master remote collaboration
TRANSCRIPT
THE ART OF STAYING PRODUCTIVE EVEN ACROSS DISTANCE
SIMPLE TECHNIQUES TO MASTER REMOTE COLLABORATION
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In the past several years, virtual teams have become a key trend in business. More and more companies prefer to work with their project teams spread across multiple near or far locations.
Despite the obvious perks, like saving time on daily commute and being able to work from any chosen place and time, remote collaboration brings up several organizational issues like how to stay in control and sync with your team.
Introduction 2
Why would this e-book be helpful?
•Itwillgiveyouasnapshotofthetrend,withfactsandfiguresaboutremote collaboration
• It will provide an in-depth look at the main threats and dangers of working across the distance
• And, most importantly, it will arm you with practical and easy-to-implementtechniquestoovercomeallthepossibledifficultiesalongthe way.
So, buckle up and enjoy the ride!
“Almost all teams are virtual today. It may have been a very long time since you completed a project where everyone worked face-to-face throughthe whole thing. It takes a thoughtful combination of people, technology, and process to gain the value
of virtual work. This short ebook is a great start with real world examples.”
TerriGriffith,ProfessorofManagement,author of The Plugged-In Manager
CHAPTER 1The truth behind remote
collaboration: Facts and Stats
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
One night several members of our team shared the same dream. Theysawemptyofficesanddustywatercoolers,peopleincozypants and people chilling in hammocks during prime working hours. These focused but smiling people all over the globe had one thing in common. They were working remotely. And they rocked it.
Excited and intrigued, our team members woke up and decided to run an independent survey to see where things currently really stand with remote work. This survey revealed some fascinating points, and we just couldn’t keep them to ourselves.
To make sure we truly got the big picture, we ran the survey with 1,000+ international respondentsrepresentingorganizationsofallsizes,fromsmallstartupstoFortune500corporations.
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
Remote Collaboration: Current state
So, how widespread is this trend? Apparently – more than our oracles from the team could imagine.
83% of the respondents said they spend at least an hour or two working remotely every day.
Have you ever checked on the latest update for your project while lying in bed in the evening, or shoot an important e-mail on the go, or, perhaps, worked the entire day remotely from home? If your answer is “yes” to at least one of these questions, count yourself in the majority dealing with remote work at least occasionally.
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
The trend is growing
As many as 43% reported that today they spend more time working remotely than they did 2 or 3 years ago.
43% 83%66%
So,doesanyonestillonlyworkintheoffice?
It appears that only 17% of people do. Considering that there are certain industries where virtual work is physically challenging — for example, with work involving manual labor the number is impressively low!
The main question here is “Why?”
43% of respondents work remotely more often
than 2-3 years ago
66% believe that their office might go fully virtual
in 1-5 years
83% spend at least a part of the day working from home
Outof1000+employeesthattookpartinoursurvey
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
Why do employees work remotely instead
oftheclassical“officemodel”?
For more than a third of respondents, the answer is – time. The saved time that you can spend with your friends and loved ones, or on personal projects is what matters the most.
41% Saving time
Increased productivity
Other
Focus on work, not on office policies
20%
10%
29%
Theotherbenefitsare:
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
Crucial!
89% of people are ready to make some “sacrifices” for the sake of beingabletowriteamonthlyreportfromthecozyhammockinGoa.
Howimportant,doyouthink,peoplefindthe opportunity to work remotely?
78%
54%
31%25%
Would accept reduction in salary
Would accept reduction in vacation
Would forego paid cellphone plan
Would forego free meals
But working remotely is not all sunshine and roses. Or, better yet – not all hot tea and a warm blanket. So...
Outof1000+employeesthattookpartinoursurvey
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
Whatarethemaindifficultiesof remote collaboration?
22%
38% Lack of direct communication
21% Hindered data accessability
19% Poor visibility into colleagues' actions
22% Other
38% 19%
21%
Any solutions out there?
Apparently, yes. To handle those tricky challenges, the vast majority of respondentsrelyononlinecollaborationtools.Specifically,87% think that solutions like GoToMeeting, Wrike, etc., are mission-critical for managing teams across distances.
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
Mirror, mirror on the wall, what’s in future for them all?
Our survey revealed that remote collaboration holds a stronger position than one might think. And the respondents expect it to grow even larger with time.
See for yourself: one in four respondents foresees his office going fully virtual within just a year or two.
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
47%
Business owners
50%36%47%
Executives Managers Team members
Whoisaffectedthemost?
The executives appear to be the most involved with the current trend of remote collaboration:
Almost 47% of business owners predict a rapid shift to virtual teams in their companies. As they are the actual decisions-makers, this may be a great sign for the big future of remote working.
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Chapter 1. The truth behind remote collaboration: Survey findings
Take aways:
• Remote work is already an integral part of many people’s work styles;
•Workersacrossallorganizationallevelsexpectacontinuing expansion of the trend;
• One of the most powerful forces driving this forward is the rapid, ongoing development of cloud and mobile applications.
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CHAPTER 2How to make it work.
Tipsforfine-tuningcollaborationacross distances
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
The perks of virtual collaboration are quite obvious. It gives employees the freedom to choose where and how to work, allows companies to plug in the best talent across several locations, and even contributes to saving the environment as employees don’t drive to work. However, keeping a virtual team in sync across distances can be quite a challenge for any manager.
In this chapter, not only will we give you an arsenal of tips and techniques to deal with the challenges of remote collaboration, but we will also back them up with multiple case studies. No made up solutions here. Just the ones that work :)
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
Carrot or Stick?
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
• The bigger the virtual team, the less people tend to communicate. A joint study by a few European universities shows that communication and overall productivity tends to sufferwithteamsof20+members.Inordertonotgetlostinthemiscommunication pit, make sure everyone on the team follows the communication ground rules. Be it a process of logging in task updatesandfilesinthetaskmanagementtool,oraparticularreporting system.
• Flexibility pays off. One team member might need more guidance and peer review, whereas another might be more comfortable working independently. Being a bit of a psychologist is a helpful skill for a project manager and a valued bonus for the teammates.
Thefirstthingaleaderandhisvirtualteamneedforsync,efficiencyandsuccessisacommongroundintermsofworkorganization.
Stick path: Set the ground rules
Every team is different and needs to co-create its own process. As mentioned in The Plugged-In Manager, a book by prof. Terri Griffith, it’s important to negotiate to create a workflow that works for the people in involved.
Keep in mind that:
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
The devil is in the details
Karan Sorensen managed a global infrastructure project at Johnson & Johnson and paid extra attention to team communication rules. The decision that made her project a huge success was quite simple. She thoroughlystudiedherworkers’culturaldifferencesandtimezonesand planned calls to match people’s schedules (so that certain people weren’twokenupbycallsatmidnight).Theeffortspaidoffinspades.Sorensen completed the project under budget and well ahead of her deadline,savingJ&Jmorethan$200millionoverthreeyears.
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
Apparently, it’s not only a material reward that matters. Our recent study on working habits showed that it is the sense of responsibility that works best for motivating team members!
To lift up your team’s spirit:
• Let people take some responsibility for the project’s successand make sure team members are aware of each other’scontribution. In a virtual team, it’s easier to lose grip of eachother’s responsibilities and actual workload. So sharing this datahelps to build trust amongst the distributed team. As well as settingclear goals and expectations, make sure that individual roles andresponsibilitiesarepublicizedwithintheteam.
• Highlight short-term achievements at your weekly meetings andcelebrate bigger milestones as you reach them.
• Think of sending thank-you e-mails and regularly give praisefor good results – everyone likes being appreciated. For instance,Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, a company known for its exceptionalorganizationalculture,sendsmotivationalopenletterstoencouragehis employees as a part of his “happiness framework.”
• Besidesverbalappreciation,considerofferingyourworkersperkslikeonlinecourses,sendingasmallpersonalizedsouvenir,etc.
Carrotpath:findwaystomotivateyourteam
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
Wrike’s tip: Visualize the progress and responsibilities
In Wrike, every time someone starts working on the task it is displayed in the common Activity Stream (newsfeed). This way, every team member can see what others are working on at the moment, get a better understanding of each other’s workload and responsibilities, and even collaborate on the task by leaving a comment right from the Activity Stream.
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
Imagine two possible scenarios.
In the first onePitt,acopywriterworkingremotely,iscommunicatedtobyhisboss,Jane,onlyviastatusupdatesandreports.Pittdoesn’tfeel involved in the company’s life and doesn’t actually feel a part of the team. As a result, he isn’t that committed to the project or the goals.
In the second scenario,JanegoestheextramiletomakePitt’scommunication with the team at least partly real-time. Knowing how crucial it is for both operational and psychological health of the whole team,sheorganizesregularSkypevideocallsandmakessurePittfeelsincluded in the everyday life and work of the group.
Which scenario do you think would work better?
Communicate instead of checking
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
Internal communication
Your remote team members are deprived of the usual water cooler conversations which, according to Gallup studies, significantlyboostteam’s productivity. So, it is important to ensure your virtual colleagues maintain a constant dialogue with the rest of the team.
Tocompensatethelackofpersonalcommunication,tryorganizinginformal video calls with “virtual water coolers”, where your team members will be able to discuss some personal aspects of their lives as well as work issues. Some companies also introduce buddy systems and coaching to increase the level of “relatedness” in the team.
Of course, the overall atmosphere within the team does depend on each team member, but as this recent research from the American PsychologicalAssociationshows, the team leader plays a special part init.Basedontheexperienceof40globalremoteteams,researchersconcluded that when the team leader communicated frequently, the virtual team member was much more likely to contribute to team decision-making.
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
Wrike’s tip: Open communication
Wrike’steamisspreadacrossseveralofficesandtimezones.Opencommunication is what makes things work for us.
ThisishowourVPofCustomerSuccessseesit:
“Within the customer success team that I lead, I’m always available for open discussion, brainstorming improvements, and getting feedback on various ideas (constructive criticism is very welcome, too!). We work very closely with the engineering and
marketing departments. I think this is one of the key things that support a very friendly and positive atmosphere within the company.”
NicBryson,VPofCustomerSuccessatWrike
External communication
Let’s look at remote collaboration from another angle - communication with project stakeholders. Have you ever experienced that project progress reporting that is ultimately formal anddry?The“20taskswerecompleted”style.Then,youprobablyknow how unhelpful and general it actually is.
Spark your communication with more details. For instance, give a brief overview not only on what was achieved, but how; what interesting observations were made, etc. Add in some fascinating and even funny details that will give your stakeholders a better understanding of the process and not only of the results.
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
According to research, at least 46% of virtual team members have never seen each other face-to-face,and30%onlymeetonceayear.
Although it may be a costly and not very easy thing to do, whenever yougetachance,organizeateamface-to-facemeeting.Intheirbook,Uniting the Virtual Workforce, Karen Sobel Lojeski and Richard R. Reilly notice that the face-to-face meetings can be especially important in the initial stage of the project, when there are major hitches that need to be discussed openly, and when presenting results to clients.
Face-to-face interaction is alwaysa good idea
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
• It’s easier to treat a new remote colleague as a “foe”. If youhave the opportunity, make the onboarding meeting face-to-face.In his book Your Brain at Work, David Rock describes what thebrain goes through when you meet a new person. It automaticallyconsiders him a foe. However, a simple handshake, swappingnames and discussing something in common, be it the weatherortraffic,isoftenallittakestomakethebrainswitchfrom“foe”to“friend.”
Inthesituationwherethefirstmeetingisvirtual,it’simportantto leave some time for people to get acquainted and “related.” Give your teammates a chance to exchange a couple of personal pictures, tell a little bit more about themselves, or just have a little chit-chat about the day in the beginning of the introduction call.
• Travelling to your remote offices will contribute to bonding.HartwellPacific,aglobalmetalrecyclingcompanythatoperatesinsixdifferentcitiesinfourcountries,cameupwithaninterestingglobal management system. They created a mobile managementteam of the executive committee members from Headquartersand a general manager of each subsidiary that met monthlyatdifferentlocationsaroundtheworld.Thisbrokedownthegeographic and psychological borders between subsidiaries andinvolved all of the senior managers in a regular, rigorous businessanalysis of each operation.
• Nothing unites people more than shared positivememories.So,ifpossible,organizeafieldtripforthewholeteam,and make sure your remote team members are there as well.
Keep in mind that:
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
Wrike’s tip: “On air” time
At Wrike, we give a particular team member some “on air” time during the all-hands meeting to let the remote colleagues get to know that person a little better. From time to time every team member acts as the team’s representative on the call. This also increases the “relatedness” and the sense of general responsibility.
While working in a virtual team, it’s often easy to get captured by the feeling of “seeing the forest and forgetting that it’s made of trees,” as Joseph Ferrari puts it. That’s why it’s soimportanttofirsttackleasmaller“tree” or a “branch,” i.e., a task that looks more feasible, and then deal with the remaining work.
Keep it granular
When constant communication is impossible, splitting work into smaller tasks might be a helpful tactic.
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
The benefits:
• It’s easier for the worker to clearly understand the goals and the expected result;
• Tracking progress (for managers, stakeholders and customers) and reporting (for workers) becomes easier. When the team reports on a more granular level rather than abstractly saying that“60%iscomplete,”youdon’tneedtorunmeetingssooftento clear up the details. You get the opportunity to receive earlier feedback from your stakeholders and make sure you’re moving in the right direction.
• Beating an enemy like procrastination might be another productivitybenefitofthismethod.
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Oneofthemajorhindrancesforvirtualteamsisdifficultaccesstorelevant project information.
Sharing isvitalformakingworkflowtransparent.
And guess what makes a good virtual teammate, according to RWCultureWizard’ssurvey? That’s right. The fact that “He shares information!”
When your team is spread across the country and even the globe, it becomes especially important to keep all plans and updates available for other teammates to see. This way, they aren’t spread across personal storage spaces, but can be accessed in real-time by everyone who’s impacted.
Makesureyoufindasuitablesystemthatwouldconnect all your project data together as it can make the work of you and your teamconsiderablymoreorganizedandsavevaluabletime.Wrike, for example, can help gather all your project schedules, task descriptions andupdates,includingcomments,latestfileversionsandplanchanges.
Sharing is good
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
One of the biggest perks of running a virtual team is the opportunity togetthebesttalent.Neithergeographynorculturaldifferencescanstand in the way of creating something great together! The nice thing abouthavingateamspreadacrossseveraltimezonesisthatyoucanbuild a feedback loop that would basically last 24 hours a day. It might also become the basis for leveraging the open innovation model in yourorganization.
But, keep in mind to always leave place for some fun. After all, it’s one of the main reasons we do what we do, isn’t it? :) For example, employees of Volvo IT,anorganizationwithaglobalstaffofmorethan60,000people,wouldorderfooddeliverytoanofficeinanothercountry, and this would bring up a short, impromptu party.
By the way, in our survey, a good mood was ranked as the No. 2 efficiency trigger, after a sense of responsibility. So giving your virtual workers a reason to smile might pay back.
All in all, Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, put it in a really nice way: “Have fun, do good, success will come.” We sign under it.
Let’s get creative!
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Chapter 2. How to make it work. Tips for fine-tuning collaboration across distances.
Take aways:
• Even though remote teams lack the opportunity to communicate directly and discuss issues face-to-face, there are helpful ways to make their collaborationsmoothandefficient.
• A virtual team can actually be no less, and sometimesevenmoreefficientandsuccessful,than a co-located one. The virtuality gives you an opportunity to broaden your geographical and talent reach!
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Conclusion
Our journey has come to an end.
We hope that you enjoyed the ride. Now,youjustneedtofindyourownmixof methods and tools to get the best from your remote project team.
To productivity and beyond!
With love,The Wrike Team
Appthatmakesremoteteamsefficient!
Start free trial
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Eager to learn more?
• The past, present and future of remote collaboration: Wrike's new infographic
• Virtual water-cooler breaks: The value of informal communication in remote teams
• Project schedules, hamster wheels and your team's hidden superpower
• 5 practical tips on making virtual collaboration efficient
• First-hand experience to succeed with a distributed team
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