New study: Now is the time for communication, collaboration, and coordination

Right now, millions of teams are learning how to work from home. But even before the world was thrown into remote work limbo, the Asana and Zoom Video Communications teams in Australia were curious to understand how teams experience work outside of the office. Our joint research, which surveyed more than 1,000 Australian workers, found that remote work success depends largely on the three C’s: communication, collaboration, and coordination.

To add color to these findings, I reached out to Asana customers about how they approach the 3 C’s to work effectively from anywhere. Read on to get their take, plus an overview of key findings from our research.

1. Over-communicate whenever possible

According to the research, 42% of Aussie workers don’t feel they can communicate effectively when working remotely.

“To ensure that your team feels informed and connected, over-communicate your expectations and availability, and create WFH Rules of Engagement for your team. What cadences need to be synchronous vs. async? Set your Slack status to away every time you leave the computer for a break, and update it once you’re back. Clearly request responses to critical communications, and do the same to confirm you’ve received an update; even Slack’s emoji responses will do, as long as there is recorded acknowledgement.” –Kevin Aluwi, CEO at Gojek. Check out their full guide on working from home for more tips.

2. Get the right tools in place

The research also showed that 25% of respondents cite ineffective collaboration as a key barrier to adopting flexible work. At the same time, 60% of respondents say workforce management platforms help with collaboration.

“In order to get the right tools in place, find a set-up that works for your people. Avoid email as your primary tool. It can build up very fast when you’re far from each other! Get a chat tool for quick conversations, and make sure employees have access to all the tools they need to do their jobs. Remember to leave time to train and get your people feeling comfortable using these tools, or you’ll be stalled before you start.” –Alison Michalk, CEO of Quiip. Read Alison’s complete guide to remote team management here.

3. Build a culture of trust

On the subject of productivity, the research found 25% of Aussie workers feel their colleagues are ‘slacking off’ when working from home.

“Transparency is absolutely key to building a culture of trust. At Car Next Door, we cultivate transparency by ensuring that the whole team knows what our goals are, why we are aiming for them, and how we are going to achieve them. Now more than ever, we’re seeing that when people can see the work, hold each other accountable, and have shared goals, they feel trusted, empowered, and confident in leadership and their teams.” –Marty Newkirk, Product Manager at Car Next Door. Read Car Next Door’s CEO Will Davies’ take on remote work on The New Daily here.

Additional work from home resources

Whether you’re a seasoned remote worker or just starting out, there’s no doubt communication, collaboration, and coordination are key to keeping teams focused and connected. Check our our remote work resource guide to learn more about working remotely with Asana.