flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

7 Principles of Communication with Remote Writers Team

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Consulting Storytelling Guide (74-slide PowerPoint presentation). Curated by former McKinsey Consultants Unleash the Power of Storytelling in Consulting: A Step-by-Step Guide Are you ready to captivate your clients, inspire your team, and deliver compelling presentations? Introducing our comprehensive consulting storytelling step-by-step guide, a [read more]

* * * *

To begin with, let’s define what is remote work (also known as telecommuting) in the first place.  Remote working is also known as telecommuting. It is a work system in which employees aren’t required to be at a designated office to discharge their duties. This work arrangement is akin to freelancing when employees work away from the office, and it is basically the future of work.

Communication is vital for every workforce. Without it, necessary information will not circulate in an organization and teams will work based on assumptions. These communication gaps will inevitably lead to mistakes. If you have a remote team, you need to put extra effort into communication to keep them in line. So, how do you communicate appropriately with them?

A writer’s job is to put ideas into written media for a target audience. Writers may offer an essay writing service, blogging, guest posting services, etc. In essence, they are primarily communicators. However, writers can be notoriously difficult to communicate with when they’re part of a remote team. Luckily, we have some tips at hand to help you solve that problem.

Principles of Communication With Remote Writers

1.   Get Your Timing Right

There is a concept known as “over-communicating.” This concept involves the repetition of specific information or divulging more details than necessary. The general idea is that the more you repeat a message, the less likely it is that the receiver will muddle it up or forget it.

While the concept works on paper, it doesn’t always work in practice, especially with remote workers. Rather than take this fire brigade approach to communication, try working on the timing of communication. Create a plan detailing when to share information with your remote writers, what channel to use and how to ensure that everyone understands you.

Include reminders that are well-spaced. You can determine the best intervals between reminders by asking your writers directly. Creating a poll can also get the job done.

2.   Choose an Effective Communication Channel

In any writing team, members will always have different preferences. These differences can include the medium of communication that they prefer. Some may favor phone calls, while others may choose emails or texts from collaboration software like Slack and Google Hangouts.

So, when choosing a medium of communication with coworkers, consider the best approach for most of the team. Consider the ease of communicating using the platforms, their reach and efficiency. After choosing a communication medium, patiently help team members who aren’t familiar with the new method get used to it.

3.   Be Proactive

When communicating with writers who are working from home, you need to take charge. Like a shark is drawn to blood, your team can sense when you don’t have all the details. When they feel that uncertainty in you, they may not put in as much effort into the job. It’s like a domino effect.

Be proactive. Give clear instructions to specific writers in your team (or to separate units). Get your end of the deal sorted out before giving instructions to your writers. This way, you will lead by example and lift team morale.

4.   Keep Your Writers Accountable

To avoid a decline in the quality of work that your writers submit, you need to keep them on their toes. Plan to have every writer meet up with communication standards in your remote work hub. This will help with team building and accountability. You can also have a writer share their progress with the team at the end of every workweek. At the next meeting, have another writer do the same, and so forth.

5.   Stick to Guidelines

When dealing with remote writers, you need explicit communication policies. Before you bring anyone onboard, relay your expectations to them precisely and to the team generally. Your expectations regarding communication can include:

  • The deadline for responding to messages
  • Time off for remote workers
  • The time everyone has to be available for communication
  • Ways to measure accountability

Relay these expectations before any form of work begins so that nobody will be caught off-guard. Put all of these expectations in a written format and send them to all remote writers. You can also discuss them via an audio or video session if you want. However, always have written copies handy to avoid downplaying the importance of written communication.

6.   Create a Meeting Agenda in Advance

To have practical, thorough, and quick meetings with your team members, create a meeting agenda ahead of time. Once you get a meeting date fixed, send a copy of the plan to all other team members. This approach will give your remote writing team the chance to prepare ahead of time. It will also ensure they understand what and how to contribute to the discussion.

7.   Cut Back on Unnecessary Meetings

It is essential to have regular meetings with your team members to discuss core issues. But for some information, you don’t have to call a team-wide meeting. You can pass some instructions or questions across via mail or call. According to research, 33.4% of meeting time is considered unproductive. So unless you absolutely need a meeting (and risk breaking your writers’ flow), use team channels to relay general information.

70-slide PowerPoint presentation
This is Module 5 of 8 of my popular Fundamentals of Change Management Course. Module 5 contains 70 slides with the following 3 sessions: - Session 1 "Sponsorship" - Provides details of the critical role of a sponsor plus their key roles plus an outline of their key activities [read more]

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on Communications Strategy and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


37-page PDF document
Clarity is critical in business communication of all kinds, yet difficult to achieve. This pack outlines five clear steps that will enable you to clarify your thinking for both yourself and your audience while preparing any kind of communication, from emails through to board papers, complex [read more]


 
31-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
Excel workbook

About Amanda Dudley

Amanda Dudley is a lecturer who acquired her Ph.D. in History from Stanford University in 2001. She is a native English speaker, but she also speaks German reasonably well. Amanda is also a writer and her niche covers academic writing. She works with EssayUSA to help students write flawless academic essays and term papers within the stipulated deadline.




Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  


The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.


Connect with Flevy:

     
  


About Flevy.com   /   Terms   /   Privacy Policy
© . Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.