A remote team is a term used to refer to a group of professionals from different locations, time zones, and cultures who come together to work on a project. They often have diverse skills and their primary means of communication is via the internet and internet platforms. Remote teams have employees who work independently with less supervision compared to co-located facilities or in-person companies.
It can be difficult managing a remote team if you have no prior knowledge or experience. This is why we have combined and outlined our top 10 tips to help you successfully manage a remote team. Let’s begin.
Before we discuss the tips for managing a remote team, let’s mention the top three issues remote workers face.
Social Isolation
Most remote workers struggle with feeling socially isolated from the rest of their peers. Since they spend most of their time alone working, the isolation can be stressful and hard to endure.
Lack of Information
The next issue remote workers struggle with is the lack of information. Information travels faster in a traditional working space. Remote workers feel disconnected from the workforce and they do not receive vital information as fast as they should.
Distraction and Lack of Clearly Defined Goals
Finally, remote workers struggle with getting distracted at home. One reason why they get distracted is that there are no clearly outlined goals to work towards therefore they feel unmotivated.
We’ll be discussing how to tackle these issues and more. Here are 10 tips to successfully manage a remote team.
Unify Remote Teams
The biggest issue remote teams have, is a lack of unity. This is quite different from the issues remote workers face. Remote teams should be as unified as possible, especially if they are working on the same project. Unity improves the spread of vital information and also reduces the impact of social isolation. A great way to unify remote teams would be too:
- Introduce members of the team to each other. This is important so they can communicate seamlessly and work better together to complete the project.
- Use the Slack and Zoom platforms. They are easy to use and will improve the relationship and communication in your remote team. These platforms will improve the relationship between the members of your remote team and the relationship between you and your remote team.
- Encourage them to share personal information such as their birthdays. In traditional working place employees will be aware of birthdays. Organize a zoom birthday celebration for your remote teams so they feel properly connected to a team.
Daily check-ins at scheduled times
While it is possible to simply check-in whenever you want, a scheduled daily check-in will be more uniform and it will improve interaction and reduce feelings of isolation. Uniformity of the check-ins will make the remote team feel more unified and it’ll help set a schedule. They will know what to expect and when to expect it. This will help reduce feelings of apprehension which could lead to mistakes being made.
Break Down the Goals
When working with a remote team a lot of employers place the focus on the final goal. This can be detrimental to the overall quality of the project. Break down the project into smaller checkpoints so that the team will experience feelings of accomplishment instead of long working days without any tangible goals in sight.
Use the Available Platforms
When communicating with remote teams the means of communication must be as natural as possible. This is why we recommend platforms like Zoom for video calls and more interactive communion. Other platforms such as Google Hangouts and Slack are also great for communicating. Communication is important because a good flow of communication will help the teams work better and faster.
Be clear with the rules of engagement
Due to the different time zones the members of your remote team will have, it is important to have rules for communication and engagement. If there’s an urgent message, perhaps a particular platform or topic should be used when sending an email. This will ensure that they know what to expect and how to treat incoming information.
Set Expectations
Have weekly expectations for your remote team. Do not assume they know what you want. Be clear in communicating the expectations regarding the project so they know what they will be working towards.
Make sure resources are available
Depending on the industry you work in, resources and necessities differ. There are certain resources your remote team may need for work to run as smoothly as possible. Consider purchasing bulk plans for office programs like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, and other technology they might need to properly execute the project. They may need to take SkillShare classes to learn a new skill needed for the project or purchase software that is needed for the execution of the project. These resources differ in industries, but they should have the basics needed so they can focus on the project.
Supervise, don’t hover
Hovering or helicopter-supervising does more harm than good. Once you have clearly explained the project, the vision and the goals step back and let them work. Do not micro-manage every single activity, this will be stressful for you and your remote team. As long as you’re clear with your objectives, you can focus on supervising and making sure the team is working well together.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is an important attribute for leadership. When managing a remote team you must have and exercise emotional intelligence. Listen to their struggles about the project and see if there’s a way the obstacles can be removed or at least minimised. Each employee will be different, therefore the methods that worked for employee A may not work for employee B.
Encourage Collaboration
Encourage the members of your remote team to collaborate and help each other. The lack of collaboration is a frequent complaint of remote teams. Always encourage or even suggest collaborations.
Remote teams possess a lot of benefits. Remote work allows a company to work with exceptional and skilled people who live outside their state or company. Managing a remote team may seem overwhelming, but with our tips, you’ll find it significantly easier.
