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Tips for Maintaining Team Communication While Working Remotely

Like many, Key Tech is following the CDC’s Covid-19 guidance by working remotely. School systems have closed for the foreseeable future in Maryland and in 36 other states so far, requiring parents to work at home while sharing home with their children. Key Tech has been prepared for remote working, partly because we often work remotely already, and also because we created a robust IT infrastructure that had been stress-tested during pre-Covid “Company Work From Home” days.

The Covid-19 pandemic is now putting our preparation to good use. As a program manager with a team of 15 designers and technologists, I must ensure my team continues to communicate effectively and work productively while we are all getting used to this “new normal”. Below are a few guidelines we’ve been following that have proven effective. They may be useful for others who are suddenly operating their teams remotely:

Implement and familiarize yourself with a screen share communication tool, and make this as common as using email – We are using Microsoft Teams as our main communication tool, internally and with our client. Teams has several productivity tools such as quick access to chat, discussion threads, and video calls. There are many similar tools out there, so find one that works best for your team. Whatever the tool, make sure your team always keeps the program open while working so they can be available to their teammates. The more you use it, the more it will become essential your teams’ workflow.

Use video calls frequently for quick conversations  A common inefficiency when working remotely is the lack of face-to-face time that working in-office provides. To mitigate this, make it normal to video-call, even it’s only 30 seconds to answer a quick question! If you’re sitting there thinking, “I wish I were in the office so I could go chat with my teammate about a topic”, then it’s time to video-call.

Use video for all team meetings too – This tip is already widely used in remote meetings between companies because non-verbal cues are critical for effective communication. Video also combats the loneliness of remote working and maintains interpersonal connectedness with the team. Simply seeing each other’s faces makes us feel closer and increases the real-time banter that fuels ideation.

Use the whiteboard features in screen sharing – Drawing on the whiteboard during meetings at Key Tech is par for the course and essential for communicating technical and mechanical concepts. Most screen sharing applications include functionality to draw or annotate the screen – use them! Plus, your drawing skills using a mouse can only get better ?

When in doubt reach out to teammates – Strong inter-team communication is a staple of Key Tech work culture; it’s why we can so rapidly develop solutions to tough multidisciplinary problems. Working remotely, people can feel hesitant to approach someone since they can’t easily see them to know if they’re available. The program manager and team leaders should show by example and also encourage all team members to reach out frequently – to ask for help or bounce around ideas, just as we do in the office.

We all hope this pandemic will subside quickly, allowing the world to get back to working and living in close proximity. I know I’m already looking forward to it. We may also find that post-Covid we’ll more commonly work remotely, having become more familiar with it. Meantime, we welcome your thoughts on the guidelines above. What has your team been doing to maintain efficiency while working remotely?

Alex Flamm


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