Not knowing what type of communication challenges you're referring to, I'll take a general approach. There are always communication challenges with any team, co-located or not. The best way I have found to deal with it is to not assume that people on the team are communicating, so I bring everyone together for team meetings. These are for status updates, department communication sharing, general info and most importantly for each person to talk about what they're working on. Invariably multiple people will become involved in deeper dive discussions that need to continue after the meeting as they help one another. There is frequently mention of "oh I didn't know you were working on that" or "You may have missed this but person X created a document/project/piece of code that may help you solve that problem.
The other piece of it is to bring people on the team together for fun. Schedule a bowling event, happy hour or dinner out. Even providing a catered lunch during the week, and inviting them, let's the team know you care and also gives them a more informal way to get together. When they are more relaxed, they tend to communicate better and bond with each other. So the next time there is an issue, they're more apt to walk over to a colleague to discuss or pick up the phone to solve a problem.
Lastly, if you know there is conflict among team members, deal with it immediately. Listen to each individually and work with them to problem solve. Most of the time person X just didn't understand person Y and you can help them reach resolution. Hope this helps! Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The key to understand all related to communication is going to the basement. Basement is Claude E Shannon "The Mathematical Theory of Communication". Read and understand it. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
I like Liana's explanation.
From my experience, the most common challenge is Listening. People sometimes tend to talk more than listen which might end up with some misunderstandings. Saving Changes...
Jess De OcampoLean Six Sigma Professional/Project Manager/Consultant/| .Manila, Ncr, Philippines
Initiating "team building" activities can help break down communication challenges due to diversity in culture, background, race, maturity and so on. It is an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other better and respect other people's differences. It helps promote team dynamics, harmony and cooperation. Reaching out to each team member adds a personal touch and can make a diffence. It makes the team member feel valued. Establishing an "open door policy" --- transparency within the team makes communication more effective. I also suggest establishing the team's "house rules" in terms of how to communicate with each other. Saving Changes...
General problems like availability, lack of dialogue, asking for help, pair programming, timezone differences are not usually found when the teams are colocated.
Team can attend scrum meetings and can understand obstacles and assess risks easily.
However, conflicts between some team members, ego clashes, finger pointing or blaming could be some issues with colocated teams. When scrum master works very closely with the team, such problems could be easily identified and resolved at early stages. Saving Changes...
Aejaz ShaikhPM I| Alyx Technologies India Pvt LtdPune, Maharshatra, India
Thanks Liana and the rest of all for the explanation for an incomplete/unclear questions. Saving Changes...
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