Collaborating Remotely

Have you ever tried to bust a piñata while blindfolded, with a group of people trying to give you directions?  Too high, too low, further to the right.  It can be tricky to hit the target when you can’t see what everybody else can see. Collaborating with remote team members can be a bit like this! 

Collaborating remotely presents a unique set of challenges that are not present in face-to-face interactions.  While technology has somewhat bridged the gap, many teams struggle when distance is involved.   True collaboration is more than just providing your team with web conferencing software.  Although such tools can facilitate collaboration, there is much more you must do to keep your team engaged. 

• Involve stakeholders early and deeply

Stakeholders are more likely to become interested in collaborating if they are involved in the project from its early stages.  Include everyone early in the project lifecycle.  While face-to-face communication is expensive and may put an early dent in your budget, this is when face-to-face interactions count.  Consider multiple kick-off meetings in multiple locations.  If face-to-face is not possible, ensure you use rich media.

• Encourage initiative

Build a team culture that openly challenges and questions, accepts risks, and tolerates a bit of a stumble now and then. Note that this can be difficult for team members whose cultural background discourages risk-taking. However, you can use small intrinsic rewards—even just a free coffee card—to motivate people and encourage initiative.

• Be clear about expectations, roles, and responsibilities

Collaboration works best when everybody is clear about what they are supposed to be doing and how they are contributing to team goals. Avoid confusion by having clear team goals and well-documented communication, stakeholder, and human resource management plans. Reinforce these plans regularly to ensure common understanding. If possible, allow for cross-pollination when creating and updating these plans for greater, more diverse views.

• Distribute leadership

Ensure the team is supported by leaders who are distributed around project locations.  The team should always have access to a decision maker to resolve issues quickly.

• Deploy collaboratively developed processes for team decision making

It is important to realize that not all decisions require collaboration.  If the team accepts that some decisions can be made without collaboration, work can continue without the team getting bogged down in unnecessary detail. Document how this is going to work, and get agreement from your distributed team members. For decisions best made collaboratively, follow practices designed in advance, and ensure critical parties can have their views considered.

• Do the work required to build trust

If trust is present in the team, conflict between team members is minimized. A lack of trust is a real barrier to effective collaboration. Make time to spend with your team members virtually and face-to-face, and seek to build trust-based relationships. Connect on a human level, not just in task contexts.

While teams working at a distance have unique challenges, the tools to overcome them are available.  A team that collaborates and communicates effectively is much more likely to bust that ever-swinging piñata.