Speaker 1: In today's world, remote team has become a reality for many of us. And while it offers flexibility and convenience, it also presents unique challenges, especially when it comes to communication. So you may be wondering, how can we assure that our remote team stay connected, engaged, and productive? Hi, I'm Barika from Simply Unique Coaching, and I have been leading for over 15 years. I've led more than 18 teams. And in today's video, we're going to talk about how to improve communication for your remote team. Also, as a bonus, I will share with you how to use technology to help you improve communication with your remote team. And since the pandemic, I've had the opportunity to work with hybrid teams and remote teams and then in-person teams. Most of my experience before was with in-person teams, but now it's more so leaning towards that remote team environment, as well as having hybrid teams. So let's talk about why is effective communication important for remote teams. First of all, it's going to build trust and transparency. Whenever there is clear communication that is coming across, it's going to help your team members feel like they are in the loop, that they can trust you, and also it's going to make them feel like a part of the organization. So we want to use tools like video calls, instant messaging, and project management software to keep everyone informed and engaged. Also, when we have positive communication between us and our remote team members, it's going to enhance collaboration and productivity. And when team members know what others are working on, they can coordinate their efforts, they can share resources, and they can avoid the duplication of work. Because who wants to do something that somebody else has already done? Not me. So we can implement collaborative working tools like shared documents, virtual whiteboards, and task management apps to streamline workflows. And there are a ton of them out there nowadays. So just pick the one that you like the most and try to pick the one that you're going to stick with long term. And of course, you know, we're going to experiment, but when you find the one that works, try to stick with it. And maybe even ask your team for suggestions on which productivity tools they like to use. Also, when we have improved communication on our remote teams, there's going to be a reduction in misunderstandings. And that is one of the biggest things that we want to reduce. Because that is like, whenever you work with people, there are going to be misunderstandings that occur. But the more that we can proactively minimize those, the better it's going to be. And so misunderstandings can definitely occur when messages lack context or tone, leading to unnecessary friction. So I know even for myself, I've gotten into using emojis, maybe in times and places where I wouldn't have used emojis before, because especially when I was working in corporate, it was definitely having those professionally formatted emails and letters and all of those kind of things and having to put myself in Toronto. But now I find that I lean a little bit more towards using emojis at times, because sometimes the tone of what you put in a written text can be read into differently and people have different filters. So the way the filter they have on that day is going to determine how they read that message. And they could just be, hi, how are you doing today? And they could have heard it as, hi, how are you doing today? You know, because they have that kind of filter on or they could hear it in a totally different tone. So if it's appropriate, I like using the emojis, the gippies, all those kind of things to help express the tone. And I like to read it out loud, especially if I know maybe it's a person that may be a little bit touchy, to just try to read it and hear how they may hear it, to make sure that I try to clean it up as much as possible, to make sure that I remove as much of any possible misunderstandings. But the more that you have a better relationship with the person, the more they're going to know your heart and the better that they're going to read the tone of your message. One of the things we can also do as leaders is encourage the use of video calls for important discussions, especially for important discussions. If you're going to terminate somebody, if you're going to fire somebody, if you're going to write them up on a written warning, we want to try and do those things face to face. Even if we can't be face to face physically, we need to be face to face virtually. And if you can't be virtually face to face, then over the phone. There's certain news that you should not ever deliver in an email message or something like that. Sometimes it's just we don't want to take the chicken way out, if that makes sense. Let me say it this way. We want to treat people the way we want to be treated. Also, we can provide guidelines for written communication to ensure that there's clarity. So if there are certain things that need to be formatted a certain way in our organization or on our teams, then we want to make sure that we're communicating that to the team members so that they know what are the appropriate parameters for their written communication. Now let's talk about strategies to improve communication on remote teams. So the first strategy is that we're going to want to establish clear communication channels. And we want to use email for formal communication, instant messaging for quick messages and quick questions, and video calls for those detailed discussions that we're having. And we want to make sure that the team knows which channel is appropriate for which situation, because if it's something that's going to be an in-depth conversation going back and forth, hey, let's just get on a video call or let's just get on a phone call and try to work that out because trying to type it out sometimes can lengthen the process. But if it's going to be something that's a formal document, maybe an announcement, maybe a memo, maybe something like that where it needs to be very formal, you want to make sure that that is in writing. Okay, in writing. Let me say it for the people in the back. In writing. And so again, when it's those quick messages that are just like, hey, can you check on this? Or hey, how's it going with this? Then yeah, definitely instant messaging for those situations, okay? We also want to schedule regular meetings and that's going to help keep everyone aligned and provide opportunities for those real-time interactions or real-life interactions. And because we are people, we like to connect and try not to make all the meetings 100% formal. Like you need to have some times where people can connect because that is going to that camaraderie and camaraderie is going to help solidify your team and bring them together so that they gel well together, okay? And when we have teams where everything is like cut and dry, the people are not connected and when they're not connected, the organization won't tend to have that, the level of loyalty that it can develop from employees and team members. And I can say that I have one of the last organizations that I left because I just ended up moving. I did find out that several customers decided not to continue with that company because I left. They were saying, oh, okay, next year we're going to work with her, et cetera, et cetera. And when they found out that I was not going to be returning, then they decided to look elsewhere. So we want to have that level of commitment on our teams. I've had some leaders that were so fantastic that when they decided to leave, I was like, hmm, can I go with you? Or I've had some leaders that when they left the organization, they were like, hey, you want to come with me? So we want to make sure that we have those relationships built because this is really going to make our organization that much better. So how can we have those regular meetings? We should schedule weekly meetings when it's necessary. You can have daily standup meetings when they're necessary. Those one-on-one check-ins, I truly am a staunch, I believe that's the proper word. I'm a staunch believer in having those one-on-one meetings that you don't have to have them every day. But even if it's like, okay, if you have a team of 200 people, then let's say each day I'm going to try to interact with one person on the team and it doesn't have to be a long interaction. It could just be like, hey, how's it going? What's new? That kind of thing. Or, hey, just wanted to check in on you, see how you're doing. Because those touch points make a difference in the lives of your employees, okay? Because they do look up to you. And so you want to ensure that you are giving them your time because your time is valuable and reasonable employees and respectable employees know that your time is valuable. So when you give them that attention, that just warms their heart and makes their day. We can use meetings. So talking back again about these regularly scheduled meetings, we want to use these meetings to discuss progress that the team or the organization is making, to address concerns that they may have within the team or that you may have, or that the organization may have, and to celebrate achievements. And all of these things should be happening inside of those meetings, especially when they're like the team meetings, discuss progress, discuss what needs to be fixed. And I remember in one organization, I used to have these morning meetings. And so in the morning meetings, I would talk about what was going to happen that day. I would review anything that needed to be adjusted from the day before. At the end of each day, I would evaluate how the day went and say, okay, well, what do I want to have changed for the next, you know, what needs to change immediately? Like what's one of those like non-negotiable things that needs to change so that everyone gets along well and that everything flows as well as it needs to be. So by having those daily quick check-in meetings, I was able to give kudos to the people who did an amazing job and they started giving kudos to each other, which I absolutely love. And then I was able to share, okay, this is where we're going today. And then this is something that happened yesterday that we need to make sure it doesn't happen again. And it kept everyone in the loop and on the same page. So even if it was a group of like 20 individuals, then like, let's say one person may have forgot that I said, hey, make sure we don't do X, Y, and Z today. And somebody in the team is going to remember and say, hey, she said, don't do X, Y, and Z, you know, and we will hold each other accountable so that we can see success. Also, we want to ensure that we create an inclusive environment. We want to encourage people to dialogue openly, to seek feedback and input from all of the team members. And we want to recognize the contributions of our team members because their work matters. So we can use things like icebreakers and try not to use like the old ones, but there are some ones that are just so good. So, you know, they can be creative. And if you had that one person on your team that likes to complain about having icebreakers, then put them in. Your new job is finding us some fun icebreakers. How about that? So we don't just do complaints here. If you're going to complain, you need to bring a solution. If you identify a problem, you're coming with a solution. Otherwise, what are we doing? You know, that's my take on it. But we definitely want to have those team building activities to strengthen relationships. And then we also want to provide clear guidelines and expectations. And when we do that, that is going to avoid confusion. And I talked about that a little bit earlier. We want to create a communication policy that outlines response times, meeting etiquette, and preferred communication tools. And we want to ensure that everyone follows the guidelines just because you hand them the guidelines doesn't mean that they understand them. You want to make sure that it's a work in progress. So like with those weekly meetings or those daily check-in meetings, that's when I could correct something like that. If I see, OK, we're supposed to be using this particular format or method for this type of project or whatever. And then if I see somebody kind of going out the guidelines, I can just say, hey, you know, I noticed yesterday this happened. And the reason that we're doing this, you know, don't forget to use this particular method to do it because we want to make sure that all of the information stays together because we use email instead of using Slack. And it's going to potentially allow something to get lost. So if all the communication for this is supposed to go through Slack, let's send it through the proper Slack channel and try not to send off one-off emails because somebody may miss it or somebody may miss an important piece of the communication because it's happening outside of the platform that we've all been assigned to use. So now we're going to talk about how to use technology to better leverage our communication with our team members. But first, let me ask you a question. What have you done to improve communication on your remote team? And what strategies have worked for you? Make sure you share your thoughts in the comments because it may help another leader. Technology can definitely be a powerful ally in improving communication on remote teams. And I know sometimes people may be like, oh, I hate this app or, oh, I don't like this thing. But, you know, well, we got to use what we got to use. And there's always going to be somebody who says something, you know, and especially if it's new, they're going to complain. But over time, they should get used to it. But if you have that one person that complains about something all the time, you know, that's anyway, that's another video. Maybe I'll link another video here about what to do with those kind of individuals. Now, let's talk about using tools. And like earlier, I mentioned using like Slack, Microsoft Teams, you can use Zoom. There's so many different tools out there, tools to help you organize, tools to do like all kind of cool things. And like I said, reach out to your team members because they may know about some tools that you may not know about. And they may make everyone's life easier. And I'm all about making our lives easier. So we want to explore the different tools and find the ones that best suit our team's needs and regularly review and update our tech stack to keep up with ever evolving requirements because as we know, things are ever changing and we want to try to stay relevant as much as possible to those changes in our industry, especially. Now, if you want to know some of my best tips for leading a remote team, watch this video here. And thank you for watching. Make sure you like, subscribe, share this video with those who you think it may help. And with that being said, make it a great day. Take care.