Are you working from home? Have you found working virtually to be a challenge? The Intercultural team has put together some tips to make life a bit easier for you right now.
Set the ground rules
Set the team’s expectations from the outset. Have discussions with your team and establish ground rules.
- How often are we communicating? What platform are we using?
- Video or no video? To mute or not to mute?
Once the ground rules have been set, it’s easier to focus on the work at hand. You could consider a communication charter that clarifies expectations for everyone.
Communicate, communicate and communicate some more
Working virtually means you don’t have the same frequency or ease of communication as you would in a shared working space. Set up regular times to touch base as a group and don’t forget to spend time chatting informally as you would when you’re co-located.
It’s not what tools you use, but how you use them
A lot of online collaboration tools have features such as screen-sharing, break out rooms, Q&A and chat functions. It’s a good idea to locate some of these functions and learn how to leverage them to increase the quantity and quality of communication within your virtual team.
Identify potential challenges
Working virtually has its challenges, that’s no secret. It’s important though, to identify potential challenges and develop ways that the team can accommodate these. Do team members have kids or elderly parents at home? Is anyone feeling isolated without face to face contact? Working virtually requires us all, as individuals and as a team, to know our limitations and come up with ways to manage them.
ICC’s Cultural Training team has developed and delivered a wide range of virtual programs, from cultural intelligence programs to intercultural collaboration workshops. If you’re looking to increase collaboration within your global team, please reach out to ICC at cultural.training@internationalconsultantscentre.com.
