 50 Sales & Marketing Blogs 2021

Quick Links

Frequently Asked Questions
The Long-Distance Leader
Free Resources
12 Weeks to Being a Great Remote Teammate
Long-Distance Worklife Podcast

Connect with Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Spotify
  • Goodreads

Our Network

Bud to Boss
Remarkable Leadership
DISC Personality Testing
The Kevin Eikenberry Group

Where to Find Us

8021 Westover Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46268
Phone: 317-387-1424
info@kevineikenberry.com

© 2022 · Remarkable Leadership Institute · Privacy Policy

The Remote Leadership Institute is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com