One of the dangers for any remote employee is losing your connection to the home office. While we enjoy the freedom that comes from working at home or at a remote location, if you are not careful, your leadership may forget you exist. Granted, on some days we all wish to be left alone to focus on our assigned tasks, but it is important to keep an open communication channel with your teammates and leadership.

So how do you stay connected to the "Mother Ship"? Fortunately, technology has improved in the last few years to give us many options when it comes to communicating with others. Here are a few key points to help you stay in touch:

1. Be Accessible. Unless you are participating in a conference call or video meeting, try to remain available to those back in the home office, especially your supervisor. This means answering your phone and responding to emails as soon as you can get to them. For some organizations, Instant Messaging tools are a great way to stay in touch.
2. Find a Buddy. Identify someone back at the office who can be your eyes and ears as to what is going on that may be important, but no one thought to communicate it to you. This could include things like notifying you when a meeting is canceled so you don't waste time trying to connect to the group.
3. Initiate Contact. Take the lead when it comes to communication with the team members in the office. If appropriate, schedule regular calls or video sessions with those you work with on a regular basis. This is especially true when communicating with your supervisor. If you want to continue enjoying the privilege of working remotely, it is your job to make sure your supervisor knows what you are working on and the progress that is made on key initiatives.
4. Visit the Office. Unless a trip to the office requires a flight, you should try to schedule some time in the office to catch up with co-workers and your leadership. This is not time for chit-chat, but use a day in the office to schedule project updates and other important meetings.
5. Volunteer - Jump in and ask to be included on cross-functional teams or other assignments that will increase your communication with co-workers.

If you have aspirations of moving up in your organization, it is critical that you remain visible to your employer.

It is the natural tendency to give advancement opportunities to the people they see on a daily basis. (Out of sight, out of mind.) This does not mean tooting your own horn daily, but it is important to send regular status updates to your leaders to ensure they understand how your effort has contributed to the success of the overall organization. This can be in the form of a simple weekly status report where you include the following sections:

• Accomplishments - What did you complete during the week?
• Challenges - Give others advance warning that you anticipate a possible issue that may prevent the completion of a task on time as previously communicated. Especially when your leader does not see you in the office, leaders tend to assume that things are moving along as planned unless they hear otherwise.
• Help Needed - List any area where you need the support of your leader or other groups back at the home office. This could be something like asking for support on an important sales call or help resolving a customer issue.

The key is to stay connected! There should never be any question as to your productivity or contribution to the success of the team.

Quote

"You gave up the office, not the people. Relationships are important. Recognize the need for and cultivate a virtual culture. Find ways to celebrate achievements or special occasions on-line or via conference call."