The evolving Covid-19 situation has had an immediate impact on how we work, with many people remote working as a result of current social distancing advice.

Whether this is a new practice borne out of necessity because of the coronavirus or your team members work from home regularly, effective internal communications is critical.

In uncertain times, employees look to senior management for clarity and consistency. Regular communication and visible leadership will help keep your team aligned and engaged.

Now is the time to get the right internal communications processes in place to ensure you are following best practice. From keeping your team informed to encouraging collaboration, here are our tips for communicating with your team remotely.

1. Choose the right platforms
   

From Zoom and Slack to Workvivo and Microsoft Teams, there are so many options out there for communicating and collaborating remotely. Which one works for you will come down to the size of your organisation, what you are working on and how closely you need to work together.

Look critically at your current platforms, making sure you’re using only the most appropriate ones for your current requirements – and that everyone knows how to use them. It’s better to use one or two well rather than overstretching and leaving your workforce confused as to where they can find their information.

If you need to work collaboratively on documents, look at Sharepoint or Google Docs. If unnecessary emails are clogging up your inboxes, create groups on Yammer, Teams or even WhatsApp to keep things streamlined.

2. Share useful content
   

Keep funnelling content through that adds value to your teams. Send company updates using affordable options such as Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor and keep intranets updated with the most recent information. Draft a dedicated content calendar and keep it varied, with a mix of key operational information and reminders of business priorities, as well as tips and advice on remote working and maintaining their health and wellbeing.

Don’t forget to also keep things positive – make sure to highlight achievements, wins and creative ideas.

3. Encourage conversations

Communication shouldn’t just be from the top down. Create spaces for your teams to chat, share ideas and solutions and check in on each other. Whether it be every morning or a few times a week, the chance to have a conversation with colleagues will be vital, especially for those not used to working from home.

We hope you found our tips for communicating with your team remotely useful.

If you would like more information about how we can help with your internal communications and remote team engagement, email info@springboardcommunications.ie

Post by Ciara Flaherty

As Senior Account Manager, Ciara drives communication campaigns for clients in a variety of sectors including technology, law, financial services and healthcare. A law graduate, she also has an excellent sense of the media landscape, both traditional and new, having worked for the Irish Examiner and breakingnews.ie.