The 5-step path to virtual team communication
First, make sure your team is working together. There are five steps every team must climb to reach the ultimate communication success: collaboration.
Five Levels of Teamwork
The five stages of cooperation
Let me explain the five stages in more detail.
Networking: The team has just been put together. The members know that they work for the same company, but they don't know much about each other. Their roles are not yet defined and there is little communication, so they make all decisions independently.
Collaboration: As bonds within the team become stronger, networking becomes collaboration. Although communication is still formal, members share information more frequently than before. At this level, roles are loosely defined, but decisions are made independently and without consultation.
Coordination: Coordinated teams are well-organized teams, and well-organized teams produce results. At this point, resources and information are regularly shared and exchanged among members through frequent communication. Roles are clearly defined, and some decisions are made collaboratively.
Unification: The team now knows that ideas and resources should be shared intensively and comprehensively in order to achieve high-quality results. Communication takes place regularly and is very important. The voice of every single member is heard.
Collaboration: There is an atmosphere of mutual support and consideration. Each member feels like they are part of something bigger and belong there. Consensus is a must in decision-making and mutual trust promotes regular communication.
Only when your team has reached this fifth level and you feel that they belong together and trust each other completely, can you speak of “real” collaboration.
The purpose of this order is not to ask the question: “Is teamwork a good thing?”
It's about finding out if something is going wrong. The following five warning signs show that the collaboration may not be going as smoothly as the manager hopes.
5 warning signs of remote team collaboration
Imagine the following situation:
A team is tasked with creating a website for a specific client. The team consists of five members: a web designer, a graphic designer, two web developers and a project manager.
Imagine that this project manager is you .
All team members are complete strangers to each other: they live in different parts of the country and since the work is done remotely, they will probably never meet each other in person.
It is a perfect breeding ground for problems:
1. Recurring errors
Even though the web designer and developer were given clear instructions, images on the website were not optimized and the loading time is worse than trying to watch Netflix on an old modem. The designer and developer were reminded of the project expectations.
However, the problem remains.
Recurring errors as a sign of poor team communication
Unnecessary errors are the most common sign of poor virtual communication.
The solution?
Find out the cause of the problem and talk to team members individually. philippines telegram data (The person who says there is no problem is often the cause.) Ask the team for their views on the reason for the poor team performance and ask for suggestions for improvement.
Based on your team feedback, create an action plan with concrete steps and present it when both parties are present. Their reactions are a good indication of whether your solution is acceptable and implementable.
2. Lack of feedback
The graphic designer has finished working on the website logo and presented it to everyone involved. You give your feedback within the first ten minutes.
Within the next hour, only one other member gives their opinion. After that (even though everyone is online and has undoubtedly seen the post)... nothing!
facepalm
Either team members believe it is not their job to comment on work in an area they are not specialized in (even if it is a five-person team and they have been clearly encouraged to engage in all forms of communication).
Or they feel that other people’s work doesn’t deserve their time – or their words.
The solution for the first case is obvious: Make it clear that feedback is more than welcome, no matter who it comes from.