Remote work is clearly here to stay. As a remote team manager, you must set standards and provide tools to improve communication among your team. Keep reading to learn some helpful strategies, plus a few surprising ways that a virtual office background can bolster these efforts.
Open Communication
Maintaining high-quality communication is key, no matter what type of workforce you manage. With remote teams, it’s even more critical. While having team members in different locations may make effective communication challenging, it’s far from impossible. Some useful practices can help you achieve this goal.
Communication Channels
Collaboration platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams offer unique benefits. Depending on the platform you use, you may or may not use a separate app for video conferencing. Regardless of which solutions you use, your team members should understand how and where to communicate with you and each other. With that in mind, it’s important to evaluate how you’ll use your available channels.
Text chat, direct messaging, and video chat tools can support either synchronous or asynchronous communication. Synchronous methods, such as video and voice chat, are best when you need immediate responses from your team. Asynchronous tools, such as group text chat and direct messaging, are ideal for communications that do not require a fast response.
Group Vs. One-on-One
When considering communication, you should think about how to best handle it with your group versus one-on-one. Both text and video methods offer distinct advantages in each situation. Synchronous communications, especially video chats, are excellent for fostering collaboration but require a time commitment and greater engagement. Video is an excellent platform for team meetings, while text is excellent for asynchronous communications — for example, checking in with the team or handling questions.
Status Meetings
Video chat offers several benefits for remote teams. Offering face-to-face interaction can encourage relationship building and allow users a fuller range of emotional expression — qualities which are less evident with text-based methods. While video meetings can’t completely replicate in-person contact, they offer such benefits without requiring workers to come to the office.
Video conference tools can support nearly any kind of meeting, especially regular status meetings. You may hear these called “standup meetings,” but the basic idea remains the same. Team members check in and provide status updates on their work, ask for help, and offer solutions to support teammates.
During status meetings, you want to promote friendly and collaborative interaction in a professional atmosphere. Virtual backgrounds contribute to your goal in several ways:
- Improving aesthetic appeal
- Minimizing visual clutter
- Encouraging professionalism
- Promoting team unity
You can find many sources for the best Microsoft Teams backgrounds online. Platforms like Virtual Office provide clean, modern, office-themed backdrops with attractive styling. These backgrounds incorporate a partially blank wall, which lets you seamlessly integrate your organization’s logo. You don’t even need graphic design skills: All you do is upload your company’s logo, and Virtual Office does the rest.
Communication and Team Success
Combining advanced technology with the human factor, remote teams enjoy optimal and efficient communication. Carefully chosen tech tools plus Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams customized backgrounds can help strengthen unity, collaboration, and interpersonal connections.
| Guider Man Homepage | Check Here |
