Closer than ever

Working together, at a distance: Let's start!

We have been working online for quite a while, and there are some recommendations we would like to share with you in order to make things easier for you and your team. Firstly, there are some suggestions taken from Closer than ever: A guide to social change organisations who want to start working online by Margarita Salas and Sula Bátsú, published by the Association for Progressive Communications in 2011. The aim is to help writers and editors manage their relationships within a small team that rarely meets face-to-face. Please also notice that we have listed some specific recommendations for our writers below, that you might find quite handy.

How do you establish trusting relationships in online work?

When a network, like ours, carries out a significant part of its work online, it is very important to make sure there are healthy and strong relationships between and among its staff and members. In our experience, this means being able to trust the people with whom you work at a distance. Trust requires closeness and being able to rely on the network.

This process of getting to know your co-workers that happens so naturally in face-to-face environments needs to be helped a little in online environments, because you will not be seeing or hearing your colleagues every day – you will probably be reading them. Most of the communication and interaction in our network is through text: an email, a document, an instant message. This does not mean that you can't have online informal interactions like the ones you would have over a cup of coffee, but it does mean that you might need to plan ways or create spaces where you and your colleagues feel comfortable doing so.

Tips to promote interaction and closeness

• “Be there” for your fellow networkers: When you work for a social justice cause you need to be able to count on your colleagues, because they are more than just co-workers: they are your companions in the struggle, the ones who will help you when there is trouble. For us at APC this has proven to be one of the most valuable aspects of belonging to the network, because we defend freedom of expression, which in some countries is not a given right. Having a reliable network of organisations willing to support local conflicts and make them visible at an international level has been key for APC members to be able to do their work.

• Extend precious face-to-face opportunities: If you have the chance to spend time with your colleagues at a meeting or conference, plan to spend an extra day together after the meeting ends so that you can do follow-up together. Face-to-face contact is good for strategic thinking and planning. Once you go back to your desk it will be so much more difficult alone. When you do have a chance to meet face to face, if it is possible, create opportunities for remote participation as well. Feeling left out of these interactions can be alienating for those people who did not have the chance to be present.

• Explore the use of social networks to open a space for informal social interaction among the members of the team: Organise playful activities such as contests, surveys and brain teasers. Sulá Batsú once set up a contest to see who could predict the outcomes of the most matches in the football World Cup. Everyone on the staff team received the list of matches, chose their picks and could see the picks other people made. Since not all of the staff work in the same office, this was a fun activity that facilitated conversations, jokes and closeness among members of the team, based on a sport that speaks culturally to Costa Ricans. The organisation even received a request from a partner that found out about the activity and wanted to participate. As each match took place the results were updated, followed by a series of comments online. Take advantage of the possibilities the technology offers and welcome posting of personal pictures, stories, links to audio and videos, etc. Having fun together can contribute a lot towards working well together. Mark these emails in the subject line so that people can filter them to read later, e.g. “Off topic: Willie's recipe for Abgusht-e bademjan soup”.

In this sense, it is always important to remember that networking is a two-way street: it is not only about receiving, it is also about giving. If you want your co-workers or members to be there for you, you have to be there for them:

• Make sure that you have the full contact information of your closest co-workers and members and make sure they have yours. Very often we only have an email address as a means of contact. It is a good idea to also share at least a telephone number for emergencies. APC asks all staff and members to keep this information in a private area of each person's personal profile on APC.org, viewable to members and staff only.

• Ask your colleagues and members about the challenges they are facing and, according to your possibilities, use the resources you have to help them overcome these challenges. APC members have been able to use chat and voice over IP (VoIP) to contact other members and help them with specific issues. For example, during the Feminist Tech Exchange in Mexico in 2009, we had virus and Wi-Fi problems with several participants' computers and were able to receive help from our colleagues at APC member Colnodo in Colombia using a VoIP service.

• When major natural disasters or political events occur in the place your colleagues live, contact them and make sure they and their loved ones are well and give them an opportunity to air their experiences. During an attempted coup in Ecuador our policy manager, who lives in Quito, received a lot of messages of concern. In turn she gave us a real-time picture of what was happening on the streets.

• Get to know the campaigns and issues that your colleagues or members promote and support them on your website, through personal emails or in your social networks. For example, each year the APC Women's Rights Programme (APC WRP) carries out the Take Back the Tech! campaign on using ICTs to end violence against women (takebackthetech.net). The campaign receives support and dissemination by members who are not necessarily involved in specific APC WRP projects.

What type of people work best in online networked environments?

Not everyone feels comfortable working online. Of course people can adapt to different working environments if they need to, but there are some characteristics that can certainly help a person feel more comfortable with and better suited to this type of work.

As a good online worker you need to be...

Flexible: As an online worker you need to be able to adapt to different work styles, communication styles and leadership styles in order to work well with your colleagues and achieve the desired goals. If you are working for an international network, then you will also be dealing with issues related to different time zones, languages and cultures. When working as part of a global team, your schedules and those of your colleagues will be different. So flexibility is also useful to deal with delays, connectivity problems or other stressful moments.

A clear communicator: As a good online worker you need to be able to process and organise a lot of information, share ideas in a clear and concise manner, and prepare dissemination materials in formats appropriate for different audiences. Explicit communication can also help you to maintain good work relations and avoid misunderstandings. In this sense, you need to be assertive and direct, without being aggressive. Written communication lends itself to more interpretation than regular oral communication, so you need to choose carefully which medium to use, based on the context and specific needs, and be prepared to switch media. For example, if a situation is tense, switch from email to voice communication.

Self-organised: To work well online you need to be able to establish priorities, manage your time very efficiently and establish clear boundaries between your personal life and your work. Although this is true of any type of work, it is especially important for online work, since supervisors will not be physically present to provide close guidance. If you do not manage your time adequately, you might find yourself feeling overwhelmed with more work than you can handle and having difficulties with deadlines, or overburdened by excessive dedication to your work, eventually leading to stress and burnout.

Open: Nobody will know if you're having problems when you're sitting alone at your computer unless you share them. Be prepared to open up to your colleagues about any personal or work issues you're having so that others can help you. If you don't tell your online colleagues, they will never know. When you are part of an online network, you are expected to make your knowledge resources available to others, for example, sharing your opinions, relevant documents, links or personal contacts that you have and your colleagues might need regarding a specific topic where you have expertise.

Recommendations for the team of writers

• When a meeting is scheduled, take it as seriously as you would do on a face-to-face meeting. Being punctual is important and a sign of respect of your colleagues. If you can't make the meeting for any reason, please make sure to let the rest of the team know as much in advance as possible.

• Try to stay in touch by email, share personal things if you feel like it, and update the rest of the team on what you are working on. This can be done weekly, every two weeks or monthly. Try to be responsive to other people's emails as you would like them to be with yours.

• Whenever you find an interesting resource or reading you think the rest of the team might enjoy, do not hesitate in sharing it. That helps to build up the team and to make the other people engage with your interests, and to enrich each others worlds.

• Emails can get overwhelming, if you do not know how to manage them. Try to be organised and not to duplicate emails, or send too many to the team. Email processing takes time and it is work too!