The Impact of Remote Working on Collaboration

As the pandemic hit millions of us were forced to work from home. So with this new way of working set to stay, just how is remote working impacting collaboration?

COVID-19 has impacted us all, whatever our job role, wherever we live, however we work. Imposing travel restrictions, enforcing social distancing, removing the barriers between work and home and increasing our appreciation of hand sanitiser. 

So just how do you continue to work as a cross-functional team when you no longer have an office to work from?

Humans, by our very nature, are social and the office is part of this for many of us. So when your office is taken away, and the ability to catch-up on a project with colleagues over a cup of coffee is no longer there, what do we do? In short we adapt. In order to succeed we need to connect with our team, the wider business and to work in a collaborative manner. Whilst we can no longer do this in a physical capacity we have the technology at our fingertips to facilitate all of this remotely.

Constraint breeds creativity, or so the saying goes.

From personal experience working from home has meant we have found new ways to collaborate and interact with our teams, dramatically changing the way we communicate with one another.

The Rise and Fall of Meetings

In an internal report conducted by Microsoft, meetings were one of the biggest areas impacted by remote working.

Short meetings increased whilst longer meetings decreased

When offices closed, the ability to catch up at a colleagues desk was taken away from us so it stands to reason that the amount of meetings we have would increase.  But whilst the amount of meetings did increase, the length of these decreased with the average meeting now lasting less than 30 minutes.

Colleagues were mindful of being efficient and organised and scheduling of short 1 on 1 catch-ups, team briefings and a daily business overview has become the norm for many.  Lengthy meetings are kept to a bare minimum and used only when absolutely necessary.

Scheduled social meetings increased

One thing that did manifest from Microsoft's report was the increase in "scheduled social meetings", these virtual events designed to take the place of the working lunch or Friday evening after work drinks have seen a huge rise. I'm sure this will come as no surprise to most of us, I'm very used to my Friday afternoon catch-up with my team, based more around how we're doing and any plans for the weekend (usually based on the excitement of another diy project in the absence of being able to do most things we took for granted pre lockdown) and it transpires that this has become a familiar ritual across most workforces.

Instant Messaging for Instant Connection

If you've participated in a large video call, then you'll know they're no substitute for the real thing (remote birthday party, anyone?) and whilst we're definitely missing the more casual interactions of the staffroom or a quick question to a colleague across the office this is where IM has become the saviour.

The number of Instant Messages increased

Microsoft's own finding showed a 72% surge in the number of IM's sent. This underpins the fact that IM is an effective and efficient means of communication across whole teams and individually.

Whether your communicating an essential piece of business news, or checking to see how someone is doing instant messaging is fast and effective.

One thing's for sure, as the pandemic continues to effect the way we work we continue to make adaptations to our means of communication, ensuring we remain connected to our colleagues.

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