How to Build a Collaborative Team in a Remote Work Environment
The COVID-19 pandemic came with many challenges as many businesses were forced to work from the confines of their homes and embrace the remote working system. Working from home can be exciting for both team managers and their team members, but one of the biggest challenges managers face in a remote team is building a collaborative team.
The world is learning to collaborate virtually to get the best out of their work. Interestingly, in this post, we will discuss practical ways to build a collaborative team in a remote work environment. Hence, building collaboration in a remote team can be achieved using the following strategies:
1. Effective Communication
Communication is an essential factor that stimulates proper collaboration in a remote work environment. Effective communication enhances how the team interacts internally amongst themselves, which is a driving force for proper collaboration. In-person collaboration or communication is not viable in remote work environments. Therefore, it is vital to communicate with team members actively. When managing your remote team, you should ensure that you implement the right type of communication best suited for all remote team members. This will go a long way toward ensuring adequate collaboration among the team members. Be mindful and extra cautious while sending any information to your team members. Try to articulate in simple language and be clear and precise—do not overload them with too much information at the same time.
2. Set realistic goals and ensure that everyone is carried along
One of the best ways to build a collaborative team and ensure that everyone is on the same page is to set common, realistic goals. The team leaders should ensure that every member of the team properly understands the general objective of the team and what is required of each team member to achieve the goal at hand. Team leaders or managers must emphasize giving clear instructions to the team, as this will help to boost productivity in the team. To ensure adequate collaboration of each team member, the team leaders should conduct regular virtual team meetings and update each other on the progress and tasks to run the processes smoothly. Team meetings are great for giving updates to each team member and ensuring that everyone is carried along as the project continues.
3. Create a supportive team
Having a supportive team could be one of the most effective ways to build a collaborative team. The team managers should endeavor to make the team support a major core value that should be adhered to by every team member. Showing concern and sincere support for each team member is a sure way to motivate each other and foster the development of a highly collaborative team.
4. Organize regular team bonding activities
One of the biggest drawbacks of remote work is that it can become so lonely as team members become more disengaged physically. Therefore, team leaders must organize regular team bonding sessions for team members to become more acquainted with each other. This will always help to facilitate effective collaboration amongst the team members. Participating in fun activities during the team bonding sessions can help to build better relationships among team members. Team building activities boost employee engagement and also teach them to cooperate.
