Working from Home-When working from home one has to keep in mind that the office is home and vice versa. Therefore the ambience, room, workspace etc should be kept formal, all the more if you will be on video conference/calls. Even otherwise the ambience which is formal will keep you serious about work. If you will be on skype keep the background clutter free. A professional ambience keeps the esteem high even if that was a honorary job.
Communication -The key to the success of remote working is communication. Honing the skill is instrumental for both layers,supervisors and team members.Various aspects like the tone,attitude,encouragement,warmth ,dissatisfaction even anger is worded on mail.When exposing negative criticism or emotions keep it subtle and encapsulated in simple words. Bombastic jargon may sometimes end in misunderstanding.Punctuate the write appropriately to best convey what you really mean.
Misunderstandings- Ever you felt there is miscommunication, be the first one to apologize and get the relationship on track.Please do not wait for the supervisor/team member.There is no realtime appearances to correct the skewing relationship with gestures and other things that can be done in real life instantly.
Style-Follow the formal style .Code words, similes and 3/4 letter words can be decoded by a friend and not remote relationships where the mail/write is the key to business development.
Open ended discussion-Always ensure that all discussions are closed formally.Open ended discussions are a taboo as far as remote working is considered.More so if you were a team member.When a response is needed and if it’s an ongoing exercise which is carried out against time, the response should be quick and instant.
Judgemental: Never get judgmental about any aspect of the remote worker you deal with. Be it supervisor or team member. The person you see or hear in real time when you get to, may be diametrically opposite to what you thought to be.So judge the work and trust the results.
Happy Remote working….and all the best to be a value added member.
