The coronavirus pandemic has forced a rethink in the way businesses used to conduct day-to-day activities. With lockdown restrictions currently in place in the majority of the workplaces, companies are identifying new ways to ensure the smooth functioning of their operations.
The use of visual mediums to conduct team meetings is an improvised strategy, most organizations came up with in the aftermath of the pandemic. Are you looking to build a strong visual team, too? Here are the top five ways through which you can accomplish the task.
Virtual Team: Formulate a Communication Strategy
Communication is key. An effective communication strategy can help businesses maintain success without disruption in day-to-day operations. As a team lead, the onus is on you to make sure that your team members receive the required guidance to work in an effective way. Communication is one of the fundamentals when it comes to team building.
An effective communication strategy should be geared towards meeting both short-term and long-term objectives of your business. It should be geared towards achieving three main objectives:
- Dissemination of relevant and factually correct information
- Use of data-backed insights
- Increased participation
Virtual Team; Know your Communication Tools
With so many interactive tools at your disposal, it can be difficult to identify the best one, especially when it comes to conducting large virtual meets. Lack of face-to-face interactions might come off as an inconvenience, but the proper know-how of digital communication platforms can ensure the smooth workings of your daily tasks.
Start by identifying what type of chat tools will work best for your virtual meets. Skype, Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams are popular among large corporations due to their ease of use and compatibility with desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Google Calendar is extremely useful when it comes to scheduling team meetings.
In case you want to store important documents and minutes of meetings for record keeping, you can go with either Google Drive or Dropbox. These utilities come with a wide range of benefits such as user-friendly interface, custom link sharing, SSL encryption, and ease of access.
Virtual Team: Create SOPS for Conducting Virtual Meets
You cannot expect your employees or team members to show up for a team session in the middle of the night. Devise a set of standard operating procedures for conducting virtual team sessions. Ask your team members for feedback. Each team member should have a say in the timings for video sessions. You can set a duration in which you would want to conduct the meet.
You can decide between daily and weekly meetings depending on the nature of your work. Make sure that your virtual sessions do not exceed the time limit decided. This can affect the daily workflow. You can hold weekly meetings on days where you expect the workflow to be minimal. Communicate SOPS to your team members and make sure that everyone receives them.
Track Weekly and Monthly Goals
You should not let remote work affect your weekly and monthly objectives. Being a team lead, you are answerable to your superiors for the performance of your team, and any negative review can create problems for you.
Devise a proper mechanism to monitor your OKRS. You can conduct individual sessions with your team members to discuss the tasks which require individual effort. Do not overburden any single one of your team members with additional work. Asana is a great tool when it comes to tracking tasks based on priority levels.
Have Performance Reviews
As a team lead/employer, it is your job to have performance reviews in order to assess the performance of your employees. A highly-motivated workforce is crucial to the success of your business. Do not develop the attitude that since your employees are working from home, they might not require appraisals. While they may be able to create a better work-life balance, they still need appreciation for the work they do.
An employee working 9-5 from home with exceptional productivity deserves the same recognition and appreciation he was entitled to receive prior to the arrival of COVID-19. Businesses that are continuing to utilize various performance appraisal methods despite the ongoing pandemic disruptions are more likely to retain their employees and ensure success and growth for years to come.
