If you met someone through an online dating site, you get acquainted, hoped to flourish and grow that friendship. Then, suddenly you’d been cut off without explanation. You are now in a roller coaster, lured around, anxiety triggers, and you don’t know what goes wrong. You’re definitely “ghosted.”

The term “ghosting” is usually confronted by hopeless romantics at online dating. “Ghosting” is also encountered in employment world. Employee “ghosting” happens when job applicants or employees sever the relationship without any notice. It is most commonly happens in the early-stage interviewees or newly hired employees but it can also occurs at any stage of employment relationship whether in regular employment or virtual and remote work.

Are your virtual team “ghosting” you? There are ways to avoid annoying “you’re ghosted” situation, particularly how to communicate effectively with your remote team.Add paragraph text here.

Don’t mix up brief conversation and clear conversation. With our intention to be efficient, we use fewer words to communicate. But brevity in words means your remote team spends more time trying to interpret your message, and misinterprets it somehow. Don’t assume that others comprehend your cues and shorthand. Devote more time to communicate clearly, no matter what the channels and media.

Build communication norms. Remote teams have to make new norms to establish clarity in communication. Companies like Merck have created acronyms for their digital communications such as “Four Hour Response (4HR)” and “No Need to Respond (NNTR)” that helps build predictability and certainty to virtual conversations. Remote teams can also establish their own norms such as virtual assistants’ preferred response time, writing style and tone.

Humans are all unique individuals but consistent behavior helps others predict what we do, to understand things to be understood. We are in stressful times, thus understanding, giving empathy, and creating an open dialogue and communication goes an extra mile.

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Find hidden opportunities in written communications. While few remote team members preferred being off the cam, written communications can create new opportunities for some virtual workers that speaks less in groups. Text-based communications put a little importance on interpersonal skills and physical appearance, giving a better way to share power and decision-making. Research shows that introverted people are less restrain to speak online compared to offline interaction. On the other hand, be careful for the “virtual unconscious bias”, where punctuations, grammar and word choice might tell you prejudiced attitudes towards some groups.

Build a big room for celebration. Oldies but goodies birthday cakes are still important to remote teams. Growing a virtual spaces and rituals for celebration and socializing can strengthen personal connections and lay foundation for future collaborations. Make ways to shorten the distance whether it is physical, operational or distance between groups. Your remote team can be closer together even when they’re apart.

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