Due to global events, remote work has become more common than going to the office, and some businesses are adapting better than others. Whether your organization is enjoying the new norm or struggling to find its footing, our guide on remote work communication is for you.
One of the most important and challenging parts of remote work is communication. Our guide covers everything you need to set up and implement a successful remote work communication infrastructure. You can read up with the free guide here, but if you're crunched on time, here is a checklist from the guide to help you quickly and easily improve or create your remote work communication framework.
Once you have answered the questions in our checklist, you will be better equipped to handle the challenges of communicating with a remote team.
We recommend sitting down with your laptop or a sheet of paper and writing down your answers to the below questions. Your answers to these questions will create a complete remote work communication framework for you and your team so you can either start off on the right foot or optimize your pre-existing set-up.
Asynchronous Communication
- What modes of async communication are you planning on using? (Email, Wiki, Discussion Forum, Task Management)
- What tool or app are you using for each mode?
- Is it clear to your team members which app to use for what modes and topics? Do you have a handbook, or do you need to create one to make this clear?
Synchronous Communication
- How much face-to-face time do you have scheduled for your team?
- Will you do in-person company retreats? If so, how many times per year?
- What tool or apps are you using for chat, audio and video calling, note taking, and task tracking?
- What is your approximate public vs. private message ratio in your chat app? Is it working well, or do you need to adjust?
- What is your current video to voice call ratio? Is it working well, or do you need to adjust?
- Have you provided clear guidelines to team members about chat and video/voice calling?
Other Considerations
- What are your core working hours (hours each workday when everyone is required to be online and available)?
- Are all of your team members meeting or exceeding expectations when it comes to communication and collaboration? Or do you need to adjust with training or hiring?
- Do you have a clear set of written communication policies available to your team?
Now that you've answered the checklist questions, you should have a clearer idea of how to create or improve your set up for remote work communication.
If you want to learn more, you can read up on the free guide here.
By esther cheng