Projects delays. Missed KPIs. Is it because your team is working from home? If you suspect this is the case, here's a solution.

We're talking about that feeling when a small task you thought would take your team a couple days somehow takes 2 weeks...

Or when Teams/Slack seems pretty quiet most of the time and you wonder what everyone is up to...

Everyone complaining about having too many meetings on the sidebar chat during the team all-hands, but when you take meetings away, new ones pop up to replace them...

And the whole team keeps saying how busy they are. But you can’t help but wonder if everyone is really working because the business isn’t moving at the speed you expect.

Well. Let's do something about this.

One key productivity leverage point for remote teams is to improve your team's communication. When you're remote, communication can be *different* than in person. High output teams build new comms habits to compensate.

These two common problem sets might strike a chord:

1. Slow communication bottlenecking output

2. Miscommunication erasing progress

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Speed up your comms if #1 is an issue

-Long written messages need headers, formatting, bullets

-Justify video calls & meetings if there are too many

-Open audio / video call rooms (s/o to Monica Griffin recommending Voxer)

-Shared project briefs & templates

-Jump to calls for alignment / adjustment

-Company-wide calendar visibility for all

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Improve accuracy of comms if #2 is an issue

-Elaborate on short chat messages / emails

-Send short video recordings instead of messages (Loom is a good one)

-Improve meeting quality. Agenda, structure, quality problem solving & info transfer

-Over-communicate new things

-More planning when starting projects, written & shared

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And importantly, use the proper comms channel per:

-Urgency

-Needs

-Complexity

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Critical issues are phone calls jumping to a video call to screenshare. Pinging someone for data for a project is a message. Brainstorming ideas for a new campaign is a meeting. Or a very active live thread.

Communication is difficult for any organization and remote work exacerbates this issue even more. But with the right systems, organizational habits, and tools, you don't have to be stuck in miscommunication purgatory. Break free!