Communicating with your team

With more teams operating remotely, either full-time or in a hybrid model, effective communication has become even more important for collaboration and success.

When team members are not together in a shared physical space, communication acts as the glue that holds everything together.

Without robust communication, remote teams can easily fall prey to miscommunication, lack of engagement, and suboptimal performance.

Table of Contents

• Why communication matters more for remote teams
• Best practises for remote communication
• FAQs
• Conclusion

Why communication matters more for remote teams

There are several reasons why communication takes on heightened importance for remote and hybrid teams:

• Relationship building is harder. In-person interactions allow for informal conversations that nurture trust and bonding. These types of relationship-building moments are much less likely to occur spontaneously for remote teams. Extra effort must go into communicating regularly to prevent coworkers from feeling like strangers.
• Context is often missing. Non-verbal cues and body language play a big role in traditional meetings. However, they are lacking in remote interactions. Team members need to overcommunicate to compensate for the missing context, ensuring discussions are clear and inclusive.
• Isolation can creep in. Working alone at home each day with minimal in-person contact can easily lead to loneliness and reduced motivation. Frequent communication from leaders and peers helps remote employees maintain a sense of connection to others and purpose in their roles.
• Multitasking is tempting. When on a video call, it is all too simple for remote workers to become distracted by household chores. Explicit communication, like repeating action items and due dates, keeps everyone focused on work priorities.
• Assumptions abound: Without in-person observation, it’s hard to understand how others interpret communications. Explicitly stating recommendations prevents assumptions from taking root and causing conflict or confusion down the line.

With communication as the lifeline for distributed teams, management must double down on purposeful, targeted communication strategies and foster a culture where information sharing is prioritised by all.

Best practises for remote communication

Beyond the core tips covered earlier, the following are some best practises remote teams can adopt for the most effective communication:

• Overcommunicate important information. Don’t assume one message will suffice; repetition is important when people can’t easily ask for follow-ups. Communicate changes, updates, and deadlines through multiple channels.
• Leverage alignment tools. Tools like OKRs, roadmaps, and tracking dashboards give remote teams a collective view of important goals, priorities, metrics, and progress.
• Get real-time chat. In addition to meetings, use collaborative messaging apps to answer questions in the moment and build ongoing discussion on projects.
• Facilitate discussions. Pose thoughtful questions on video calls to draw out participation and steer conversations towards actionable outcomes versus mere status updates.
• Record and share meeting content. Not everyone can attend every meeting. Sharing notes, tasks, and decisions helps ensure all team members stay in sync.
• Showcase wins publicly. Recognise individual and team achievements in newsletters, wikis, or blogs. Remote employees need public praise to stay engaged.
• Ask for feedback regularly. Frequent mini-surveys (e.g., weekly polls) surface challenges before they escalate and show you care about workers’ experiences.
• Promote work-life balance. Leaders set the tone; don’t encourage constant availability. Remote work hours should match regular business hours as much as possible.

The right communication strategies optimised for remote work can transform an at-risk team into a high-performing powerhouse, even when members are miles apart each day. With diligence, thoughtful leadership can foster strong connections and collaboration across any distance.

FAQs

Q1. What tools would you recommend for remote communication?

Refer to previous recommendations for messaging, calling, and project management tools optimised for distributed teams.

Q2. How can managers monitor remote employee well-being?

Check-ins beyond work updates allow employees to share personal challenges. Additionally, pulse surveys every 4–6 weeks can anonymously surface issues early. Promoting work-life integration is also key.

Q3. What’s the best approach for onboarding new remote hires?

Thorough documentation, mentoring programmes, shadowing existing employees, and frequent check-ins help new hires adjust. Video calls help them get to know colleagues personally as well.

Q4. How can you cultivate creativity in a remote environment?

Brainstorming apps, discussion forums, virtual whiteboards, and allowing employees to lead informal video topics of interest can spark fresh perspectives.

Q5. How can geographically distributed teams build trust?

Trust forms through vulnerability and understanding different viewpoints. Open communication, using names and photos in interfaces, sharing non-work updates, and occasional team-building activities help reduce perceived distance.

Conclusion

In the era of widespread remote work, it has never been more crucial for managers and teams to prioritise communication. A variety of proven tools and strategies exist for fostering alignment, collaboration, engagement, and trust even when team members cannot see each other face-to-face each day.

For dispersed teams aiming to optimise performance and job satisfaction, effective communication should form the bedrock.