Part of a Team Working Remote... Feeling Isolated...

Hi all...

I have been working in my current position for about a month. I am part of a new effort at the company and a small team of myself and a couple other people have been assembled for this new LOB. We all work remote 100% from different parts of the country, unless it is to travel for something client related. I have yet to be at coporate or even any of the satellite offices. I pretty much don't know my other teammate (except for a name and a small amount of background) and mostly speak to my manager from time to time. I only sort of know what they are doing. Personally, I have a current assignment which is fine, but I guess I am used to WAY more social interaction like at my previous job. Back then, I was apart of a couple different teams and I only worked from home one day a week. There was a lot of interaction which was great. Now I am like an island getting the work done mostly alone.

Again, I know this is a brand new team and there is a lot going on. I just think team interaction is important. If I had my way, we would all meet up just to have met and get to know each other... maybe even do something "fun" to break the ice. I just feel like I collaborate better with people I feel more comfortable with and have a social connection with. Ultimately, we are supposed to be thinking of all these ideas and strategies. I sort of want to talk to my boss (who btw I have only met in person once for under an hour), but I thought maybe I should just give this more time. Should I say something now and present some ideas (meeting up, being more social, having a fun thing to do to break the ice, etc) or should I give it a few more months?

Ugh... Has anyone else experienced remote team work... particularly from day one, no previous office interaction? What sort of work did you do? Did you feel connected as a team? If so, what was done to foster that? If you did not feel connected, what was your team like and what could have made it better?

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Comments

martaw

QHalo wrote: »

The key is asking. If they lie, and it turns out worse, then leave. That simple. There are ways you can ask questions on team collaboration that would give you a good idea if they're painting a better picture. The point is to ask, and ask a lot of questions. I think a real key would be if they were doing an interview and they're all over the place if they have some sort of video conferencing setup so everyone can see each other. If that's not the case or they don't use Lync Live meeting or something where people can see you, I just did an interview and it was video with remote folks, then its probably not a good decision. If a company prides on team collaboration, then they will have these tools in place. If not, run.

That's great and all when there is an established team... asking how they do "remote collaboration" or what not. It is entirely different when you are the first person to be hired on the team and your boss himself is also fresh to the company. Like I said this is a new LOB/product... so pretty much everything is from scratch from the ground up. There are no established norms at this time. I'm sure over time there will be some culture that will develop team-wise.

nosoup4u

Well since there isn't a norm you can definitely play a pivotal role in shaping the way they handle this tbh.