In today’s interconnected world, remote work has become increasingly prevalent. In fact, 92% or more of employees work at least one day per week remotely, and 59% of workers report being more likely to choose an employer that allows remote work rather than one that doesn’t.

The key to keeping your geographically dispersed organisation productive is communication.

“I’m a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other,” – Bill Gates.

Alongside communication there is also a need for polite netiquette (online etiquette or Internet etiquette), avoiding jargon and using clear and concise language, and providing thorough explanations to avoid misunderstandings and assumptions.

To aid in team communication, seamless collaboration and productivity, it’s essential for remote teams to utilise effective tools and platforms. Among the numerous options available, Google Meet, Google Spaces, and collaborative work on Google Docs stand out as powerful solutions. 

Let’s look at how these tools can enhance teamwork, foster communication and drive success for remote teams.

Google Meet: Connecting Teams in Real-Time

Google Meet is a robust video conferencing platform that enables remote teams to hold virtual meetings and connect face-to-face, regardless of their geographical locations. It offers high-quality video and audio, ensuring smooth communication and eliminating the limitations of distance.

Team members can share their screens during meetings, facilitating presentations, demonstrations, and collaborative problem-solving. My colleague and Radical Cloud Solutions’ project manager, Steph, is a huge fan of Google Meet. It enables her to quickly create meetings from her calendar, chat, spaces, or from her inbox and chat to teams, clear up expectations and deadlines and ensure projects are completed on time and to the client’s expectations.

Google Meet provides a chat feature, allowing participants to share links, notes and important information during meetings, which enhances engagement and productivity. Meeting attendees can also utilise breakout rooms and whiteboards for brainstorming, and participate in polls and Q&As. Meetings can be recorded for those who can’t make the meeting and transcripts can be utilised to ensure accessibility for all.

Google Spaces: A Digital Hub for Team Collaboration

Google Spaces is a collaborative platform that streamlines communication, content sharing and project management. With dedicated team spaces for different projects or teams, you have a centralised location for discussions, file sharing and updates. Large organisations can ensure all the relevant parties are participants in the dedicated space to ensure open communication channels for specific projects, and Spaces allows members to easily create and assign tasks to other space members.

Spaces integrates seamlessly with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, enabling team members to collaborate on files in real-time. This fosters creativity, efficiency and eliminates version control issues. 

Spaces also offers an activity stream that keeps team members updated on recent developments, comments and changes made within a space. Notifications ensure that no important updates are missed.

Collaborative Work on Google Docs: Boosting Productivity and Simultaneous Editing

Google Docs is a powerful document collaboration tool that allows multiple team members to work and edit the same document simultaneously and in real-time. This enhances collaboration and eliminates the need for sending multiple versions back and forth.

Team members can leave comments, suggestions and feedback directly within the document, facilitating effective communication and reducing the need for separate email threads. You can use @ mentions to bring in specific team members, files or events, and use smart chips to add dates, timers, tasks and more.

Google Docs also maintains a detailed revision history, allowing team members to review changes, restore previous versions and keep track of document progress.

Remote teams can overcome geographical barriers and foster effective collaboration by leveraging the power of Google Meet, Google Spaces, and collaborative work on Google Docs. By embracing these platforms, remote teams can unlock their full potential and achieve remarkable results, regardless of their physical locations.

Radical Cloud Solutions are proud implementation partners of Google Workspace. Let us know if you’d like to find out more about adopting this productivity tool to improve your organisation’s productivity and collaboration.