🔎 5 best practices for remote team communication

Working remotely presents many challenges. Employees may feel isolated, they may lack social interaction, or fail to establish a well-defined boundary between the professional sphere and that of private life.

To keep a team motivated and close-knit, you need to think carefully about your remote team communication strategy. Here are 5 best practices for communicating with a remote team.

1. Encourage everyone to contribute with their ideas and thoughts

The best ideas do not always come from the top. In fact, some of the most innovative and successful companies are those that encourage employee contribution at all levels. By creating an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas, you can tap into a wealth of creativity and knowledge.

Open communication is essential for any organization, but it's especially important in a small business. It not only helps ensure that everyone is on the same page, but also promotes the free flow of ideas and information. When employees feel they can express themselves freely, they are more likely to be creative and productive.

2. Stay responsive in your virtual team communication

When working alongside someone, as in an open workspace, it is relatively quick to interact. This responsiveness must be maintained for a team working remotely. When receiving an urgent message, whether by phone, email or professional messaging, it is important to act as soon as possible. However, make sure you respect your focused-work times. Your team needs to understand that you cannot be available for them at any time of the day, you also need your time to be concentrated on your work.

Remote employees must know that they can rely on their superiors to solve problems or emergencies that can jeopardize their efficiency at work.

3. Send personalized feedback to your remote team

It is useful and effective, to boost the motivation of your team and allow good remote communication, to share constructive feedback with your collaborators! This shows your gratitude and support, while building trust.

But be aware that there are certain rules for this to work. For example, feedback should always start on a positive note and offer suggestions for improvement, and never give moral lessons. Also, be regular! And for better virtual team communication, always offer to make yourself available to discuss it.

For example, having a virtual office can improve this availability and promote informal conversations. Feedback can be given in informal ways, it does not always need to be scheduled in advance.

4. Maintain a “positive attitude” through informal remote communication

It is important, even (and especially) in remote work, to keep communication informal both for the well-being and the motivation of your employees. To maintain the “positive attitude” within your remote or hybrid team, you can for example:

• Adopt an effective chat tool,

• Schedule informal meetings by video conference, or even better, create a virtual office and make use of your avatar to walk up to another colleague and start interacting with him or her,

• Celebrate birthdays and other milestones in the year, even remotely,

• Organize a virtual team building activity.

To recreate the atmosphere of coffee breaks at work or to promote interaction between remote employees, do not neglect these informal exchanges and their advantages in the context of your remote communication!

5. Use a communication tool designed for remote teams

There are a number of communication tools designed specifically for remote teams. These tools can help you stay in touch with your team members and facilitate collaboration on projects. Among the most powerful tools are Slack, Google Hangouts, Trello and especially WorkAdventure, a virtual workspace for remote and hybrid teams.

WorkAdventure will help you :

• Create a social link between teammates,

• Grow a feeling of togetherness and solidarity,

• Develop team collaboration,

• Increase employee engagement and productivity.

Try it now!

In conclusion...

Effectively managing a remote team can be a real challenge for a manager. By taking into account the challenges of remote management and by following the remote work communication best practices mentioned in this article, you will manage to overcome this challenge and preserve the motivation and productivity of your employees despite the distance.