5 Tips for Keeping Collaboration Alive Virtually
“In-person collaboration is necessary for creativity and innovation,” says Nicholas Bloom, Professor of Economics at Stanford and co-author of ‘Does Working from Home Work?’
Bloom’s study of Chinese workers found that those who worked from home, as part of a nine-month experiment, were 13% more productive and also reported more job satisfaction. (Bloom, Liang, Roberts, Ying, 2015) This study took place in 2015.
Six years later in 2021, half of the working world has been forced to embrace remote working due to Covid19. For all the benefits, this doesn’t come without significant challenges. How hard is it to make decisions remotely and what can we do to enhance our virtual collaboration?
Tone of Voice and Body Language
One of the major challenges to remote working is that we miss two crucial factors that inform our perception of others: tone of voice and body language. It is estimated that as human beings we can recognize an astounding 250,000 facial expressions, according to research by anthropologist, Ray Birdwhistell.
Non-verbal cues (such as tone of voice and body language) can make up to 93% of the information we perceive from others. These subtle cues can help us to form trust, make decisions, and assess others’ reliability.
Virtual Challenges
Virtual working has three factors to overcome, according to Dr. Karen Sobel Lojeski, professor at SUNY Stonybrook, and the CEO of Virtual Distance International:
Physical Distance – Not being in the same place and/or the same time zone.
Operational Distance – This includes the size of the team, how often the team meets, whether team-members are simultaneously working on other projects, different skillsets, and fluency in technology.
Affinity Distance – How connected is the team? Is there a sense of trust and comradery? Does the team share common goals?
Out of the three, Lojeski found that affinity distance had a far greater effect on team outcome than either physical or operational distance. Meaningful exchanges and mutual trust lead to more creative ideas, innovation, and inspired problem-solving. Lojeski’s research shows that relationships with co-workers are at the heart of successful teams.
So how can we improve affinity distance?
Size
Virtual teams are proven to be more effective when they are smaller, according to research by OnPoint Consulting. The firm studied 48 virtual teams and found that three quarters of the top-performing teams had less than 13 members. Fewer members means that everyone is more likely to feel accountable.
Set aside time for bonding
We know this is easier said than done, particularly on a zoom call. However, virtual teams still need to allow time and space for members to get to know each other on a personal level. You could try having team members give video tours of their home offices or share a recent professional success or personal piece of news.
Shared purpose and vision
Daily check-ins help foster a sense of shared purpose. The meetings should be brief, around fifteen minutes. It’s an opportunity for everyone to share what they’ve been working on and any roadblocks. This way, everyone understands the importance of each person’s role and how their own work is an important part of the greater whole.
Expectations and accountability
It’s important to set structure and deadlines. Having clear-set expectations from the outset is crucial for team motivation.
Be intentional
Most of us know by now that working remotely lacks the proverbial water cooler. Managers and team members alike need to take a proactive role in fostering a productive team. Toptal provides 9 great tips for teams on how to work remotely.
Virtual collaboration tools
It’s important to use specialized tools for work in virtual teams. At Vistasuite, we use Slack for all our written communication. Instant messenger helps team members to feel more connected.
If you’re working with images and video, Vistasuite provides a quick and easy way to share, download, and collaborate on images including photos, videos and PDFs.
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