Collaborating Effectively as a Remote Worker

Collaboration on any team is key and when the factor of working remotely is added in, collaboration becomes even more essentials.

Even before COVID-19, the number of remote workers was on the rise. But there’s no denying that the pandemic forced a spike. As a result, many of the companies that had to shift to remote operations discovered some of the productivity, cost-saving, and worker satisfaction benefits perhaps earlier than they otherwise would have. It is therefore likely that remote working will become a permanent reality for a lot of workers — one recent study found that at least 16% of newly remote employees will remain so after the pandemic.

While there are certainly advantages to this way of working, it is not without its challenges. One of the most prominent among these is understanding how to collaborate effectively with your colleagues. If you’re used to operating in the bustling office environment, you may find remote team building, brainstorming, conflict resolution, and even friendship maintenance difficult. Let’s take a moment to examine how you can best approach collaborating remotely.

Gather Your Tools

Your first responsibility as a remote worker is to make certain that you have access to all the tools you need to not just be functional, but a productive collaborator. Create a checklist of all the types of tasks that your remote position entails and what tools you’ll need to undertake these actions. If you are brainstorming remotely, it can be wise to consider what aspects of this could be problematic when everyone’s not in the same room. The techniques you can use—rapid ideation, starbursting, and mind mapping—are great for encouraging group participation, but keeping it organized and dynamic remotely can be challenging. Adopting tools such as virtual whiteboards that can keep everyone involved in planning and strategizing, wherever each team member is located, can be a useful addition to your toolkit.

However, it’s also important to remember that your remote collaboration toolkit isn’t limited to the technology you use. It also includes those tried-and-true activities that can keep you organized and effective. When you are working away from the office, making and maintaining a schedule helps to increase productivity, reduce stress, and keep your collaborations on track. Work with your collaborators to agree on the time frame each stage of your projects should be completed by, and create a schedule that includes individual tasks and even regular meetings in coworking spaces to plan further progress.

Prioritize Communication

When you are working remotely, your ability to collaborate with your colleagues should be among your top priorities. It is difficult enough to keep engaged with a team that isn’t sharing an office or coworking space, without the potential for miscommunication to disrupt your activities. As such, you must place some focus on how and when communications occur.

If your manager or project leader is an effective one, they’re likely already aware of how vital clear channels of communication are to remote teams. Check in with them and talk about what protocols are in place to ensure that you can engage meaningfully with your colleagues at all times. It often isn’t enough to simply know what tools are available, but also seek clarity on how often everyone should be checking in with each other, and what the preferred methods to do so are.

Most businesses will already have email systems in place, and you may also be provided with a company cell phone. However, these aren’t always best suited to collaborative activities. Discuss with your team manager and members the prospect of adopting a platform that takes care of different styles of communications—voice calls, chat channels, and video conferencing—in a single application. During COVID-19, tools such as Asana and Slack have been popular options for this approach.

It’s also important to remember that regular communication is vital to your ongoing emotional and psychological wellbeing. Isolation can be a significant issue when you work from home, and it can negatively impact your confidence, your happiness, and your productivity. You, therefore, need to make time throughout your day to talk to or send messages to your colleagues. This doesn’t have to be work-related—just reach out every so often and casually chat as you would in an office environment.

Work on Relationships

One of the most difficult elements of being a remote worker is the potential for a sense of detachment. Particularly if there is a combination of those working in the office and those working elsewhere, it can be easy for the strength of your relationships within a collaborative group to fall by the wayside. This can also be a recipe for disaster. It is therefore vital to take steps to build, maintain, and bolster your professional and personal bonds with your fellow collaborators.

While it is not likely to be practical every day, you should request that the group meet in the same physical space occasionally. This could be for a few hours in a coworking space to catch up, or for a few individual members to work together on aspects of the project you all share responsibility for. This gives opportunities for everyone to know that they aren’t working alone and gain a deeper appreciation for what everyone brings to the project. If possible, a social night out together or playing games over a remote video call can make certain you all connect beyond your work roles.

Unfortunately, it’s just as important to understand that there may also be times of tension within any collaboration. When you’re working remotely, though, there often isn’t that immediate confrontation, and issues have more chance to fester and become exacerbated to the extent that they can harm the project. This means that you need to establish clear protocols within the team for conflict resolution. When issues arise, don’t play the blame game, opt to give one another the benefit of the doubt, and approach the matter openly, and in a solutions-oriented manner.

As a remote worker, your ability to be productive may well depend on fostering effective collaborations with your in-office or fellow distanced colleagues. Make sure you have the right tools to support your activities and keep clear lines of communication open at all times. Be sure not to neglect your relationships with your colleagues, as positive connections are key to overcoming challenges and bolstering your success.