4 Ways To Make Strong Connections As A Remote Worker
In this digital age there are a great amount of people who are able to work for a business remotely. Working remotely can be a nice perk but also very difficult. There are some factors to this job type that you can control and others not so much. Chris Kaundart at Trello shares a few habits and tips for those of us who telecommute to work.
- Talk To Someone Everyday, But Not About Work – As Chris puts it, the “ol’ water cooler talk” is important to have even for someone who works remotely. A work culture is formed by both the productivity and the atmosphere/relationships between team members and it’s something remote workers need to keep up with. Getting to know your co-workers and keeping in touch with each others’ lives helps the company’s work culture even via remote workspaces. Chris suggests to make it a point to reach out to someone everyday.
- Squeeze Social Time Into Your Meetings – Remote teams make use of video calls and online messaging. In these instances, take the time as if you were in the same room to say your hellos and update one another on what’s going on with each person’s lives (of course work will be mentioned, but in this time try to squeeze in personal social conversations either before or after a conference call). Chris reveals that by doing this, you’ll be amazed at the relationships you can build.
- Have Good, Reliable Internet – The biggest problems of working remotely is connectivity. Although it may be out of your hands by the area you live in, make an effort to be able to be reached via online or phone. Remote workers have a bad reputation of having communication problems so do your best to work out your internet speed and phone signal from wherever you are working so you can stay connected with your team.
- Learn How To Clearly And Effectively Over-Communicate – Chris explains when you’re working asynchronously across different time zones, you can’t afford to have excessive back-and-forth. Here are his tips to follow to communicate effectively asynchronously:
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- Use clear and specific language.
- Give a little more information than you think is necessary.
- Be transparent when you communicate.
- Always communicate with positive intent and assume others are too.
- Don’t use acronyms.
While it’s becoming more and more of a norm for telecommuting and working remotely, we shouldn’t take the human relationships aspect out of businesses. With Chris’ tips mentioned above, you can still be very present in your company’s work culture and forge relationships with your remote co-workers.
Original post by Chris Kaundart at Trello
