These are for excellent tips when you are working with people remotely. But I think there is something more fundamental. When people are remote, they are generally devoid of “high context” environment in which you can easily see each other’s body language, eye moments (e.g. focusing on you or something else), vocal variety such as tones, and etc. In this lower context communication environment, mis-communication and getting agreements are more difficult. So a simple technique is to validate and follow-up. If you ask your team to do something, ask them to summarize their actions in their words instead of simply asking “yes” or “no”. By follow-up, you are completing the communication loop, and I believe this one tip can save you from ours of grief.
-Te Wu’s Comments on the below Matt Keener / Entrepreneur article
Matt Keener for Entrepreneur writes: Dispersed teams certainly have their benefits. However, conflicting time zones and priorities as well as language barriers may present new and different challenges. Those challenges, in turn, demand answers to questions like, How effective are you at delegating? And: Are you actually creating more confusion than clarity? Here are four project-management secrets for keeping your virtual team running like the well-oiled machine it should be.
1. Avoid email.
It’s 7:02 a.m. on a Saturday morning. You’ve just finished your second cup of coffee, when a game-changing idea pops into your head. You feel tempted to send an email to your marketing consultant, but you know his inbox is already swamped with dozens of your other “great ideas.” How can you ensure this one will actually get traction?
Email is an ineffective means to delegate or collaborate with your team. Each email you send depends upon the receiving party’s ability to read, comprehend and take action. In addition, unless you have a stellar memory or spend time regularly scanning your “sent” folder, there’s a high likelihood that you will forget to follow up.
Instead of sending email, then, leverage the power of project-management systems. For work that requires immediate action with defined due dates, assign tasks via Asana or Basecamp. New ideas can also be stored neatly on a Trello board. Be sure to set recurring meetings for your team to ensure accountability. Use those meetings, too, to review the idea backlog and discuss completed work. By doing these things, you’ll feel less stressed; and your team’s inboxes will be less chaotic. SNIP, the article contineus @ Entrepreneur, click here to continue reading….