By EDGE Women Speaker Amy Segami
“How did this happen?” Pat, my friend, was frustrated with her experience working virtually.
Used to be able to catch colleagues in the hallway to move projects along, she now found herself constantly waiting for replies. After she emailed the proposal to her colleague, she had not heard back after ten days. When she finally called, her colleague who had been expecting Pat’s proposal said she had never received it. Pat was left shaking her head, wondering “How did this happen?”
A better question is “How could we collaborate more efficiently and effectively?”
During the remote work forced upon us by COVID19, we now have to depend on getting things done together virtually. Without the benefits of seeing your colleagues down the hallway to remind you of project status or that a proposal due date is coming up, you need a different system.
As a business advisor who helps organizations to innovate faster, I have worked virtually on multiple projects with different clients worldwide for almost ten years. Using a Five T checklist, I help my clients and their teams to collaborate efficiently and effectively. You can use these Five T Tips to improve your own virtual collaboration experience:
1) Trade
Consider that every meaningful business interaction is a Trade, meaning that is a value exchange. The most common intrinsic motivation is monetary gain. When colleagues collaborate, a mutual benefit is deepening the relationship through recognition and appreciation. A genuine compliment is worth more than currency. Be mindful of this fact in your exchanges with your team. What can you offer them beyond monetary benefits as a trade?
2) Trust
Without the benefit of seeing the nonverbal communications with your own eyes, leave your “Eye Print” to let them know that you have seen their emails, SMS text, or instant messages. Build trust by acknowledging that you have seen their communications or requests at your earliest convenience. Indicate that you have read it with a quick reply, even as simple as a clap, a like, or a thumbs up. These are the equivalent of a nod, wave, or smile in person. Of course, you decide whom you like to and want to build a trust relationship with.
3) TYA
To shorten the lag caused by lack of face-to-face communication, use TYA which stands for Track “Yes, And.” Yes, use the email as an alert and reminder. And, follow up with text, SMS or a call. And, use your favorite cloud service to upload related files. When your team knows where to locate the information, it is easier and faster to move the project along. This works great for teams with multiple members who need to equally access information to get their job done.
4) Tools
There are lots of apps and software tools to help foster collaboration, such as Asana, Basecamp, Slack, and Monday.com, just to name a few. My favorite go-to tools areDropBox, GSuite, and Trello. They are flexible, affordable, and reliable with a minimal learning curve. With Trust and TYA established, the Tools become a powerful means to connect with each other more actively.
5) Time
Time is non-linear. This is especially true when working collaboratively. Think of it as the runway for a plane to take off. It takes time to build up speed – to build up relationships. Once the bond is set between the team with Trade, Trust, TYA, and Tools at the core, the project will take off at exponential speed.
When your team embraces the Five T: Trade, Trust, TYA, Tools, and Time, you will have an efficient and effective collaboration. My advice is to pick a small project and practice with a few trusted colleagues. This will minimize your frustration and enable a positive experience to get things done together, virtually.
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