Posts Tagged Collaboration and Communication
Remote Control
Posted by Roger Farnsworth in Collaboration and Communication on January 31st, 2009
You don’t get much more remote than my ranch office; it’s 30 miles by highway to the nearest stoplight. And other members of my team are geographically dispersed as well. So it was with great interest that I read an article by Elizabeth Garone in The Wall Street Journal that deals with the challenges of managing remote employees.
Among her recommendations for success:
- Hire people who are successful at working independently
- Set expectations and define the conflict resolution process early and often
- Train the team members in the technologies you use to communicate
- Gather information on the team members in order to form a more complete picture of them
- Communicate in clear, simple terms
Another concept that Elizabeth discusses is the need to form deep, personal relationships early on in the collaborative engagement. She recommends traveling to the employees’ locations regularly in order to establish and maintain these ties.
The most emotionally charged times in the life of a group project are when the team first forms, during sensitive conflict resolution and when the results are delivered. When a team is spread around the world, it’s hard to establish the necessary early trust or successfully manage conflict.
Often times technology can be used as a catalyst to the formation of trust early in the life of a project team. By bringing virtual teams together via online meeting tools, the emotional sense of connectedness can be increased, ultimately leading to greater success. And the depth of understanding that multimedia communications tools bring can also help make sure there are no misunderstandings during critical negotiations.
These tips apply to particular projects, but in a world where remote workers are becoming more commonplace there’s a need to make all employees feel connected as well. Debbie Tegart talked about this issue of connectedness recently and says that, “Remote workers quit more times than not because of lack of connection NOT because they are unhappy with their job description/tasks.” She recommends using technology to make resources more immediately obvious and to increase a remote worker’s sense of belonging.
Leaders who understand and use these tips can increase the success and satisfaction of their remote teams.
What tips do you have to help improve remote relationships?
Finding the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer
Posted by Roger Farnsworth in Collaboration and Communication on January 29th, 2009
We are seeing an explosion of social networking tools that are designed to bring people together — tools that make it possible for people to connect more easily. James Surowiecki describes the opportunity that comes from capturing the wisdom of crowds; but what if you have a need to capture the wisdom of an individual?
How do you unlock the specialised knowledge that exists in your organisation? There is an amazing wealth of experience and opinion out there, but in many cases it’s trapped in the minds of the individuals. Individuals who, for whatever reason, might be reluctant to advertise their unique value.
Gia Lyons talked about this a while back:
Why is it so hard to get your smart people to share? Because human beings typically share their precious knowledge only with people they trust. Not a software application.
Ah yes. Trust.
Gia goes on to talk about how the spoken word is more effective than the written word in both transmitting knowledge and increasing trust in a relationship. I think that’s very true.
Taking it one step further, I think that direct communication that contains elements of visual connectedness includes an additional emotional component that can expedite the formation of trust.
Combining social networking tools that help manage the complexities and details of large numbers of relationships with advanced communication tools that can increase the effectiveness and depth of a conversation is the best of both worlds.
Technology’s Impact on the World of Business Communications
Posted by Roger Farnsworth in Collaboration and Communication on January 29th, 2009
If there’s one thing that I’m acutely aware of, it’s the blurring of lines between work and home. It used to be that the work week was well defined in both scope and culture. We had a very precise protocol for communicating in the office, using memos, telexes, and carefully structured and painstakingly dictated letters that started with “To whom it may concern” and ended with “Sincerely yours.”
Gone are the days of formal communications. These days you’re very likely to e-mail a colleague from home at 10 p.m. on a weekend or end up in a spirited instant messaging discussion with someone while you’re on a conference call from your home office. The world of work has stealthily crept deeply into the fabric of our lives.
Along with the ambiguity that comes from blurring the lines between work and home comes an additional challenge. The communication tools that we use today (voice mail, e-mail, and instant messaging) have limitations that continually force us to try to adapt our behavior to the medium we use. For example, the other day I fell victim to a misunderstanding that arose from the impersonal nature of instant messaging. Anger flared and feelings were hurt simply because my messaging partner did not understand the emotional context of a series of messages.
We have a whole dictionary of emoticons that are supposed to salve the wounds wrought by the enigmatic electronic word, but aren’t we now in a technological position to eliminate the cause of the pain?
Sincerely yours,
Roger W. Farnsworth
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