This post originally appeared on theZapier blog.
You’ll also notice details like noise levels in the office, or distracting roadworks noise outside.
As humans we’re great at picking up on these signals.
Building Rapport Remotely
When youstart a new jobin a remote team, it can feel very strange.
But how do you go about building a rapport with people you’ve never really met?
All good tips, but not very useful in a remote setting.
So whatcanwe apply to a remote situation to help us build strong relationships with our teammates?
Well, there are few things Dreeke suggests that we can use.
Another tip from Dreeke is to validate others by listening to them and suspending your ego.
But you’ll likely spend a lot of your day communicating with text.
Here are three suggestions for connecting with remote team members through text:
1.
The distributedStripeteamshares most internal emails, which means everyone has a very full inbox to work through daily.
With over 428 email lists in the company, there’s a lot to organize at Stripe.
Last December the teamshared their toolsfor scaling transparent email.
One of the approaches Stripe takes is to create archive lists where otherwise irrelevant emails are CC’d to.
In general, if you are debating including an archive list, you should include it.
Buffer also uses a transparent email process.
you’ve got the option to read about how it workson the Buffer Open blog.
Like many teams, Zapier uses Slack for team and one-on-one chats.
He created an empty channel where no discussion happens.
This channel serves as a placeholder for team members who step away from their computer for a break.
Employ Emojis and GIFs
I’ve never been a big fan of emojis or emoticons.
I use them sparingly compared to many people, and I always thought they seemed childish or unprofessional.
Recently I read something that changed my mind, though.
I read an opinion from someone who explained she’d come around to the use of emoticons in emails.
I thought that was a great point.
GIFs probably fall into this category, as well.
That is, if someone does something wrong, don’t assume they purposely meant to hurt you.
It’s just as likely (perhaps more so) that they simply made a mistake.
This is especially important in situations where you’re missing context.
In my own experience, this has happened several times.
Being respectful of others is just harder when you have less information to inform your decisions.
A good way to go about this is to set up rules ahead of time.
Here’s an example from my own experience: my co-founderJosh Sharpand I useViberto communicate throughout the day.
Sometimes it’s a quick message here and there about grabbing some lunch or heading out for a meeting.
Other times we have real-time chats for hours about our work.
“Tree time” is what we call our uninterrupted work time.
Regardless, this is now our code word.
Because we set up this rule ahead of time, we both know it’s an option.
Being open about what you need can be really hard.
Most of us aren’t used to being so upfront with our teammates.
We’ve covered a lot of ground today.
Through all the examples I’ve included you might see that each company handles remote working in different ways.
They need all the information you could give them to work with you in the best way they can.
She is a writer atCrewand was previously Buffer’s first Content Crafter and Head of Content at Attendly.
Image byideyweb(Shutterstock).
