Ask Nadim: Don’t feel you’re in cyberia

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Don’t feel you’re in cyberia

Nadim Choudhury advises on how to cope with the challenges of collaborating with colleagues while working remotely

Dear Nadim,

My name is Zaina and I would like your advice about a problem I’m grappling with in my role as a data analyst. I work for a prominent commercial bank and, post-pandemic, remote work is part of our daily operations. My team works from home at least three days a week but, although working from home can often be convenient, there is a significant sticking point.

Effective collaboration, especially across diverse teams and departments, is much harder when you can’t talk to people face-to-face. As someone deeply immersed in data analytics, I find it important to synergise efforts with colleagues from various domains. Yet this collaborative flow seems much harder in a remote work set-up.

In theory, when I’m not in the office, or if a colleague isn’t, I can just call on Zoom to ask a question, but it’s not the same as impromptu face-to-face discussions and being able to bounce ideas off one another quickly. I find that remote work has left a void, which is disrupting the momentum of projects and affecting overall departmental efficiency.

What advice would you give about navigating this aspect of remote working and improving collaboration? Have you any strategies you can share with me?

Regards, Zaina

Dear Zaina,

Thank you for contacting me. The challenges you’re facing in collaborating remotely can be frustrating. But I imagine some readers will assume that data analytics is one field that rises above that. In people’s minds, you’ll be working alone on spreadsheets all day and any input you need will come as an Excel file.

Remote working can mean staff lose that important sense of connection with the culture of the company

This is nonsense. No matter how data-heavy and analytical a role is, effective collaboration is the cornerstone of project success. After all, why form a company if it’s not about bringing people together to work? Or, as the saying goes, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Process will never be enough to overcome lack of engagement. What makes a good and successful company is one where everyone pulls together to reach the common goals.

Which brings us to remote work. Companies have embraced it for several reasons. First, employees value the flexibility and better work-life balance that remote working brings, particularly in large cities such as London where commutes can be punishing and expensive. Second, working remotely can be very productive for roles that require close concentration away from the noise of a busy office. Third, not having to maintain acres of expensive office space can save companies a lot of money.

But the shift to remote work has caused challenges in team dynamics and communication. Staff can lose that all-important sense of connection with their colleagues and with the culture of the company. When we first came out of lockdown post-Covid, many companies could still rely on the cultural strength and social capital built during the years of face-to-face work. Now, however, it’s increasingly clear that effective remote working requires businesses to cultivate the social and emotional bonds that form naturally in an office. That said, it’s vital to customise solutions to suit your team’s specific circumstances. Let me share some strategies based on what clients in other roles say.

Offices developed during the age of industrial manufacturing when process, such as that on a production line, was king. The goal, as the Harvard Business Review has suggested, was ‘scalable efficiency’, which is quite different to the ‘scalable connectivity’ we now need to build across departments and locations.

Managers should take time to congratulate teams on what they have achieved and remind them of their value to the company as a whole

Some of the approaches I suggest might sound surprisingly homespun but they do work. One of my colleagues, Sarah, implemented a regular ‘virtual coffee corner’, which team members could join for casual discussions, enabling the spontaneous conversations that often occur during short breaks in an office setting. This helped build rapport and improve communication among team members. Some teams got together online to cook simple items, such as scones or shortbread, that almost everyone could make and enjoy.

Another approach taken by James, a project manager, involved setting up interactive virtual brainstorming sessions using collaboration tools. Team members were encouraged to share their ideas and thoughts in real-time, fostering a sense of involvement and engagement.

For you, Zaina, I would suggest structured weekly virtual meetings with a clear agenda, which everyone receives in advance. Then, each member of the team should be asked to contribute their perspectives and ideas. Make sure everyone knows that they will be contributing and, just as importantly, listened to. Leave time for discussions and ensure everyone is agreed on how best to interrupt.

It can be difficult to read body language and tone in virtual meetings, so a few ground rules can help to avoid ruffled feathers and make sure the quieter people are not drowned out. When it comes to real-time project tracking and forming ideas, collaboration tools such as Monday.com or Trello can be useful.

Other suggestions include:

Make sure everyone knows why they matter. It’s not always the case that people understand how their specific tasks support the overall aims of the company, and why their job matters. Companies need to take time to explain the broader organisational mission and the role of each team within it, particularly if there is limited mingling of different teams and different management levels online.

Shake up team-building. Infuse a dash of creativity into virtual team-building events, making them memorable and impactful. Think of unconventional activities that resonate with the team and bring them closer, even in the virtual realm. For example, people could take turns to talk about their first job and what they learned from it.

Make sure that training on remote collaboration fits your team. Tailor training sessions to address the challenges faced by your team in remote collaboration. For example, do you have a need for strong visuals? That might mean new screens are necessary. Are there details that only apply to a few people and that take time to explain? If so, make it easy for that group to ‘huddle’ together and then come back to the main group. Do people feel they can ask questions? If you are training young staff, it may make sense to put in a ten-minute ‘now ask a question’ slot at the beginning and end of each day for the first few months.

Crafting sessions to cater to your team’s specific needs and nuances will make the training much more effective and enjoyable. I hope this helps.

Nadim

Nadim Choudhury

Nadim Choudhury is Head of Careers and Employability at The London Institute of Banking & Finance. He is a career coach with more than 14 years’ experience of working with leading business schools. Members of the institute are welcome to contact Nadim for free one-to-one coaching by email at nchoudhury@libf.ac.uk