5 Tips for Managing Remote Teams

Remote work is a reality for many businesses that want to give their employees the flexibility to work how they work best.

Many businesses are just now making the switch, which makes managing remote teams something they have not done before.

While there are overlaps between managing remote teams and managing in-house ones, managing remote teams can be a lot more challenging, Because of this, managers need new strategies and skills to ensure everything keeps running smoothly. Keep reading to find out some recommended tips to use when managing remote teams.

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Set Ground Rules for Work and Collaboration

Once you have established that some of your employees will be working remotely it is important to establish some rules for working and collaboration between employees. Each person needs to know what their roles and responsibilities are, what you expect of them, and the results you and the business are looking for.

Next, choose tools that make it easier for employees to collaborate.

Effective communication and collaboration are crucial for the success of any remote team.

Tools like video and audio messengers, a free online whiteboard tool, file sharing platforms and file editors that allow for multiple editors can help streamline this process.

The aim of setting these rules is so you always know what hours need to overlap to allow for collaboration, the main communication channels, how to share progress and how to put in place effective feedback rules.

Setting ground rules is essential when working on web development or any other type of project.

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Reinforce Asynchronous Communication

One of the major benefits of allowing remote work is that doing so allows employees to concentrate better which leads to increased productivity and better outcomes. However, a manager can erode these benefits if they are always emailing, calling, or otherwise trying to get in touch with remote employees all the time.

This also happens if there are too many meetings that can be handled through email.

Asynchronous communication uses written messages where some time passes before the recipient sends a reply. It allows you to structure your message better, connect ideas better between pieces of communication, and summarise tasks and requests quickly.

All the above help you get better results as everyone will be getting to the point quickly, and saves you a lot of time as there is no space or opportunity for chit-chat. Also, since the messages can sit for some time without the recipient attending to them, they do not disrupt workflows or affect productivity and output.

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Schedule Weekly Meetings

Managers should set time aside for weekly one-on-one meetings with employees, especially those who seem to be struggling with remote work. Beyond this, they should also schedule weekly virtual settings that bring members of single teams together.

While such meetings should be professional, objective and personal, managers should leave some room for empathy and humour. For example, find the humour in a child walking in during a meeting to liven everyone up and keep the mood light.

Tips for effective weekly meetings include ensuring everyone knows how to join the meetings, humanising the meeting and your team, ensuring clear meeting objectives that can be easily met and encouraging everyone to contribute something.

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Be Both Organised and Flexible

Organisation and flexibility are crucial when managing remote teams. Being organised means having a concrete plan for ensuring goals and objectives are met. Flexibility means adjusting your strategies if something is not working.

Flexibility is what allows you to let employees work however and whenever they want to work as long as they are hitting their KPIs and meeting all business goals and objectives. It also means providing a rigid structure for employees who work best when they have strict guidelines and rules to ensure they do what they are supposed to.

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Learn To Balance Distractions

Everyone managing a remote team should understand that distractions are inevitable when people work from home. Managers should let those on their teams understand that a distraction or lull once in a while is not necessarily a bad thing, but it should not come at the cost of productivity.

Encourage your employees to be open about their distractions.

What they do when they are distracted, especially if it is not affecting productivity or output, is not something to be worried about. What is important is ensuring these distractions do not become something more.

Second, let your employees get distracted together. Many businesses provide Slack channels where employees share memes or jokes as a way of letting off steam.

Having a centralised space like this can help employees reduce distractions when they need to focus as they only need to mute the channel whenever they need to.

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Conclusion

Managing a remote team is now a reality for many managers. Identifying its benefits and sharing those with the team, finding ways to keep things moving and ensuring continuing productivity will help make this switch much more successful.

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Article by Pankaj Shah: DCP Ilford Web Designers