In August, our team at Fluid held a summer conference in Stockholm to discuss our goals for the coming year. It was so helpful to get together face-to-face, as so much of our work is done remotely. With over 100 suppliers based across Europe, Asia and North America, we believe that creating a successful remote work culture is key to delivering the best service to our customers.
Holding the conference was the next step in ensuring that our worldwide team is functioning well. We have seen that one of the most important things when working in a digital team is to ensure that everyone is clear about the team’s overarching goals. We took this time together to set a clear strategy for Fluid for the autumn period and will be sharing this with the wider team in coming months.
Our virtual communication tools
As we spend most of our time working remotely, it is key that we have the rights tools in place to ensure smooth and regular communication with our suppliers, our customers and with other members of the project management team. We use a range of online tools such as Slack, Zoom, Trello and e-mail for day-to-day communication. It is essential, however, that team members don’t get overwhelmed by too many messages and video meetings. In our line of work, we find it very important that we take time to focus on more detailed work to ensure that every project we complete is of the highest quality.
Remote team building
Another important way we try to foster better collaboration in our virtual teams is to ensure that everyone knows what their team mates are working on and have a good understanding of each other’s strengths and areas of expertise. We use weekly video meetings at Fluid to exchange information and provide support as necessary. We are lucky that our core team boasts a wide range of translation and editing experience, as well as project management expertise.
Supporting our colleagues
When it comes to our wider team of experts, the pandemic was a good reminder of the importance of supporting our colleagues. In the past, we have done this through monthly online fikas. We plan to expand this idea by organising a regular online co-working slot where we can reach out to any colleagues who might be feeling a bit isolated. Creating these opportunities for more informal discussions is important. These ’water cooler moments’ are a key part of creating a more innovative and creative team.
Celebrating our successes
The last but perhaps most important thing we try to remember to do is to celebrate our successes. We took the opportunity of being in Stockholm to mark the end of another hugely successful annual report season for Fluid (10 financial and sustainability reports delivered to clients within agreed time and budget), as well as the continued expansion of the company into different areas and language combinations.