How To Collaborate Remotely if You’re in the Creative Industry: 6 Simple Tips

Different people have different ideas of a quality result or a proper communication workflow. To avoid miscommunication, invest some time in creating guidelines and policies that describe collaboration rules and set working standards, like:

• A knowledge database with tutorials, videos, and other materials that help new team members quickly go through onboarding.
• A single database with workflow files and guides with all aspects of your workflows: project information, contacts of all team members, job descriptions, and so on.
• A communication strategy like rules for maintaining the work calendar, correspondence with clients, and conflict resolution.

Most corporate messengers provide you with the opportunity to set up separate channels for different topics like work tasks, company updates, celebrations, and flood chats. Separate channels solve several goals:

• You can communicate transparently and keep everyone posted on the latest news.
• Separate chats are convenient and allow you to find the necessary information quickly.
• You don't need to distract the whole team whenever you need to clarify a question with another group of colleagues.

Keeping a golden middle between frequent and short conversations is essential for working remotely. For example, keep your daily standups limited in time and allocate no more than three minutes for each person. If you want to support an element of a casual, relaxed conversation, introduce an extra couple of minutes before the call to chat about non-related work.

Here's what you can do to keep your communication frequent and efficient:

• Don't spend time writing emails. Communicate on chats and messengers to get instant feedback.
• Encourage virtual coffee breaks and happy hours to keep up informal communication.
• Prefer video over audio to convey your non-verbal language and emotions.

Your colleagues may want to work from their homes, coworkings, coffee shops, parks, and other places they find comfortable. To step in their shoes and build empathy, arrange a virtual tour. Such a tour will help you understand your colleague's work context and consider their circumstances when you plan group meetings or mutual work. For example, working moms might need extra time in the morning to prepare their children for school, and the afternoon could be their most productive time.

Draw the bottom line between being aware of the leading news and constantly scrolling the feed on social media to absorb as much information as possible.

Indeed, it's hard to resist checking non-work-related web pages now and then. Time management methods like Pomodoro could help you balance work and rest without missing deadlines. Setting simple goals and deadlines every day also prevent you from procrastination. Imagine how satisfying it is to cross your tasks off the list at the end of the day!

It's a myth that remote employees aren't as efficient as office workers. You can achieve the same or even better performance working remotely with the right metrics at hand.

However, it doesn't mean you have to micromanage your colleagues or install time trackers on their computers. Make commitments and set deadlines that'll help you see a final goal. Project management boards like Trello help you visualize all your tasks and avoid mess.