How the right technology makes virtual teams stronger and more productive

By Evan Kirstel (Linkedin) & @evankirstel (Twitter)

As work from home adoption rates have skyrocketed in the first half of 2020, companies all over the world are realizing the advantages it offers. Many are considering how to implement a “new normal”—a permanent remote work plan of some sort. There’s certainly a wide variety of technology options to support a remote environment that are easy to procure, well-tested, and budget-friendly (some more than others).

You might think I’d tell you choosing the right technology is the most important part of planning a remote work plan for your company, and that’s true . . . but your people should be the first consideration. According to monday.com, the key aspects of successful virtual teams are:

·    Thorough communication both between employees and managers, and as a team

·    The right tech stack to enable communication, collaboration, and project management from anywhere

·    Clear expectations with a way to assign ownership to projects and tasks

·    A team culture and bond solidified through activities and shared celebration for accomplishments

How to Use Tech to Your Advantage

Yes, choosing the right technology is inextricably linked with creating and managing a strong virtual team. But what does the “right tech stack” really mean? It’s not just about connecting people to data and systems. Here are my thoughts:

• People first, technology later: Figure out what the team needs to do the job, then select the tools to accomplish it, not the other way around. Forcing employees to fit their work flows into a pre-cast mold causes frustration and ultimately reduces efficiency.
• The new office: Don’t choose tools to replicate in-office work flows, look for tech that provides fresh ways to accomplish the same goals. Group brainstorming is especially affected, so finding effective team collaboration products is essential.
• Organizational Integration: People may say they’re open to change, but in reality change is hard. Choose tools with user-friendly interfaces that can smoothly integrate into the back-end of existing systems.
• Communication and connection: Choose technologies that connect with the closest thing to a natural human experience. Meeting in virtual worlds is a novel way to strengthen team relationships through human interaction, and it’s rapidly gaining traction.
• User experience: Technology is meant to help, but can often frustrate users to no end. Implementing technologies with high quality, augmented audio and video makes for a more satisfying remote work experience. Happy employees, happy customers.
• Non-company infrastructure: Don’t forget, remote work relies on home internet connections. And if you allow BYOD, add personal and mobile devices to that list. [As an aside, let me stress—if you’re in this boat, make SURE you have strong policies and network security in place.] Your amazing tech stack amounts to nothing if the infrastructure can’t support it.

The WRONG Way to Use Tech for Remote Work

Remote work introduces challenges not present in an office environment. While the right tech stack can enable us to address many of them, it can introduce its own problems. Serious planning once again has to take place to avoid these common pitfalls.

• Always On: Remote work naturally lends itself to isolation and communication breakdowns. Videoconferencing, instant message & chat, email, phone, and text all play a part in keeping communication flowing, but when workers never “leave” their office, burnout becomes a very real risk. Encourage people to turn off devices when not working and clearly define their “unavailable” hours.
• All Work, No Play: Camaraderie with peers is an enormous part of employee satisfaction. Don’t neglect this important factor. Use your communications tools to schedule social and team-building events, like virtual happy hours and team-building activities. Consider physical get-togethers to further support social relationships amongst team members.
• “Videoconference Fatigue”: The concept isn’t new, but the topic has resurfaced in the past few months. Studies and anecdotal evidence show videoconferencing is more draining than in-person communication because many non-verbal cues are missing, which causes low-level anxiety and drains energy. Be careful not to over-schedule video calls.

Work from home adoption will only continue to grow as we emerge from this global health crisis. If you’re considering implementing it as a long-term strategy for your business, take a step back. Take time to strategize. Your greatest assets are your people—the technology is there to support them. Done right, your virtual teams can be even more productive and satisfied than in-office teams.

References:

https://monday.com/blog/remote-work/remote-work-virtual-teams/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/home-alone-making-so-lonely-evan-kirstel/

https://www.hubgets.com/blog/methods-strengthen-team-relationships-during-lockdown/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/augmented-audio-accelerating-user-excitement-evan-kirstel/

This post is sponsored by monday.com as part of their Remote Work series.?