Developing Social Skills as a Remote Worker: 5 Key Tips

 

As a Senior Manager in an organization that supported over 1000 plus independent contractors who did not come to the office, I have worked with numerous remote teams and individuals over the course of my career.  Based on my expertise, as well as insights from Rebecca Knight's recent HBR article "How to Improve Your Soft Skills as a Remote Worker," here are 5 key things remote workers can do to boost their social skills and productivity:

1. Conduct a soft skills self-audit. Assess your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to skills like communication, collaboration, creativity etc. Develop a plan to improve in key areas - whether it's public speaking training, art classes or improv workshops.

2. Have one-on-one conversations to establish shared values. Don't just talk business - take time to understand your colleagues' passions, preferences and circumstances to establish common ground. 

3. Make people feel seen and heard in group settings. In meetings, pay close attention and refer back to what others said to show you care. Take notes on personal details colleagues share to follow up later. 

4. Carefully observe verbal and non-verbal cues on video calls. Watch for facial expressions, vocal tones and other signals to get better at reading the virtual room. Seek context if you notice something off.

5. Proactively ask for feedback on your soft skills. Schedule check-ins with your manager or discreetly message colleagues after meetings to ask how you are coming across and what you could improve.

While working remotely makes it harder to pick up on social nuances, being intentional about continuous improvement goes a long way. With concerted effort to connect, communicate and collaborate, remote workers can become truly productive members of a cohesive team.

 

Arnaud Collery from Humanava, a Coaching, Training and Team Building Company uses the term “Compétences transversales”. ‘Competences transverales” means skills you can deploy in any kind of professional situation. According to a recent Linkedin Survey, 72% of the people value soft skills to AI skills. Therefore, it is extremely important that employees continue to build soft skills in this new digital environment.

Look forward to further engagement on this topic as companies are still trying to address the “The Great Resignation” issue with employees while also seeing significant Tech lay offs at the same time recently. There is a happy medium where businesses can be sure that they are getting engaged and productive employees  while employees feel that they are valuable team members and doing great work for the company. Look forward to getting more insights on this topic.

 

Source:

How to improve your soft skills as a remote worker , Rebecca Knight  Harvard Business Review,