Summary:
Remote coordination could be tough. One team member, who’s up in the morning could be on wait as they found a key detail missing from a member who’s currently sleeping in a different time zone. But, a plan can fix most of the time zone issues. Leaders can also enable seamless coordination even when members are not aligned all the time. Thus it’s possible to make sure that no one is working during an awkward time. The author presents a plan that shows how to effectively coordinate in distant time zones and organize remote work schedules.
Bringing together a remote team is a milestone. You don’t get to see your team in the real yet they put together a project as good as a physical team.
But what made remote a success?
Planning.
Using a plan, leaders can organize employee presence in different time zones. They guide team members to exchange work traffic in fixed time intervals where they proceed with information on which they are mutually dependent. These schedules maximize daily work productivity as well as keep each employee comfortable in their native time zone.
A coordination plan becomes even more important when time zone difference increases. To help you with a plan, the author presents 4 tips to aim for as you strive to bring effective coordination in your team.
Understand how working in different time zones could affect team coordination
It’s not necessary to align all team members all the time. Some level of misalignment can still work just fine as you assign work responsibilities to each employee. This means when a member from one time zone checks out by submitting their part of the work, the other member, from a different time zone, can take-on the work as planned.
Though this approach applies well for projects that can be broken down into independent parts, when it’s not possible, look to hire employees in the nearest time zones so that they can coordinate in the overlap.
Schedule meetings everyone could attend
When it’s time for live interaction with the team, be mindful of everyone’s time zones. What it means is that, no one of your team members would have to wake at awkward times.
Though this can work well for two to three time zones next to each other, for distant time zones that don’t overlap at all (such as the US and Australia) it’s impossible.
In this case, organize meeting schedules that rotate in different time zones so that no single member has to be available in awkward times.
Know your remote team’s working hours
Your remote team will work in flexible hours; that’s the essence of remote work afterall.
Therefore, it’s important to know the preferred working hours of your team. When you track such information, you can organize the delivery of daily tasks and keep the coordination seamless and effective.
Set chat protocols for your remote team
In remote coordination, sometimes members miss important details. Such negligence, though natural enough, can cost legitimate performance loss for the team.
Chat protocols guide an employee to create a clear and complete message. It’s a series of questions a member asks before completing their task.
Take a look at it:
- “Does my recipient have everything they need to complete the next step?”
- “Can I make anything clearer?”
- “Is there anything I can attach to facilitate work (such as spreadsheets, case studies, meeting memos, etc.)?”
- “Does my recipient have access to the resources I’m sharing?”
Final thoughts–, as you create a remote team, understand how much real-time coordination the project requires. Is it ok for the team to coordinate in certain intervals? Or would you prefer some overlap between the time zones? Plan and set protocols accordingly.
Also remember, organize your team and assign duties in a way that also keeps your employees comfortable in their native time zones.
