Unless you are part of a team where the majority of people are in unique locations, ‘information isolation’ can be a challenge, for example:

What’s Going On? – do others regularly seem better-informed than you? Perhaps on the status of ongoing tasks or about rumors of things coming. It’s pretty frustrating to have to repeatedly ask ‘What’s the latest with …‘.

How Do I? – observation is a key method of cognition, proven with the recent discovery of Mirror Neurons that fire even when just watching a task being completed. Missing out on this is exacerbated when process and procedures change … remote workers get left-out and supporting documentation is usually hard to find.

Email distribution lists and newsletters help, and modern collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack can help. To be successful however they must be (a) updated as the primary communication method (b) easy to digest, and (c) actually get read. As such the following are tips for success:

If communication seems poor, hard to use, or updates are infrequent, use the intended tools to ask. It’s likely others are struggling too and just asking for info/updates helps hold the gatekeepers to account.

Devote time to consume the information available:

Each morning allot 15 minutes to scan all unread messages/updates. Make this easy to do, setting up filters and views that show important items quickly.

In my experience regular discussion with team members is a good solution too, and individuals should be encouraged to bring pieces of information up for comment.

In weekly calls have a standing ‘news’ item on the agenda. Recognize those who contribute to it.