🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

How do you make sure your distributed team is aligned when they’re working from different places, at different times? 

💡 Concept

Setting daily priorities in a remote team can be challenging, especially when relying on asynchronous communication channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams. Without the immediate feedback of real-time conversations, it’s essential to be clear and intentional about your daily goals and tasks. Here’s why this might be difficult:

• Team members may work in different time zones, leading to delays in responses and coordination.

• The lack of face-to-face interactions can make it harder to understand priorities and gauge the urgency of a task or issue.

• Miscommunications can occur due to the absence of nonverbal cues and real-time discussions.

Effectively setting daily priorities can improve productivity and ensure that everyone understands what they should be doing to support the team. Here are some strategies to help manage and communicate priorities:

👓 Clarify Objectives: Start each day by clearly stating your goals and priorities in a dedicated Slack channel or thread and encourage others to do the same. Ensure that these are specific, actionable, and aligned with the overall team goals.

🛠️ Use Tools Wisely: Use features like pinned messages, to-do lists, or integrations with project management tools (e.g., ClickUp, Trello, Asana) to track and visualize priorities and deadlines.

🚧 Set Expectations: Communicate your availability and response times clearly. For instance, if you’re working on a high-priority task, let your team know when you’ll be offline and how quickly you will be able to address non-urgent matters.

🔄 Regular Updates: Keep the team informed about your progress and any changes to priorities by posting updates in a designated channel or thread. This helps everyone stay in the loop and adjust their plans accordingly.

🔍 Reflect and Adjust: At the end of each day, review what you’ve accomplished and reassess your priorities for the next day. Share any insights or changes with your team to keep everyone aligned.

By applying these techniques, you’ll foster better communication and coordination within your remote team, leading to more effective and focused workdays.

🎬 Take Action

Implement these practices to enhance your daily prioritization process:

• Daily Check-Ins: Start your day by posting your priorities and goals in a dedicated channel. 

• Tool Utilization: Use features and project management tools to track and manage tasks so all team members are aware of progress and deadlines.

• Communication: Clearly state your availability and set expectations for response times.

• Progress Updates: Regularly update your team on your progress and any changes in priorities.

• End-of-Day Reflections: Assess your accomplishments and adjust your priorities for the following day.

🧠 Keep Learning

Learn more about how to set daily priorities in the Remote Work Certification program. 

✅ Check In

🎁Learn with your team!

Refer our weekly microlessons to your team members to learn as a group! Just follow the instructions in the section below to get started.