How to get your remote team to start using PukkaTeam

In a remote working environment, you can’t just walk over to your colleague and ask them a question like in a traditional office. It can be difficult to know if a coworker is available to talk.

Tools such as Skype and Google Hangouts are great for calls and digital meetings, but they don’t make you feel connected throughout the working day.

PukkaTeam helps solve this issue with a continuous online presence, which easily allows you to see if your coworkers are available.

Introducing a tool like this can sometimes be a bit daunting for your team.

Getting people to adopt an ‘always-on’ webcam mentality can be tricky, but once people get used to it, it becomes much easier. It can be difficult if team members haven’t had much contact before, but here are some of our top tips to help you get started.

So what is PukkaTeam used for?

Let’s start off by understanding what the app is used for and how teams will benefit, and then what it’s not for, to make things clear.

What PukkaTeam is

PukkaTeam to put it simply, is designed to be the virtual workplace for your team, a replacement for a physical office, where instead of ‘arriving/turning up’ at work, you sign at the start of your work day and log out at the end.

It is the virtual ‘office’ we visit each day for work, designed to help improve team awareness and make communicating more fluid and simpler.

Using this tool is no different to working in an office environment, at any point someone could look round to see if someone’s:

• There and available

• There but busy on the phone

• Away from your desk

But people will only really notice this when they need you, this is the same when using PukkaTeam.

It’s an app, designed to sit in the background, used for awareness of whether you’re available when someone needs you, and then to make talking to you easier with one-click video chat, Slack integration etc.

What PukkaTeam isn’t

It is not a big brother or spy tool to keep tabs on people, the only thing it shows is the a snapshot using the webcam, it does not:

• Track when someone is at their desk.

• Show what’s on anyone’s computer screen.

Using a tool like PukkaTeam is, not only hassle (as well as very boring), to try and track a availability, but also very unproductive. Having someone continually watch the app to see who’s when someone is/isn’t at their desk, would mean they get nothing else done all day, even with a small team.

Now that we’ve cleared up what PukkaTeam is and isn’t used for, here are some tips to help your team to start using it:

Tip #1: Make it part of the workflow

For this to be most useful, everyone needs to get into a routine of starting PukkaTeam at the beginning of their work and only turning it off when at the end of their work day, just as you might do with emails and chat applications.

Pinning a PukkaTeam tab or bookmarking the page can help push this along.

Really PukkaTeam is only a tool to aid in communicating with each other. The desire to connect and communicate freely despite the barrier of distance and location is governed by your team’s culture. This is something you can nurture.

Tip #2: Encourage communication

ncourage your team to chat throughout the day, a quick “How was your weekend?” helps team members build rapport and become familiar with using PukkaTeam to connect.

Your team will feel more comfortable being on camera with people they know and trust, so encouraging communication throughout the day helps them feel more comfortable, both with each other and using PukkaTeam.

Tip #3: Make sure they know it’s not to spy on them

It’s also important to reassure your team that it’s not used as a big brother monitoring tool or micromanaging them, but as a tool to build a virtual office and team awareness.

PukkaTeam only takes intermittent snapshot using the webcam, it does not monitor what you’re doing on your PC’s, and doesn’t record when you’re at your PC (like we mentioned above).

Tip #4: Outline the benefits

Outline the benefits they’ll get from using it, like being able to easily see if teammates are available to talk, or letting others know when they’re busy and don’t want to be disturbed.

1. Seeing who’s available throughout the day, no more wondering.

2. Letting teammates know when you’re busy and don’t want to be disturbed.

3. Simple one-click video calling with teammates when you need to talk.

4. Having your team in one place (much like in a physical office).

It provides a simpler process for connecting and talking to teammates, instead of picking up the phone, or opening a separate application, you can seamlessly connect through the app.

It helps build a virtual workplace, bringing team awareness and simpler, more fluid communication to makes team members feel connected. Instead of being distant entities you don’t see or know, now they are a friend who is just a ‘tap on the shoulder’ away.

In the end…

having your team want to use PukkaTeam is important, but it might take some getting used to. Don’t force it on them by any means as it will most likely put them off altogether.

Start introducing it as part of their workflow to have them turn it on at the start of their day, and use the tips above and we’re sure your team will love using PukkaTeam.

Not on PukkaTeam yet? Try it out for free, and bring your team, together.