To operate successfully most businesses depend on people working together in a collaborative manner to achieve key goals. Often this means leaders want their teams to deliver high-quality products or services in the most effective and efficient manner possible, with the proper use of resources. And, of course, they want them to deliver work on time.
So in a world in which many of us are still working from remote locations, how can we virtually collaborate more effectively?
Fortunately, this is still possible and there are some easy ways to make it more effective for you and your team. Here are a few of my tips:
Consider a regular touch-base virtual meeting
Schedule a short 15-minute or 30-minute reoccurring meeting at the beginning or end of each day. Use this time as an opportunity for people to share brief updates on the projects they’re managing. This can also be a time for colleagues to ask for help if they’re stuck.
Since the pandemic, our team has gathered virtually each business day from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Those who can make it, join. They, of course, can skip it if they have a conflict or other deadlines. But having the time to catch up has been beneficial and helpful in place of the informal chats that we used to have when we were in the office. These meetings also provide us with an opportunity to review our progress to our overarching goals, providing everyone with a line of sight into how we’re doing.
Work Together Alone
With Microsoft Teams, I recently was able to successfully work side-by-side virtually with one of my colleagues to provide her with copy edits and collaborate in real-time on the associated graphics. Working virtually together was not only fun, but it allowed us to discuss the changes, share feedback and generate new ideas much more efficiently than if we’d been working in isolation and emailing changes back and forth. If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to give it a go. With screen sharing features widely available in many software solutions, it can be a powerful way to boost productivity.
Leverage Video for Asynchronous Communication
Video can be a fast and efficient way to communicate with team members. With solutions such as Panopto Express, all you have to do is open a browser and you can easily record a presentation – no plug-ins or installs required. Sharing your video is easy, too. Recordings can be published to YouTube, Google Classroom or Panopto itself. This is a wonderful way to share information or provide trainings in an asynchronous manner. We record nearly every meeting we have. This way if a colleague can’t attend and we need their help, we can forward them the video and they can watch it at their convenience, enhancing our collaboration.
During these challenging times, it’s more important than ever to leverage team members’ strengths. Business leaders should continue to look for ways to encourage and establish virtual collaboration habits within the workplace. I hope these tips will help get you started.