Proper Communication to Remote Employees is an Important Way To Increase Productivity

When working with remote employees, managers often don’t have the luxury of relying on visual cues to tell if an employee is truly understanding instructions or feedback. The blank stare, the quizzical look, the phony nod of understanding — all of these staple non-verbal indicators of, “I don’t get it” (or, “I’m not paying attention”) are usually unavailable when working in a virtual environment.

Communication with Remote Employees… A Great Challenge!

Communicating with remote workers can be a challenge, but for any company that has employees or contractors working outside of the office, learning how to properly communicate is an important way to increase productivity. Mashable has a number of employees that work remotely (myself included), and below is some advice for better communication with remote employees based on our own experience and the expert opinions of a pair of startup CEOs who work with remote teams.

Tips for Better Communication with Remote Employees

1. Write Everything Down

Good communication with remote employees must be clear and precise. That’s why it is paramount to make sure all instructions are written down. “Make sure every request is written down and there is a way to engage in an ongoing dialogue as things change throughout the course of a project or task,” advises Ray Grainger, founder and CEO of Mavenlink. “Having visibility into the entire conversation going on within the group creates transparency and accountability. You’ll hear less of, ‘I didn’t see that email’ when [employees] can see the whole thread of conversation.”

Of course, don’t get stuck using a single method of communication. “It’s also sometimes a good idea to change the channels of communication,” says Donna Wells, CEO of Mindflash. “If you’ve been regularly speaking on the phone, perhaps a more visual learner will benefit from reading a plan, digesting and then interpreting back to you how they see something moving ahead.”

2. Be Available

The likelihood of misinterpretation is greater when working with employees who may be thousands of miles away. Make yourself available to remote workers via a virtual “open door” policy and encourage employees to come to you with any issue or problem. This will reduce misunderstandings and make remote workers feel more looped in to company culture. It only works, however, if managers commit to the concept.

“Good listening skills are key. Something as simple as pausing to ask employees if instructions are clear and making sense — more so than you normally would in a live conversation — really makes a difference,” says Wells. “These explicit check-in questions are more necessary when you lose the non-verbal cues you get with a face-to-face conversion.”

3. Keep Everything In One Place

Working from home generally means managing multiple conversations, documents and tasks and communicating with a number of different people, says Grainger. Rarely is email alone sufficient. “For most work-from-home professionals, this typically involves using multiple systems in order to communicate across all these dimensions,” he says.

Good communication relies on keeping that information readily available. “With everything (files, conversations, tasks) in one place, the clarity of needs and expectations for individuals and groups are greatly increased. When everyone has the same view of all activity there is more effective and efficient communication, which leads to better results and performance,” according to Grainger.

One way to keep everything in a single location is to utilize cloud applications, like Google Docs, that allow all stakeholders in a conversation to access the materials together. Wells advises using cloud applications to keep records of conversations in real-time, which are then available for anyone to review between meetings.

“[Cloud apps] give you the benefit of a shared view,” says Grainger. “This helps avoid having people do duplicate work and/or stepping on each other’s toes.”

4. Go Beyond Text

Asynchronous messaging tools like email or private message forums and real-time tools like chat applications, while very helpful for much of your communication with a remote employee, can only take you so far. Don’t be shy about using the telephone or a VoIP network like Skype. At Mashable we make heavy use of Skype audio and video chats, conference calling and other voice tools that allow us to speak one-on-one, in addition to text-based tools like email and GTalk.

Sometimes even that isn’t enough. “We don’t hesitate to spend on airfare when the expense is going to be more than made up for with the productivity gains possible from having everyone in the same room. When you’re making decisions that depend on nuance, intuition or negotiation, or when your team is tackling a new and hairy project for the first time, bring people together,” advises Wells. Her company brings in all of their remote workers — which make up nearly half of the company’s 26 total employees — at the start of development sprints.

“It’s the best way we’ve found to get one of our most important company efforts planned effectively and efficiently. Everyone leaves informed and inspired and can go home and execute,” she says.

5. Be Inclusive

Though most people who choose to work from home do so because they enjoy it or because they’re more productive working that way, working remotely can be lonely business. It’s important to make sure your remote workers feel included as part of the team, especially if your company isn’t completely virtual and some (or most) of your employees work from a shared, physical location.

One of the best ways to be inclusive is not to do everything one-on-one with remote workers, which could accentuate any feelings of isolation. Instead, include them in team calls, provide feedback en masse to the entire department and assign them projects in mixed groups including both remote and office workers.

Source: Mashable

You can read more information and tips on how to have a better communication to your remote employees inside our online marketing blog.