As a remote worker, it can be difficult to communicate effectively with your team members and supervisors, since you’re unlikely to have many in-person interactions. While body language is important for effective communication, you can certainly communicate well via digital means as well. Here are some tips for improving your communication skills as a remote worker.
Phone Calls
Using cloud video conferencing or any other digital conference service for phone calls and meetings can help improve your communication and ensure that everyone is able to be involved. Digital conference services are affordable and versatile, and a much better option than a traditional landline.
Worried about long-distance fees? There’s no such thing with digital conference services. Multi-caller and three-way calling fees? Not even a consideration. Digital conferencing is slowly overtaking the conference calling industry and supplanting landlines as the premier method for hosting conference calls.
There are many service providers for digital conference services, and, despite the fact that you’re communicating via a digital medium, you can still improve your communication skills with one of these tools. Some services include video conferencing as well!
Ask for Feedback
One of the best ways to improve your communication and your overall performance is to ask for feedback from clients and/or superiors and team members. Constructive criticism can help you build your skills and encourage you to improve in certain areas where you may be lacking. If you’ve just given a presentation, asking for feedback in a post-presentation survey is incredibly helpful to the success of your next presentation.
Communication starts with knowing how to approach people. If you’ve just met someone, it may not be the best time to ask for feedback, but a long-time friend or team member should be able to give you useful criticism on your communication and general quality of your work. Don’t be afraid to approach someone you’ve worked with for an extended period of time to ask if there’s anything to improve upon; and be sure not to take criticism personally.
Ask Questions
Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you don’t understand something, especially if you’re participating in a conference call or some other gathering, such as a seminar. It’s not rude to ask questions, and you aren’t going to upset anyone by doing so. Questions help improve your communication skills by ensuring you’ve absorbed the message the speaker is conveying.
It’s equally as important to ask the right questions. Asking general questions will usually only get you general answers, you be sure you’re asking content-specific questions in order to better understand what you’re hearing. Open questions elicit a longer, more detailed response, whereas closed questions usually only require a yes or no answer.
Don’t underestimate the power of a good question! Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask, and if you’re not willing to ask in front of the group, you can always ask in private later via phone call or email.
Keep up With Company News
Keeping up with company news can help you connect more with your team members and superiors. That way, you’ll know what’s going on with the company when you’re attending an online meeting or seminar. You’ll have a focal point from which to start a conversation, which can help you communicate better with your coworkers.
It’s generally important for you to know what’s going on with the company you work for anyway. If you’re left in the dark, you won’t know when policies change, employees retire or move on, etc. These things can mean important opportunities for you as well as being conversation starters, so be sure to subscribe to the company newsletter and check your email frequently!
Listen During Meetings
If you’re the type to fall asleep during meetings, your communication skills are probably lacking during said meetings. If you don’t listen during meetings and conference calls, how can you possibly communicate your ideas well?
It’s important to listen carefully during meetings or conference calls, so you can convey your own ideas without repeating information or missing out on important points.
Conclusion
As a remote worker, you’re granted a bit more freedom than the traditional in-house worker, but improving your communication skills should still be a priority. Communication is one of the key elements of a successful relationship, whether it be a business or personal one.
Communicating well with your team members and supervisors will help you grow and improve the quality of your work overall. Follow these tips to improve your communication and become a more well-rounded individual.
