Creating a Common Collective for Distributed Teams

We have all experienced an amazing transformation in the last year, one which has, in many ways, accelerated changes that we already beginning to happen, in the way we work, where we work and how we work as part of a team.

The following is a guest article from my friends at CROOW.

Creating a Common Collective for Distributed Teams

Work looks different these days. With the rise of remote work, advancements in communication and collaboration technologies, and team members dispersed in different locations, the overall scope of project management has undergone a major shift. The COVID-19 pandemic has driven major changes in virtually every aspect of our lives, including the workplace. Many industries and organizations have shifted to a remote workplace, which may be permanent for many companies. Without having every team member under the same roof, it has become more complicated to make sure your team is working towards a common goal. Here are six tips for creating a common collective for distributed teams while we face these challenging times.

1. Find the right people.

It’s no secret that hard working people create higher quality work. Finding the right people to hire on your team is key in running a successful distributed team. These employees need to be independent in the sense that they do not constantly need to be checked up on, but collaborative enough to bounce ideas off one another and ask the right questions when needed. Make sure to follow the right protocols when onboarding new team members remotely, and you will set your distributed team up for success.

2. Clarify roles and responsibilities.

Once you get the right team of doers onboarded, it is essential to clearly clarify their roles and responsibilities. Setting realistic expectations for your team will make sure that everyone is doing their part and is held accountable for reaching the goals they need to reach. This way, there are less holes in productivity while completing projects in a remote environment.

3. Leverage communication tools to your advantage.

In a physical office environment, it is easy to walk over to a coworker’s desk to clarify a simple question. However, with a dispersed team, it can be more difficult to keep up with communication. That’s where technology comes in. Using applications like Slack or Microsoft Teams can help your team stay connected on a casual basis to answer simple questions without the need for a formal email or call.

4. Embrace a video-first culture.

While teams cannot not physically meet face-to-face, creating a video-first culture is the next best thing. Conducting meetings and calls on video conferencing software creates more meaningful interactions between coworkers and helps employees focus on the task at hand. Adding the human element of seeing one another’s faces can help team members pick up on nonverbal cues and provide for overall improved communication.

5. Utilize project management software.

Project management software can be a lifesaver for teams that are dispersed. Project management tools allow teams to collaborate with each other in real-time, and allow for multiple people to view and edit a project at once. These platforms can be a great tool for prioritizing tasks and holding remote team members accountable for their responsibilities.

6. Provide feedback and praise.

While physically apart from one another, it can be hard for team members to know whether or not they are producing sufficient and high-quality work. Providing praise and constructive feedback where appropriate can be a great way to make sure your team is on track. Setting up a consistent cadence for feedback can reassure both the employee and team manager that the best work is being produced.

Although many teams and organizations are now dispersed, it doesn’t mean that meeting a common collective is impossible. Following the right processes and going above and beyond in collaboration practices will assure that your team is working towards the same goals at the same pace. Although project management in a remote work environment may seem more difficult, following these guidelines and avoiding common mistakes will set your distributed team up for success.

Interesting thoughts I am sure that you will agree.

Want to find out more? Then check out my friends at CROOW today.

Offering Creative Collaboration for Remote Teams (Centralize access to creative assets and projects – Connect teams for better collaboration).

The Social Project Manager’s Toolkit

What: A Social event exploring everything you need to know to collaborate effectively as a project team

When: Thursday December 1 2016 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Where: The Yacht London is a permanently moored 1927 luxury steam yacht with a fabulous history, situated on the North Bank of the Thames, between Embankment and Temple, in what is known as “The Mayfair of the River”, just a short distance from the Houses of Parliament it boasts magnificent views of the Thames and Southbank

Who: A unique event with both Elizabeth Harrin (A Girls Guide to Project Management) and Peter Taylor (The Lazy Project Manage)

Why: Why should you attend? Elizabeth and Peter, will be exploring the exciting but challenging world of social project management that all companies must embrace in order to be more effective – and they will be providing you a toolkit you can use immediately

Time to book your place:

Join us in a funky social environment – relax, enjoy a glass of bubbles, afternoon tea and a 3-hour fun and practical workshop with two of the world’s leading experts on project management.

FIND OUT MORE

Here’s what will you get from this event…

• Understand the value, in both quality deliverables and reduced waste, in adopting the social project principles
• Learn practical steps to benefit from the social project management world
• Develop better collaboration in your project team including:
  • choosing the right technology for the job
  • build better stakeholder relationships
  • communicate more effectively about your project
• Receive the Social Project Manager’s Toolkit
  • A set of concepts, case studies & practical tools & templates that you can use tomorrow to help your projects adopt the ideas behind social project management

This event is taking place in a beautiful, social environment where you will be able to loosen up, engage with your peers and get ready to be seriously challenged by Elizabeth & Peter as they lead you into a future way of working, learning about and supporting your challenges, and helping you to change the way you do business.

And there will be time at the end of this workshop to chat with both authors/presenters on a 1-2-1.

BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY

Organisations must move with the times, increase productivity, reduce employee stress levels and become smarter in the way they manage projects – it is clear that social project management is the wave of a new and better process for Project Management that can deliver all of this.

The Social Project Manager

A project is a temporary endeavour where people come together to work towards a common goal and purpose; it is therefore a temporary endeavour that must rely on a social system of communication and collaboration in order to succeed.

But for common purpose to be achieved there cannot be chaos.

Social project management is a non-traditional way of organising projects and managing project performance and progress aimed at delivering, at the enterprise level, a common goal for the business but harnessing the performance advantages of a collaborative community.

There is a paradigm shift on-going in many organisations that is about finding a practical balance between the challenges to traditional project management made by Project Management 2.0 – which encouraged a move away from centralised control of projects and instead promoted the value of team collaboration – and the practical recognition that large scale projects do require a stronger form of centralised control and governance. This balance, if correctly made, that will take the best of both worlds and move project management into the highest levels of performance and achievement, into the world of the social project manager.

Based on the book The Social Project Manager: Balancing Collaboration with Centralised Control in a Project Driven World – this is the first in a series of 12 videos exploring the world of the Social Project Manager –

https://youtu.be/A-kt2umTO2U?list=PLVmvTj_zUGUpvHh2X-Ex4kVkHP6n5PYYI