The Basics of Working Remotely
With technological advances and more limited funding, many workers are finding themselves part of a virtual team for the first time in their careers. For some, this is disconcerting at best and terrifying at worst. For others, it’s the best thing that could possibly happen.
Whether you’re excited about working virtually or nervous about what it could mean for your efficiency and how your job gets done, there are some basic things to keep in mind that should help make your experience positive. Who knows? You may find that you like being a remote worker better than you liked being on site.
Generate Ground Rules
If you’re not presented with a set of basic expectations when you start your job, be sure to ask about them. Find out what your deadlines are, how fast you’re expected to turn work around, how often you need to check in, and what your overall goals are. Knowing these things will help ensure your success.
Stay in Sync
Find out what your goals are, or participate in the process of generating them if your team uses social goals, and keep them ever before you. If everyone on the team knows what the overall goals are as well as their personal ones, the team will work together well. But if even one person gets out of sync, it will be much harder for anyone on the team to find success.
Communicate Clearly
Part of maintaining focus on goals is communicating often and well. Before you even try to communicate, make sure there’s a plan for how and when to do that. If there’s not, make some suggestions. Ask your boss when it would work to make contact on at least a weekly or by-weekly basis, and set up similar meetings with other team members with whom you’re working closely.
You’ll also want to make sure that you are as easy as possible to understand. Whether you’re communicating with your team by email, over the phone, or via video, it’s always easier to be misunderstood when you’re not standing in front of your co-workers, communicating in person. Use straightforward language and simple sentences, and be sure to clarify anything that seems to be taken the wrong way.
Maintain Motivation
Working on a virtual team means that you’re more responsible for your own motivation than you would be if you worked on-site. Therefore, it’s important that you understand your work style and personality. For instance, if you’re an extrovert, you’ll need to make sure you have enough interaction with other people so you don’t get burned out.
If you need certain things to maintain your motivation and find that they’re beyond your control, talk to your team manager to see if they can help. After all, even though you’re working remotely, they bear some of the burden for keeping you happy. If they can easily do something to make the experience better for you, they should be happy to do so.
In the End…
Working remotely isn’t necessarily a positive or a negative experience. Instead, it is what you make of it. When you make sure each of the things mentioned here is in place, you have a better chance of loving your job even when you’re not surrounded by your co-workers.
Image courtesy of Britt Selvitelle.
