There’s no over-stating it, excellent communication is vital to the performance of teams, and this is even more important when working remotely.
Even for the most administrative of roles, daily communication is essential. When staff (including us managers) are accustomed to face-to-face communication, working remotely can cause significant disruption to the ‘normal’ flow of information.
There are 2 pieces of technology I encourage you to become familiar with:
- Video Calls/Video Conferencing
- Instant Messaging/Chat (e.g. Slack)
Interestingly, many people are already using both of these technologies in a social setting – but not in a business environment.
Many organisations have tried instant messaging and found it kills productivity. That is certainly possible, but it’s likely to be the result of a poor implementation, rather than the software itself. I’ll discuss instant messaging in a future post.
Video Call services, such as Zoom, are readily available, economical (even free), high quality and can be used in a web browser (no software installation required). I prefer to use Zoom because it’s easy to learn, easy to use and has great video quality.
Some people may not like “being on camera” but in the current environment of restricted gatherings and potential quarantine, there is no alternative. Video calls offer substantial advantages over
Video conferencing is so easy, you’ll wonder why you haven’t done it before.
Let me know if you’d like me to give you a quick 5 minute demo of the power of this technology.
Next up: How to use Video Conferencing effectively in different situations