Back in the day, people used to get up, go out of the house, and go to an actual office in order to get some work done. Fast forward to today, many of us actual do remote work. It can be a perk of the job, an actual way of working or, can be brought about by particular circumstances. In this day and age, almost all of us are familiar with the concept of remote work.
Remote work is a working style that allows professionals to work outside of a traditional office environment. It is based on the concept that work does not need to be done in a specific place to be executed successfully[1]
With businesses going global and teams being spread across different locations and time zones, it is very important to stay connected and to have the right tools. Building visibility and having solid communication strategies are the best ways to help teams feel that they are part of the company no matter where they are in the world. This boils down to 2 things: having the best collaboration tools and having failproof avenues for communication.
Collaboration tools:
Teams must be able to work together even though they are physically apart. Collaboration tools enable this. The best collaboration tools must give teams the ability to create together. Some of the features to look out for when choosing collaboration tools are:
- Ability to share information in multiple forms (documents, pdfs, spreadsheets, presentations, images, and other multimedia files, etc.)
- Ability to edit and make comments in real-time
- Ability to share or forward information within the app or via 3rd party applications
- Has multiple useful features like 3rd party integrations, spell checks, etc.
- Easy to use
- Has privacy settings, user permissions, access control, and data sharing hierarchy (meaning you can control who sees what)
- Cloud-based
Here are a few of my favorite online collaboration tools:
- Google Docs (of course)
- Zoho Docs
- Dropbox Paper
- Microsoft Office 365
- Evernote
Communications tools:
The strength of teams lies in how well they communicate. Team members have to be available for each other to answer questions and exchange ideas. They have to be able to touch base every now and then to create, execute, and recalibrate. This is why communication tools are very important. These tools are an excellent alternative to face to face meetings. They also increase team member visibility they don’t have to be physically present at the office but they will be able to join meetings and planning sessions from anywhere in the world. This empowers teams and makes sure that all ideas are equally important and that no one gets left behind. Some of the features to look out for when choosing collaboration tools are:
- High-quality audio/video calls
- Reliable and easy to use
- Searchable message history
- Ability to send and share files
- Powerful privacy settings
Here are a few of my favorite online communication tools:
- Zoom
- Skype
- GoToMeeting
- WebEx
- Google Hangout
What are your favorite remote work tools? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard.
Written by Jaie O. TheHelp
[1] What is Remote Work?, Remote Year