Working remotely: best practices for communicating effectively

Working remotely has some advantages, but it has its share of challenges, especially in terms of effective communication. How do you keep an open dialogue with your team and maintain productive contact with your colleagues?

Teleworking does not facilitate the fluidity of exchanges. Between the fact that informal discussions are becoming rare, that not everyone is necessarily comfortable with videoconferencing and that the feeling of isolation is increasing, it is not always easy to communicate effectively.

So, what good habits should you adopt to maintain productive contact with your team? How to promote communication with colleagues and engage in a caring dialogue when working remotely?

Building on clear foundations

To be sure you can communicate effectively with your remote team, you need to master how it works:

• What are the preferred communication channels depending on the subject, according to the level of emergency, etc.?
• What are the formats and the frequency of your synchronization points?
• What type of reporting is expected from you on your daily tasks?
• What tool can you use to know the availability of your team members?

Technical points to keep in mind for good remote communication:

• To have good sound quality : it is important to speak near the microphone on your laptop or computer. To be more mobile, do not hesitate to equip yourself with a hands-free kit or a wireless headset.
• To limit extraneous noise : remember to put yourself in silent mode (also called “mute”) when you can't speak. If everyone makes this effort, it helps to reduce noise pollution, which can quickly be annoying during meetings.
• To avoid cutting each other off : remember that in order to speak, very often, your interlocutors must first deactivate silent mode. You have to take into account this slight lag to let people express themselves without interrupting them immediately.

Take stock daily

Working alone all day long, you can tend to move forward more independently, even if it means forgetting the natural collaboration that takes place in the office.

Daily points, even quick ones, make it possible to fight against gradual involuntary ostracization.

So do not hesitate to check in regularly with your colleagues, and to share your professional “news” with them to maintain social interactions and promote the flow of information.

Good practice: Are you organizing a meeting? Ensure that all participants have access to the agenda in advance, and any documents necessary for the preparation and follow-up of the meeting. This will allow you to save time and streamline your remote meeting (and it also works for face-to-face meetings...!).

Vary and coordinate the means of communication

In the office, you have multiple ways to communicate with your colleagues. When working from home, it is therefore important to use several exchange solutions, each of which meets specific needs.

For informal exchanges, or instant discussion, chat platforms are ideal: use of emojis, gifs, etc. the codes are not the same as in an email, a format that remains more formal.

For group interviews, or long discussions, prefer the telephone or a videoconference: nothing beats a live exchange to clarify a point, formalize a process, etc.

The key is to find the right balance between synchronous and asynchronous communication, so that exchanges are optimal and constructive.

Take time for informal exchanges

Coffee breaks, lunches with colleagues, etc. are all ways to create social ties and strengthen cohesion within the team.

At a distance, these exchanges can pass by the wayside if we are not careful. It is essential to mobilize to “formalize” these moments, even if it means giving them a real place in our agendas.

While they may seem trivial, these times of conviviality contribute to the well-being of all and make it possible to fight against the feeling of isolation that we can feel from working all day behind our screen.

So how do we go about it?

We would like to, but there is no miracle recipe for succeeding in getting the hang of informal exchanges at a distance. What is important is to create opportunities for these exchanges to flourish.

A few ideas: organize virtual cafes, create chats dedicated to specific topics, around which people can meet (cooking, gardening, etc.), take on a sports challenge as a team, launch an internal newsletter to share office life and stories, etc.

Be available

To keep in touch with your colleagues, you need to be easily accessible during business hours.

Inform your team of your availability slots (via a shared calendar for example): this way, they will know when to join you. Also, remember to tell them the best means of communication to use to be sure of a quick response from you.

This will avoid a lot of confusion, frustration, and even a feeling of disconnection.

lookout : being reactive does not mean being available in the second. In the office, you are not constantly screwed into your seat at your workstation. Well, when working from home, it's the same thing. Remember that, except in absolute emergency, you are not up to the minute: nothing wrong with making yourself a little coffee, or a few minutes of meditation, before replying to an email.

Adapting your communication skills

Interacting face-to-face and interacting remotely do not require quite the same skills, or at least not with the same intensity. When working from home, in order to communicate well, it is essential:

• To amplify your listening skills : at a distance, you lose the body language of your interlocutors. To counteract this loss of information, you need to pay more attention to what your colleagues share with you, how they share it with you, and be more empathetic.
• To ask more questions : to avoid misunderstandings, on your side or those of your colleagues, and to ensure that everyone is on the same page, you must systematize the time dedicated to questions (at the beginning or end of meetings, daily updates, etc.). It is a simple and effective tool to open a dialogue and remove possible confusions.

‍