Most employees have had to face a double-headed dragon in 2020. Not only have we switched to remote working. We’ve had to do it in a company that’s ill-equipped to making such a rapid transition.
It’s no easy feat, especially while trying to maintain productivity levels: and few of us have the luxury of time to get used to the new routine. But there are several bits of advice you’d do well to follow to make remote working as effective as it can be.
Here are seven tips everyone should follow.
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1. Shift Every Work-Related Activity Online
And by every, we mean EVERY. Suppose you used to mill around the water cooler first thing in the morning having casual conversations with colleagues. Replicate the exercise by sharing a coffee on a video conference call. And don’t be shy: prepping toast on camera is now part of the morning get-together.
The same applies to routine meetings. The 10 am daily standup can shift to a Slack-based bot, not only keeping the conversation concise but also keeping the information online for future reference. There’s a tool for every occasion. Be creative, and your virtual office will feel as natural as ever.
2. Share Your Current Status
When you are remote working, your co-workers still need to know what you’re up to, even if they’re not going to pop by your desk. If you’re busy, block out your calendar or better still, set your Slack status to your current activity: ‘away’, ‘in a meeting’, ‘on a call’.
Doing so helps people know when they can contact you — or how long you might be occupied.
3. Find a Way to Stay in Sync
Your Slack status shows what you’re currently doing. But it’s best also to let teammates know what you’ve done. You can do this by sharing a post on Slack at the end of each day, detailing what you’ve achieved in the last eight hours, and helping everyone stay on the same page.
4. Put In-Person Comms in a Document
With fewer conversations, there’s less chance of knowledge drifting around a business. As such, it’s vital you find an online repository to document every bit of information relating to past, present, and future projects (seriously, this is another EVERYthing moment).
As a rule of thumb: you want to be in a position where you can answer every project-related question with a link to a document that provides the full context.
5. Always Assume No-One knows
What we mean here is, don’t just think someone has a piece of information (if you do, you risk monumental breakdowns in communication). Instead, be crystal-clear in everything you say, relaying the context with every piece of content.
Put another way, never simply say, ‘It’s ready.’ Instead, think what information would help anyone who reads the message understand the context by saying something like, ‘I’ve just finished the PPT deck for {project_name}. You can find it on GDrive (here’s the link).’
6. …And Always Over-Communicate
You could call this 5.1… but we think the point is so important (and nuanced), it deserves its own spot. By over-communicate, we mean talking more frequently than you think is necessary (unlike point 5, which is all about communicating clearly).
If you’re working on a task, assign it a priority, talk about what you plan to do, ask others for help as often as needed, and record progress to avoid information slipping through the cracks.
7. Have a Single Source of Truth
Don’t let information knock about in several places. Choose a task management tool and store all project-related information in there (including assignees, task descriptions, status, links to the source material, etc.).
There are plenty of applications that give this level of 360-degree coverage — decide which one works best for you.
