In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which required many professionals to quickly switch to a Remote-only work setup, workers across all industries have become experts in Remote Communication.

What was once foreign has now become second nature to a lot of us, and we’ve created many habits to navigate the challenges of remote work (e.g., kids playing or dogs barking in the background). Some of us have even gotten so comfortable with this new way of communicating that going back to the office feels scary.

Are you worried about communicating effectively with your colleagues when you return to the office?

If so, remember that the Remote Communication Habits you picked up while working from home can work to your advantage. Read on to find out how.

Are You Nervous About Returning to Work?

Are you having a hard time putting your finger on the exact reason why you feel apprehensive about going back to the office? Here are some commonly cited reasons that might be relevant to you:

You’ve Adjusted to the “New Normal”

After more than a year and a half of remote work, you’ve likely settled into a pretty good work-from-home routine. Now that you’ve perfected your setup, you might be a little frustrated at the idea of shifting into another “new normal” and going back to the office.

You Work Better Alone

Some people have always known that they work better independently. Others learned this about themselves during the pandemic.

If you’ve found that you’re more productive working by yourself, you might be worried about how going back to the office will affect your productivity.

You Don’t Want to Go Back to Making Small Talk

Remote work eliminated a lot of the office small talk that some people find so abhorrent. Going back to in-person work will mean having to deal with those casual conversations once again.

Ten Remote Communication Habits to Take Back to Work With You

If any of those reasons for being nervous about in-person work resonate with you, the remote communication habits you’ve picked up during the pandemic could actually work to your advantage.

The following are 10 effective remote communication habits that can help you be a better in-office communicator:

1. Setting Clear Expectations

One of the key tenets of good remote communication is setting clear expectations for your team members.

When working from home, when you have to ask someone to handle a task or assist you with a project, you likely review your requests carefully to ensure there’s no confusion. There’s no reason why you can’t still do this in the office.

By continuing to set clear expectations, you can prevent miscommunication and potential frustration.

2. Providing Clear Feedback

In addition to setting clear expectations, remote work also requires you to provide clear feedback and explain exactly how and why something needs to be changed.

Continue providing this kind of feedback now that you’re back in the office. Be specific about what you like and what needs to be done differently so everyone is on the same page.

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3. Establishing Boundaries Around Interruptions

While working from home, you’ve probably had to set some boundaries with your loved ones regarding your schedule.

If you’re worried about interruptions from coworkers when you return to the office, use these same skills you’ve developed around boundary setting. Put on some noise-canceling headphones or hang up a sign telling people to come back later when you’re in the zone and need to do some deep work.

4. Monitoring Your Tone

When writing emails or sending chat messages to colleagues, you have to be extra careful about your tone to ensure the intention of your message is clear.

Keep that habit up now that you’re back in the office. Yes, you can communicate face-to-face again, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still monitor your tone to ensure you’re being clear, polite, and professional.

5. Regularly Touching Base with Your Team

As a remote worker, you probably got in the habit of touching base with your team throughout the day to let them know what progress you’ve made or if you’ve run into a particular issue and need help.

Try to continue doing this in the office. Regular check-ins keep everyone in the loop and prevent them from running into problems later. Using a Group Chat tool in ProofHub can be a quick way of sending and receiving messages to/from team members to ensure you stay connected with the team.

6. Minimizing Communication After Hours

When they first started working from home, a lot of people fell into the trap of answering emails and other messages at all hours. Then, when they started to burn out, they course-corrected and set boundaries around work-related communications.

Make sure you keep doing this now that you’re back in the office. Let people know that you won’t answer work-related messages after hours, and hold that boundary even if others try to get around it.

7. Asking for Clarification When Needed

When it comes to remote communication, even when everyone’s doing their best to explain what they mean or what they want, there are still times when you need extra clarification.

It was okay to ask for clarity when everyone was working from home. Why can’t the same be true now that you’re working together in the office again?

If you need someone to clarify something, ask them directly.

8. Avoiding Unnecessary Meetings

We’ve learned during the pandemic that a lot of meetings don’t actually need to happen. Teams can get just as much done when their supervisor or manager sends regular emails, updates and feedback on the progress made over the last week.

Continue to avoid calling unnecessary meetings now that you’re all working together again. If you can summarize the points you need to make in an email, do it. Let your colleagues get their work done in peace as much as possible.

9. Establishing Priorities Early

While working from home, many people created a habit of establishing priorities right away when taking on a new project or holding a meeting to discuss plans for the future.

Continue doing this in the office. When you do sit down for a meeting, share the purpose or outline the priority topics that need to be covered right from the start. This gets everyone focused and ready to work.

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10. Using Productivity Management Software

Productivity management software like ProofHub, or Team Compass were a lifesaver to many remote workers during the pandemic. These tools make it easy for team members to stay in the loop, see how others are progressing, and provide clarification and feedback.

Just because you’re going back to the office, that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to use productivity management software. This is a great way to uphold the good communication habits you’ve developed since working remotely. Sticking to what your team already knows helps make the transition back to the office easier for everyone.

Return to the Office with Confidence

As you can see, you gained a lot of beneficial remote communication skills during the pandemic.

Try incorporating these new habits into your daily workflow, and you’ll likely find that you have a much easier time feeling comfortable with your colleagues and working in a more traditional environment once more.

Written by:

Erica Pezza @ Team Compass by Weekdone

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10 “Cool” Remote Communication Habits To Honor In The Office was originally published in ProofHub Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.