5 Tips for Working as a Robust, Reliable, Re-energized and, Yes, Remote Team
We are, proudly, a 100% remote team — that is how our group was formed and an important part of our team culture. It has meant we can hire the right people based on their skills, passions and personality and not location. It means we are able to work with clients easily and seamlessly. In this time where the world is working remotely, here are a few insights from our remote team playbook:
1. Trust yourself. Trust your team.
I was on a management team once and the head of the division said he did not trust people to work from home. He said he was pretty sure they would just sign in to the group’s instant messaging app and check out. That attitude is an indicator of a bigger problem — trusting that your team is showing up, physically, mentally, creatively, not because you are watching but because they are trustworthy and dedicated professionals.
Trusting yourself is important too. I have also talked to people who are afraid of working from home. “I will get too distracted by the laundry or trying a new recipe and will forget about work.” In this day and age, rigidity is a liability but boundaries are an asset. We have regular core team working hours that we set and respect. For our team that is 10am to 3pm EST. So if I try out the recipe at 3:30 and finish up my report after dinner, that is all just fine. Again, respect and trust are critical.
2. Run efficient, short meetings and record them.
Most meetings, even in-person meetings, do not need to be as long as we think. For many years, the standard 1-hour meeting was all we knew. And we would usually fill the hour, even if it wasn’t totally productive.
With online meetings, it is important to mind the clock. We find scheduling meetings more often, but for shorter intervals, is most productive and most engaging. Short,15-minute project stand-ups or team check-ins happen almost daily. Regular 1:1s between supervisors and direct reports and weekly team meetings are common practice. We also record most meetings (except 1:1s or more casual get-togethers). The meeting recordings, especially about projects and work-related topics, can be important as reminders of what decisions were made. Recordings can also be shared with team members who were not able to attend. We keep a dropbox folder of meeting recordings and clean it out every quarter or so.
3. Turn on your webcam. Every time. And get a good headset.
For a long time, I worked remotely and no one used webcams. We would join the online meeting and call in so you could see a presentation and talk, but there was no way to see each other. Faster internet and integrated webcams changed all of that. Yet some people are resistant to turning on their cameras. But we find it is really important to use video during meetings. For one thing, you are more likely to pay attention and limit the tendency to multitask. But more importantly attendees can see each other’s expressions and reactions through the meeting. Being on video can be hard for some people but it gets easier the more it becomes standard practice.
For audio, it is really important to get a good headset. Invest a little bit in a wireless or USB headset that makes it easier for you to hear and for others to hear you. Headsets make it easier to mute background noise and to adjust the volume. Don’t be afraid of looking like a dork or having “headset hair” — we are all in this together!
4. Use the tools made to enhance remote work.
Without a doubt the best thing we do to stay connected is communicate often throughout the day in Slack. There are many plug-ins in Slack too that make it easy to access other remote tools. We use Google docs for collaborative work and Basecamp to manage milestones and project communications. For online brainstorming and workshops, we have had good luck using Groupmap and RealtimeBoard (now a part of Miro). We are also trying out MURAL and Miro for online ideation and solutions generation. The good news is these tools are all pretty easy to learn and use and are affordable.
5. Find ways to have fun.
Probably the hardest part of remote work is the missed opportunities to get a cup of coffee, go to lunch, see the latest pictures of the pets and family, hear about what others are binge watching on TV or the latest sports events. That is hard to do and maintain on remote teams. We have made it a point to have multiple methods for checking in: casual Monday morning “hey how was your weekend” check-ins on Slack, personal updates in staff and team meetings, a weekly social check-in and even holiday parties where we play online games and have other activities. It can be a bit awkward at first and take some time to cultivate, but the culture of fun is possible to do remotely.
If you have any other ideas or what has worked for your team, please post them here. We are all in this together and remote work can make a strong team even stronger.
