Working Virtually
When
I moved back to my hometown, my company decided to start a branch
office to help serve our West Coast clients. Now I'm just about at the
end of my first year working remotely in Seattle for Learning Worlds in
New York. Many of of our clients at larger companies already work
remotely, but it was a new experiment for Learning Worlds. At first we
thought about sexy technological solutions: video conferencing, mobile
robot avatars, and other high tech toys. But as we gained experience,
over time we found a few simple ways to work more effectively.
Appoint someone in the main office to act as "host" for the remote employee.
Rather
than trying to dial remote folks into every single company lunch or
meeting, the host acts as an advocate for the remote employee, relaying
important information that may be missed in emails and conference
calls. This is especially important when something relating to the
group comes up that is hard to infer via electronic means (or hear over
a muffled speakerphone), like a special event or a regional weather
issue.
Make time for watercooler talk.
It's
important for existing teams to make time for the normal office chatter
and exchange, in order to maintain a personal connection with the
remote employee.
Use hosted solutions for document collaboration.
Online
software and documents are unbeatable when working remotely. While we
did have VPN access set up, the immediacy of online resources, such as
GoogleDocs, was far more useful for everyone involved.
Keep time differences in mind.
There
are a variety of widgets that let you see the time in multiple
locations, which is important when your team and your clients are
scattered over the globe. Being on the West Coast, I often had to get
up for a 5am meeting with European clients. Having a tool that lets you
gauge multiple time zones is invaluable when you're setting up
interactions.
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