Telecommuting Tips: How to Make Remote
Relationships Work
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More and more people are working with colleagues that they never
see. In a recent study
of
U.S companies having more than 5000 employees,
Brandman University
surveyed 135 key
managers about their use of virtual teams
(http://www.brandman.edu/research/
), finding that 40% of the companies already use them extensively
and 56% expect their use to increase.
Instead of communicating face-to-face, these widely distributed
employees are collaborating computer-to-computer, creating some
predictable challenges.
The following tips for making virtual teams work include suggestions
from Susan Gerke, adjunct professor at Brandman and author of
“Working Remotely”.
The advice for employees is followed by suggestions for their
managers.
A. Tips for
Remote Employees
1.
Clarify
management expectations.
All employees
need to know what their boss expects, but having clear expectations
is even more important for telecommuters.
When working remotely, you must specifically define
deliverables and deadlines.
If your boss fails to make expectations clear, then you need
to initiate that conversation.
2.
Invest time
in “getting to know you”.
Before jumping
into a task with unfamiliar colleagues, take time to learn something
about them. Look them up
on Facebook or LinkedIn, initiate a get-acquainted email exchange,
or spend a few minutes on your first call sharing information about
your backgrounds. The
more you know about your coworkers, the better you will be able to
understand their perspective.
3.
Recognize
when you need to talk.
One of the
greatest potential pitfalls for virtual relationships is the overuse
of written communication.
Email is a terrific tool, but it has also led to many
workplace conflicts (see
10 Things You Should Never Do With
Email).
When the topic is complicated or potentially contentious, you
need to talk, not write.
4.
Learn to use
the tools.
Technological
dinosaurs can be a real drag on virtual teams, because they slow
everyone else down. So
if you need to work remotely, master the necessary hardware and
software.
5.
Stay on your boss’s radar.
Remember the
old saying “out of sight, out of mind”?
If you are located far from your manager, you need to be sure
that you are not overlooked or forgotten.
So if you tend to be quiet and reserved
(see
Are You an Office
Wallflower?), make a
special effort to share information with your boss and arrange for
regular progress updates and feedback sessions
(see
10 Helpful Things to Say to Your
Boss).
6.
Always be
reliable & dependable.
When colleagues
don’t see you on a daily basis, they may feel uneasy about your
progress on projects or your ability to meet agreed-upon deadlines.
If you develop a reputation for dependability by always doing
what you say, they will soon stop worrying.
Be sure to give everyone involved a heads-up if a schedule is
ever going to slip.
7.
Use social
media to build relationships.
In the absence
of face-to-face interaction, you can stay in touch with your
colleagues through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, & other social
media. Virtual
communication helps remote team members feel connected.
8.
Understand cultural differences.
Increasingly,
people find themselves on virtual teams with people from other
countries. If you will
be working with someone from another part of the world, take time to
learn about their culture.
Their work habits and communication patterns may differ from
yours in unexpected ways (see
Communicating Across
Cultures).
B. Tips for
Managers of Virtual Teams
1.
Clearly
define expected results.
Be very
specific with remote employees about deliverables and deadlines.
To manage remotely, you need to clearly define what each
person is expected to produce.
2.
Invest time
in face-to-face orientation.
Spend time
getting to know new employees in person, even if it means traveling
overseas. One
face-to-face meeting can make a huge difference in the quality of
the relationship and the employee’s feeling of connection with you
as their manager (see
Ten Helpful Questions to Ask
Employees).
3.
Over-communicate with remote employees.
We naturally
pay more attention to people in our immediate vicinity, so managers
must make a special effort not to fall into the “out of sight, out
of mind” trap with remote team members.
Get into the habit of sharing both official and unofficial
work information, and set aside regularly-scheduled times to meet
with them. Keep a list
of things to discuss, and encourage the employee to do the same.
4.
Learn to
manage virtual meetings.
Meetings can be
challenging, even with everyone in the same room
(see
Leading a Productive
Meeting), but virtual
teams also need to master the art of effective communication across
distances. Insure that
you and your team have appropriate online meeting tools and can use
them effectively. If
some employees are onsite with you, be sure that remote team members
have equal opportunities to participate.
6.
Follow
through with commitments.
Remote
employees can become very frustrated waiting for you to make a
decision or get them information.
If you procrastinate, you are hurting their ability to be
productive. Since they
aren’t going to run into you in the hall, their only choice is to
wait it out or send you nagging emails, which may feel
inappropriate. So you
need to follow up.
7.
Make smart
hiring decisions.
Not everyone is suited for
remote work, so you need to hire the right people
(see How to Hire Better People).
The Brandman study found the following traits to be critical
for employees working in virtual teams: solid communication skills,
comfort with working independently, ability to pace themselves
appropriately, and willingness to be held accountable.
Include those abilities in your hiring profile and interview
accordingly (see
How to Develop Useful
Interview Questions
