Steljes' top ten tips for making distance working work for you - from deployment of SMART boards to the basics of communication.

1. Distance Working:
10 ways to make working across distance
work for you
We’ve collated some of the best tips on distance working – are you doing
everything you can to make this important long-distance relationship work?

2. Communication
Members of geographically-dispersed
teams have different sets of
circumstances. Without that daily
communication you get in an
office, awareness of context can be
lost – and conflict can arise when you
don’t understand where the other
person is coming from
Create a shared “place”
(homepage, database, Dropbox
folder) for the team to create a
‘picture’ of their circumstances:
deadlines, criteria, away
times, equipment available, etc.
From Professor Cramton's paper, "Information problems in dispersed teams." (1997)

3. Buy a SMART
Board® – or several
With a SMART Board interactive
whiteboard or display, dispersed
teams can actively collaborate –
everyone can see and share
information and contribute to
discussions, regardless of location.
With unlimited digital whiteboard
space, the ability to write notes
over any application, options for
saving your work and integration
with Microsoft® Exchange, SMART
solutions are great for boosting
productivity. See our case studies.

4. Clarity
Another brand of communication
issue: sending a list of deliverables
and expecting your long-distance
partner to know what to prioritise, or
suggesting that you ‘hope to hear
from someone soon’ but expecting
an immediate response. The English
language is a funny thing: a bit of
clarity can go a long way. Make it
clear what’s important.
Create a shorthand with the team to
highlight important tasks and
suggest deliverables that require a
quick response. Add this shorthand
to your homepage or database.
From Professor Cramton's paper, "Information problems in dispersed teams." (1997)

5. Feedback and
praise
Working different hours with
people in locations across the
world can mean losing the human
touch.
Good work deserves recognition,
and if someone starts to deviate
from the task or is not working to
an acceptable level, quick, tactful
feedback is key.
Don’t forget that your team are
people.

6. Meet face-to-face
This might seem counter-intuitive,
but some actual face-time will
make relations much easier.
If this is not possible, at least
include information in your team’s
database that personalises
members – potentially set up a
Pinterest board that members can
pin un-work-related interests to.
Team-building is just as important
across distance as it is locally.
Give team members the benefit of
the doubt in the face of
ambiguous information – because
you know them.
From Professor Cramton's paper, "Information problems in dispersed teams." (1997)

7. Transparency
Selective emails lead to assumptions
of understanding and the team’s
perceptions being skewed.
If your team are working from limited
perspectives on a project, how can
the project come together?
Copy all members of the team in on
emails, but distinguish between
primary recipient and CCs so people
know what they should action.
Draw up a set of guidelines in the
homepage, and make sure all team
members are aware of these so that
they don’t feel overloaded.
From Professor Cramton's paper, "Information problems in dispersed teams." (1997)

8. Encourage
innovation
Establish guidelines with your
team, talk them through, then
make it clear they can – and should
– be changed.
Innovation keeps businesses
fresh, your team members sharp
and your productivity and
efficiency improving. Don’t let
things stagnate.
Make sure all team members feel
they can suggest changes and call
out practices that are not working
for them.

9. Deal with silence
It can mean anything from
agreement to indifference, technical
issues, not received, not properly
read, miscommunication…
Don’t jump to conclusions about
silence, and don’t deal with this over
email.
Video-conferencing, using SMART
Boards for a data conferencing
session or even a simple phone call
can clear up conflict quickly.
From Professor Cramton's paper, "Information problems in dispersed teams." (1997)

10. Create a map
It might seem a bit obvious, but you
need to work out what the distance
is between you and your team
members – ‘physical distance’ is
geographic; ‘operational distance’ is
the separation due to technology and
daily work process issues; ‘affinity
distance’ is differences in culture and
lack of personal relationships.
Plot your team members’ distance
from each other – you can then see
where you need to focus your
efforts.
From Karen Sobel Lojeski and Richard R. Reilly, Uniting the Virtual Workforce. (2008)

11. Contact Mark Fritz
Every team needs strong
leadership, and Mark Fritz is the
perfect man to advise on making
this leadership more effective.
Mark is an international speaker
who talks regularly on the power of
ownership in leading across
distances and cultures.
“To successfully lead people
across distances and cultures (and
still have a life), you need to move
from managing by activities to
leading by outcomes.”

12. Do you have any top tips to make
distance working work for you?
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