101 Remote Team Communication Approaches for Stronger Teams

Master remote team communication with variety and consistency.

If you’re serious about becoming a better remote leader, you’re going to want to become a master in the art of remote team communication.

Key initiatives, motivation, strategic priorities, updates, celebrations–there is so much to communicate with your team.

But here’s the big question.

How do you know your messages aren’t getting lost in the background noise of competing priorities, digital distraction, and hazy sameness of emails and instant messages?

Communicating What Matters Most

It’s no exaggeration to say that every time you or your team form a memory, your brain changes. You literally build new connections (or strengthen existing connections) between neurons.

We also know quite a bit about how people build memories and retain information. As a leader focused on remote team communication, four of the most important principles are recency, repetition, recall, and emotion.

Recency

One way to spark memory is through recent experience. You probably remember what you had for breakfast today … but lunch three weeks ago is likely fuzzier.

Repetition

It’s easier to remember what you encounter more often. Hear a song once and you might say “that’s a nice song.” Hear that song ten times and it might not leave your mind for a week–whether or not you want it to.

Recall

One way we strengthen memories and retain information is by accessing it. When you have to recall the information to answer a question or do your work, you are more likely to retain it.

Emotion

Emotion has a powerful effect on memory. If you reflect back on a time you experienced a strong emotion, you probably remember more about your surroundings. For example, I’ve been in many high school auditoriums, but I still remember details of the auditorium where I learned I’d won my first multi-state high school debate tournament.

Bringing it All Together: The Power of 5×5 Remote Team Communication

Effective leaders don’t leave these memory enhancers to chance. You can build processes and plan your remote team communication strategies to leverage these characteristics of memory.

One technique to help you do this is our 5 x 5 Communication Planner.

5 x 5 refers to communicating key messages five times, five different ways. “Five times” achieve repetition and recency. Five different ways can help with recall and emotion–particularly when you engage your team and get creative.

The first two or three elements of your 5 x 5 communication plan will be the standard ways you use consistently and people come to rely on. These might include team meetings, emails, project management software, and message threads.

When you extend beyond these and do something differently, that creates positive emotion: “Oh, wow, this is different and fun. This is important.”

It can feel challenging to get creative and mix up your communication strategies when you’re busy and tired. So, we made it easier.

Mixing it Up: 101 Remote Team Communication Techniques

We’ve been working with remote leaders around the globe to help them communicate clearly and ensure they and their teams align around what matters most. We’ve also asked them what’s working and how they vary remote team communication to help keep everyone on the same page. Here’s what they said:

Visual Reinforcement

1. Scrolling banners
2. Virtual backgrounds for MS Teams, Zoom, etc.
3. Items on shelf/credenza in the virtual background
4. Login messages on laptops
5. Splash screens when logging onto the company website
6. Physical whiteboard, chalkboard, or poster placed next to, or behind, you in a video call
7. Screen savers
8. Pop-ups on internal websites
9. Email signatures
10. A second monitor in your background scrolling the message or with a related image
11. Banner or ad on an internal website
12. Polls
13. Virtual desk drops
14. Quick recorded video message

Creating memories with a bit of fun

15. Client or customer presents to the team
16. Internal wikis
17. Music video
18. Riddles at the end of emails or agendas related to the topic
19. Have another leader recognize one of your team members or team for performance related to the topic
20. Temporary tattoos
21. Dress up in costumes to emphasize the message
22. #Hashtags
23. Video text messages
24. Gamification
25. Memes or fun graphics
26. An inspiration speaker related to the message
27. Animated GIFs
28. Songs
29. Write a poem
30. Cameo app (where a celebrity delivers the message)
31. Play a game related to the message
32. A humorous presentation or sketch
33. Telephone game–pass the message in a loop through the team
34. Text-based Games that Reveal the Message (eg Wheel of Fortune)
35. Games that reinforce the message (eg Jeopardy or Trivia-style with related content)
36. Theme music
37. Named group-chats or text threads
38. eCards
39. Internal competitions
40. Cross-team presentations related to the message or theme

Messages on (or with) Stuff

41. Send flowers or plants with the message.
42. Sending food (many leaders were very specific about the kind of foods including: pizza, pastries, cupcakes, frosted cookies, muffins, healthy snacks, goodie bags, meal-delivery services, coffee, and tea). Messages are either printed on or included with the food.
43. Send a book that emphasizes the message or has it written on the front cover
44. Bookmarks
45. Swag gifts (Tchotchkes with key messages)
46. Personalized/inscribed beverage bottles with a message
47. Send a balloon with a deliverable or key message inside the balloon
48. Clothing with message printed on it (eg: hats, tee shirts, sweaters, jackets)
49. Print it on mugs or cups that are used in virtual meetings
50. Message in a bottle
51. Yard signs

Meetings

52. Rotate team members sharing the message in a meeting
53. Team members presenting to one another on key message / topic
54. Have a respected peer, colleague, or another leader share the message
55. Virtual coffee chats (supply the coffee/tea and invite to change camera view to something more casual.)
56. Virtual lunches
57. Meeting notes / summaries
58. Meeting agendas
59. Calendar invitations with key messages
60. Meeting pre-reading materials
61. One-on-one meetings 
62. Skip level meetings
63. All-hands meetings
64. Virtual walk and talks
65. Demonstrations

Old School Tried and True

66. A positive, encouraging start-the-day message from leader (recorded or written)
67. Email
68. MS Teams & Zoom Meetings & Messaging
69. Project management software (eg: Asana, Trello, Basecamp, Slack)
70. Phone calls
71. Text messages
72. Cell phone notifications
73. Voice message
74. Powerpoint
75. Physical mail–letters, greeting cards, postcards
76. Newsletters
77. Surveys
78. Thank-you notes (handwritten)
79. Recognition and celebration
80. Check for understanding
81. Press release
82. Vary the timing and context of routine messages
83. Acronyms related to the message (if you’ve read any of our books, you know this is one of our go-to favorites)
84. Tag lines to make it memorable

Social Media

85. LinkedIn (articles, posts, features, video)
86. TikTok videos (and ultimately, all social media channels were mentioned)
87. Online paid ads
88. Write and/or share articles related to the subject
89. Internal blog
90. Internal podcast
91. Social media spotlights celebrating related behaviors and accomplishments

Project Tracking

92. Action trackers
93. Project plans
94. Open issues lists
95. Storyboards
96. Calendar invitations
97. Micro-learning software
98. Shared documents
99. Status settings in collaboration software
100. Annual or project kickoffs
101. Post-project celebrations

Your Turn

There’s a starting list of remote team communication techniques. To improve your remote team communication, work on one or two items from the list that add variety and break up preoccupation.

We’d love to hear from you–what would you add to help leaders master this critical skill?