How to improve collaboration in a teleworking context

Today, with the advent of new technologies, more and more companies are adopting telecommuting as a mode of operation. This offers many advantages to employees and employers alike. However, this transition to remote working also brings with it a number of challenges.
In this article, we’ll explore the common obstacles encountered by employees in the teleworking context, and share all our expert advice to help you foster collaboration within your structure.

Barriers to teleworking

Remote working can be very useful for companies wishing to improve their performance but, is not without its challenges. Two of the main obstacles employees can face are communication and time management. Indeed, ensuring clear communication and optimal management of working time can quickly become difficult in a virtual environment.

Remote communication

Setting up remote collaboration is a challenging step, especially when it comes to communication. Working remotely offers greater flexibility, but also creates communication concerns. Without face-to-face interaction, employees can feel isolated from their projects and their team. This distance blocks understanding and the sharing of ideas.

Communication, limited by virtual tools, can lead to misunderstandings. Body language cues, which help clarify interactions, often disappear, leading to misinterpretations. These misunderstandings lead to delays, errors and reduced quality of work, affecting the overall efficiency of the team and the company.
How can this situation be resolved?

There’s no doubt that the use of appropriate communication channels is essential to maintain effective collaboration between teams. Regular virtual meetings are an effective way of resolving problems quickly. Collaborative platforms and file-sharing tools are also very useful for maintaining open communication. You can, for example, set up brainstorming sessions to strengthen links between colleagues and foster better communication.

Time management

The transition to teleworking introduces significant changes in your employees’ working methods, challenging their ability to organize the time allocated to each task effectively. These problems become more complex when the team has to coordinate its actions. The fact that telecommuting isolates employees can lead to situations where each person works individually, without having an overview of the others’ progress. This separation leads to redundant efforts and, ultimately, lower productivity.
How can you keep your teleworking staff productive?

There are several solutions available to you, and you can combine them!
Start by implementing an effective global organization strategy. This involves defining a clear timetable, setting precise objectives and prioritizing the tasks that are essential to effective time management for each of your employees. At the same time, encouraging flexibility within the team by allowing schedule adjustments according to need can help adapt to telecommuting.

Opt for high-performance collaborative tools that encourage knowledge sharing, facilitate communication and optimize the use of your employees’ time. These effective solutions strengthen collaboration, improve mutual understanding and boost your company’s overall productivity.

Essential collaboration tools for telecommuting

Instant messaging: the ideal tool for fluid exchanges

Instant messaging platforms provide a friendly, easy-to-use interface. They maintain a real-time connection between collaborators, facilitating direct and effective communication with all teams, wherever they may be. The result? More effective coordination and faster exchanges that help boost productivity and creativity, while creating a sense of unity despite distance.

Did you know?
With instant messaging platforms, you can create project-specific discussion channels, making targeted communication simpler. You can also organize virtual meetings, offering almost face-to-face interaction. If required, you also have the option of integrating third-party tools for a smoother business experience.

Tools to simplify your project management

Project management tools offer a convenient visual interface. They let you keep track of your tasks and distribute them among different collaborators. Using them, you can organize your projects by priority and assign responsibilities to each collaborator. You can also add comments, deadlines and attachments, create dashboards, track dependencies, manage resources and collaborate with your team with ease.
By opting for these project management tools, you’ll get a clear view of task progress, even when working remotely.

Videoconferencing for interactive virtual meetings

Videoconferencing plays an essential role in keeping communication flowing, even for employees working remotely. By using these tools, you can encourage real-time interaction, team discussions, brainstorming sessions and all kinds of collaboration. Screen-sharing functionality adds a valuable visual dimension to communicating complex information clearly and convincingly.
Whether for regular meetings, training, product presentations or other professional needs, videoconferencing helps maintain a direct connection that strengthens team cohesion, even across geographical distances.

Tools for sharing files

When you opt for telecommuting, these tools become real business assets. They play an essential role in bringing all information together and enabling targeted access control to key parties.

Put simply, they let you store your documents in the cloud, which means you can access them from any connected device. Using these tools, sharing files is a breeze, and you can specify who can view or edit. You can choose to be read-only or editable.
As an added bonus, they make it easy to collaborate in real time on the same document, making remote teamwork much smoother. And to top it all off, they even connect with software like Google Docs or Google Sheets.

Agile methods

In turn, agile methods improve efficiency and collaboration in the workplace. These are perfectly suited to the context of remote working.
They are based on the division of projects into several distinct tasks called “sprints”. These tasks are then assigned to all employees, so that the set objectives can be achieved.

Did you know?
To improve teleworking collaboration, it’s advisable to combine agile approaches with the use of digital tools. You have the freedom to select the technologies that best match your company’s culture.

How to cultivate a collaborative corporate culture

When it comes to telecommuting, it’s crucial to promote a collaborative culture within the company. If a new employee joins the company remotely, the welcome must be just as important as if it were an on-site arrival. It is essential to ensure a successful integration by using video sessions and remote team presentations. Organizing virtual team-building activities can also prove beneficial. You can even provide new employees with the information they need to feel included, even while working remotely.

Why promote employee engagement?

Promoting employee engagement can strengthen collaboration and foster a good dynamic within the company. This involves recognizing their achievements as well as setting up a reward system to motivate them.

What is the role of human resources?

The human resources department can create a better collaborative culture within the company. It can :
Organize training courses to encourage employees to work better remotely;
Mobilize exchange programs to help employees get to know each other better;
Set up virtual events to foster team cohesion.
In order to establish a better culture of telecommuting collaboration, care must be taken to foster the integration of new employees, have a strongly committed human resources department as well as promote employee engagement.

The customer experience in the telecommuting context

Coordination between your teams working remotely can influence the customer experience. To counter this problem, it’s crucial to establish solid communication. When teams work closely together, they are more likely to respond to customer needs and offer solutions tailored to their requirements.
In fact, regular communication enables more accurate monitoring of each project’s lifecycle, contributing to better quality service. It is therefore advisable to maintain frequent communication so that each member is aware of his or her tasks and deadlines.