Here's how you can foster collaboration in Business Architecture through remote work.

To Foster the collaboration, the following traits are very much required 1. Gain Trust from all stakeholders upwards & downwards 2. Define achievable objectives & targets (probably including stretched targets) 3. Establish clear communication channels (Notifications, Workshops, Townhalls, Emails etc) 4. Promote a open and candid culture environments and ensure employee engagement 5. Identify and provide all necessary team upskilling activities 6. Solicit 360 degree feedback 7. Implement right tools & systems to ensure accountability

Leverage collaborative technology like Asana, Miro, and Microsoft Teams for project management, design, and communication. Establish clear protocols with regular check-ins, transparent documentation, and standardized communication. Promote a collaborative culture by encouraging open communication, recognizing efforts, and organizing virtual team-building activities. Provide training on remote tools and business architecture principles, and ensure technical support is available. Monitor collaboration effectiveness through surveys and performance metrics, and continuously refine processes based on feedback. These strategies will enhance remote team collaboration, leading to greater efficiency and innovation.

My team often jumps in with a diagram or initial output to get the conversation started. Starting with a blank page is hard and others understand the target better if you give them a head start with examples. Those starters get improved once the broader workgroup gets involved.

It can be challenging to connect and interact with associates and customers in a meaningful way, though I have been working remotely since 2011. Others may often hear your voice, see your photograph, or even see your face on camera, but remote meetings often loses something in translation. It's more critical now than ever before to be available and approachable. Using the right tools, like meeting and messaging apps (including chat), and being visible and present, with appropriate boundaries, is as important as being skilled in your field or industry. Don't rely on email because it's not real time. Pick up the phone and communicate. Be open and flexible. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Reach out and stay connected. Be genuine.

Irrespective of the approach the methodology being used (Agile to Waterfall), this should be a no brainer, however often isn't. The key however, is to recognise that getting clear objectives isn't a one off. You need to get them at the start and maintain them AND then make sure that EVERYONE gets them communicated to them REGULARLY and EFFECTIVELY. The latter means that you are probably going to use multiple different delivery methods and we are not just talking to the IT staff, this must include the end user community.

Nothing is more frustrating than not having clear objectives, particularly when collaborating remotely. Email is not a good form of communication except as a stopgap or to ask questions that aren't time-sensitive. We must clearly communicate our expectations, state achievable goals and/or expected outcomes, asking for clarifying until alignment is evident. But we must also be flexible and sensitive to the needs of others. When we are working towards the same goals, we should connect and communicate regularly, adopting an Agile methodology to ensure we're on track and working together instead of (potentially) at cross-purposes or (worse) spending time on tasks or activities that don't positively contribute to success.

As a customer-facing Sr. Cloud Solution Architect, adaptability and flexibility are key skills. We must be sensitive to the needs of others while maintaining a regular cadence that helps us better communicate and stay connected, often requiring more communication than many are accustomed to when working in an office. Whatever processes and/or procedures we have to help us deliver on our goals and objectives must be dynamic enough to adjust to changing conditions but robust enough to help us be successful. Sometimes, that may require creativity in adapting our processes as needs change over time, and we can't get stuck on the way we've always done things in the past. That was the past. Always consider: Is there a better way to do it now?

Do you have processes that work best when people are in the room? Have you looked at those processes? Do you consider the reality of what remote work can really be? Process equals both freedom and limits.

Both @Monica F and @Scott Anderson have pulled out key elements and actually Monica's would be part of my objectives piece. As Scott alludes to time zones are going to be a challenge and unless the entire team is working in the same time zone or working 24x5 you are going to have problems and while tools may help, in reality ensuring that you have factored this into your communication and contact plans is essential. Flexibility needs to be balanced by cohesion and that needs to come from leadership and not process and challengers like time zones will need leadership to deliver the cohesion as process probably can't be made to solve it wholly.

Effective communication is one of the most difficult "soft" skills to develop and maintain, and none of us are successful at it 100% of the time, especially working remotely. Stakeholders must be fully invested, open, and approachable. We must pivot as needed so we're on the same page and working toward the same goal. To achieve that, we need to communicate more often, sometimes over-communicate--and not by email, which can be too easily misinterpreted or misunderstood. We should communicate every day, even multiple times per day as needed, as well as foster an environment that encourages us to ask and answer questions, as well as take the time and make the effort to freely share knowledge and insights so we an be successful.

Communication is hard, even if you don't have multiple languages as part of the problem. People hear differently, they zone out, they forget (sometimes deliberately), they misunderstand (sometimes deliberately. So communication can't just be one way. Leadership needs to listen and process, confirm understanding and if something isn't working then address the issues that is being brought up and not just sweep it under the carpet. Buy-in is best achieved with cooperation and respect. LinkedIn wouldn't let me contribute to item 7, so here is my suggestion: Celebrate success. Give praise that is specific & genuine. It helps motivation & team spirit & remote teams or wholly home based teams need to be teams & that is hard.

Working remotely can be isolating where we feel like we're floating on our own island in the middle of the ocean where no one can find us. Our efforts and good work isn't as visible, and most of us have a tendency to downplay our contributions so as not to seem over-confident or conceited. So it's especially important that we engender trust in everything we do and clearly communicate expectations, both ours and others'. Avoid biting off more than you can chew, so to speak, and be realistic. Adapt to changing circumstances as soon as they become known. Don't offer excuses but focus on solutions. Take ownership and, more importantly, accountability. Focus on the big picture and not random minutia. Treat others with respect and sensitivity.

What does trust mean in your organization? I am always curious when I consider what trust is. Trust to me means that your organization embraces difference. A wise boss once told me, that ideas that are all the same result eventually in stagnation and failure. Ideas that are different, lift the process, concept and organization to new heights!

Again I am going to call out Monica & Scott. Good points. Trust doesn't happen in 1 day or after 1 meeting & it can be lost faster than it can be won. In this age of remote working, it may be old fashioned, but IMHO F2F's is key, especially for long programmes. It is hard, not always effective & certainly not always needed, but if done right is probably the fastest way of forming a relationship, upon which to build trust, which will only be formed by doing what you said you would do & communicating what went wrong & what you can do instead if you fail.

I am a huge fan of the concept of life long learning. Not ONLY net new learning but also going back and reviewing what you learned before. As a devotee of John Boyd's OODA Loops i am a huge proponent of the feedback loop concept. Just because you learned something yesterday doesn't mean it is right today.