Working remotely is beneficial, but companies find it challenging to manage their employees collectively. Lucky for you, we have listed the ten common collaboration mistakes managers typically make while working remotely. So, you can steer clear of them.
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Not Having The Right Tools
When you’re not working alongside your co-workers, you can’t go into their office to drop reports or have face-to-face conversations. Thus, employees are going to need proper tools for communication, team collaboration, project management, sharing files, tracking time, etc. Providing these tools can boost their productivity while enabling them to collaborate as a team effectively.
A collaboration tool like NextPlane helps businesses seamlessly connect any internal or external team across UC (unified communications) and team collaboration platforms.
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Not Communicating Effectively
Miscommunication or lack of thereof may lead to severe complications later on if not solved aptly. When multiple people are working on the same project, it’s necessary to keep them all updated in case of any changes. If not, it can cause differences between team members, which leads to unsatisfactory results.
By using communication and project management tools, you can help team members collaborate efficiently while delivering productive results.
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Not Being Flexible
The best thing about working from home is the freedom to work when you and your team want. There’s no restriction on place or time. By being too rigid about working schedules and arrangements, companies hinder employee productivity and well-being. You must be attentive to your employee’s routines and lifestyles.
Perhaps some of your employees have to home-school their children or help out in household chores, which may prevent them from following strict working hours. Hence, develop flexible working schedules for each employee to derive better results.
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Not Designing A Strategy
COVID-19 has caught many organizations off guard. Companies are unable to establish working policies and strategies that’ll be suitable for their company in these times. Without a clear strategy, you’re open to risks on low productivity and unsatisfactory results. Thus, it’s essential for managers to plan a clear-cut strategy before initiating a project.
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Not Setting Clear Objectives And Expectations
One of the gravest collaboration mistakes you can make is being unclear about your expectations and desired goals. Employees should know what their responsibilities are in order to make a project fruitful. They also need to know other online working policies such as flexibility in working hours, deadlines of submitting reports, etc. Doing so eliminates confusion among team members and they won’t under-deliver themselves.
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Not Respecting Working Hours
Working remotely doesn’t equate to being available for work anytime. Employers and employees must decide and stick to reasonable working hours to avoid burning out. It’s also important to keep room for frequent breaks because it gets difficult to keep oneself motivated throughout when working from home. Besides that, never keep employees working longer than the scheduled time.
- Not Considering Time Zones
Not being considerate of different employee time zones can come off as disrespectful. Just because you’re available at 12 noon doesn’t mean your employees will be. Also, everyone has their productivity hours and their personal lives to look after. Therefore, consult each employee before scheduling a meeting or deciding the working hours.
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Not Giving Feedback
Conduct annual performance reviews, take surveys, schedule one-on-one meetings, and so on to keep a check on your employee’s growth. Give them feedback on their work, both positive and negative. Employees thrive when they receive feedback on their performance. Also, don’t forget to create learning opportunities for them to do better.
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Not Creating A Supportive Environment
You cannot achieve your goals if you fail to create a collaborative working environment. Instead of focusing attention on individual performance, shift focus to team efforts. This inculcates teamwork among employees and eliminates any unhealthy competitive behaviors. A supportive environment adds positive energy among the team.
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Not Connecting Socially
The downside to working online is feeling disconnected from your co-workers and employees. If COVID-19 has shown anything, it’s that we must put in more effort to stay connected. Thus, check on your employees regularly and discuss their personal lives or routines. Likewise, encourage communication between employees that isn’t work-related. Always, stay connected with your team.
You may be interested in: “5 tips for improving your productivity and mental health working from home”