10 TIPS ON HOW TO MANAGE REMOTE TEAMS EFFICIENTLY
The idea of handling a remote team is no less than an online lecture where the teacher is struggling with students not muting their devices, the only difference being there are grown up problems here. From constant follow ups to ensuring that you’re not pestering the employee, there’s so much that goes around to balance the relationships with the employees remotely. The idea of ensuring productivity, maximising results can be a little intimidating for the managers when the team is scattered around the globe. The person in charge has to go an extra mile to build a personalised conversation as there’s no in-person communication happening for the conversations to flow smoothly. The concerns are not limited to maximum productivity but also about acknowledging that the employees may feel isolated at some point during working remotely. Remote team management has its own challenges and pros but we have listed out some points about how you can manage remote teams efficiently.
1.Organise the week and plan the meetings.
Unlike traditional ways of working, remote working will be fruitful if you have laid out your targets and expectations prior. But it's not feasible to improvise the week’s plan while working remotely as it may cause a lot of loopholes that may affect the entire team and its productivity. We suggest that prepare a sheet, jot down the names of employees under you and distribute the tasks on that sheet, determine when the meetings need to be held throughout the week, does it have to be an individual phone call or group video call and note every detail of it on the sheet. Avoid planning meetings at the last minute unless it's really important. Limited time to perform any task can only affect the quality of the work which will further lead to a poor result.
2. Outline the topics of the meeting.
While discussing different ideas with your set of employees, you are bound to go off topic and completely sideline the main reason for holding the meeting. You might end up discussing all the issues but forget the main one that needs urgent attention due to multiple discussions. So make sure you outline the topics of your meetings, issues that might be co-related to that topic on a piece of paper before getting on the call. Having something written in front of you will make the conversation easier as you can tick the topics you’ve discussed and resolved and move onto the next one without mixing things up or jumping topics without realising.
3. Remote team Building activities.
Things don’t have to be different in terms of bonding with the team just because everybody is miles apart. The team is still on the same page, working towards the same goal and spending half their day working for the same organisation as you are. There are quite a few activities that you can try with your team to bond with each other and have a quality time beyond work. Some exciting and fun remote building activities can be Would you rather? Who is more expected to do it? Themed trivia, childhood picture share and guess, Charades on video chat, virtual movie night and so much more. These activities will be ice breaker and also boost the communicational abilities of the team.
4. Build a good rapport with the team.
Since you’re managing the entire team remotely, the chances to bond with the team or building an equation are pretty limited. You are not going to see them in person to have casual conversations rolling which will restrict your relationship with them. Although professional relationships involve conversations mainly related to work in this case remote work tasks, do check on the well being of your team. Always start the conversation by asking about the well being of your employees. It will make them feel cared. Ask about the issues they’re facing with the new task upfrontly, don’t wait for them to address these issues. Make them feel you’re more than the team manager for them but a remote friend. A pleasant morning wish on the group, checking on the employee who might be ill, asking how their weekend was, these starter questions will pose you to be a chill, go-to manager. You can find a relevant and talented candidate for your team at Gorewo. Click here to post a job for your organisation.
5. Celebrate their efforts.
Since the whole team doesn’t report under the same roof doesn’t mean the celebrations should be outlisted. When an employee has given a brilliant performance in the week or the month, celebrate it by posting an appreciating text on the group. Offer gift vouchers or an appraisal if they have played a huge role in a project to succeed. You can also deliver a pastry or a cake to acknowledge their exceptional performance at your organisation. This will add as a cherry point in the eyes of your employees and double their loyalty and performance towards your organisation. Even verbal appreciation goes a long way so imagine what your gesture can make them feel. So make sure you make their efforts feel valued every once in a while.
6. Don’t pester the employees.
Most remote working organisations may have technologies installed that will track the activities of the employees. These technologies help you understand how much time the employee spends performing the task. But don’t focus so much on the time they’re spending performing an activity. Rather look at the outcome. Don’t pester your employees with the performance time of the week but appreciate them for the targets they achieved regardless. Make their performance feel valued and don’t overlook it with how much time was spent to make it happen. At the end of the day what truly matters is the result, and if your employee is able to meet that goal with their flexible routine, let them practice it.
7. Make use of the technology.
If we wondered maximising productivity at remote working a decade ago, it wouldn’t have been possible. There were such limited apps to help you connect with the team seamlessly and at all times to carry out tasks remotely. But today, we have such a wide range of options to choose from. There are apps like Zoom, Google meets that ensure secured and high-quality video chat with your entire team. There are apps like Slack, Trello, Workzone, Hive, Basecamp, that can make task postings and chatting easy for the team. It creates a professional space digitally and keeps the team in track of all the expected targets.
8. Be available for the team.
Make sure that your team knows that they can reach out to you under any circumstance. Try not being the difficult person that people fear reaching out to. Always vocalise that you're available for the team if they don’t understand how to perform some task, how to maximise productivity under difficult circumstances or even after causing some issue with the assigned tasks. Make them feel comfortable and let them realise that mistakes happen but the bigger mistake is to not communicate. Besides, to hold down any remote working team, communication is the only powerful spell to keep the boat sailing. So communicate with them about how much communicating is important.
9. Seek for updates at EOD.
Rather than having phone calls or message exchanges throughout the day, have a fixed time by the end of the day where all the employees update about their day via text/phone call. This practice will help you understand how efficiently your employees are performing their remote work but also help you keep the team in track on a personal level. A text on the group about what all tasks were carried out should be expected on the employees group. This will help you gauge the results and speed at which your employees are functioning and further analyse their work habits.
10. Mind your pauses.
Although technology is made to make things easy for us it can be the reason behind miscommunications. When you’re on a group video call, you need to make sure that you’re minding your pauses before you speak. The lags might delay the other person’s conversation and you might miss out on what he/she is saying. Rather than spending half the time repeating or asking the other person to repeat, take enough pauses before you speak. Address the person with their name when you’ve something to tell them specifically. These small habits and practices will eliminate troubles during phone calls or group calls.
Key takeaways
Remote working is widely accepted in today’s time as compared to 10 years ago. The pandemic has made the world look for better options, comfortable options which has made them accept the idea of remote jobs. With these huge sets of employees on board, we need to target the loop holes that may take place while managing a team remotely. We need to make working remotely better than ever rather than making it a blunder.
To ensure a seamless experience at remote working with your team you need to start off small. Small efforts, detailed habits and practices will help you get the results you are seeking for. These detailed practices and habits will take you and your team a long way and eliminate extra problems that might take place during remote working. So keep a close eye at your approach towards leading your team and how you’re managing them. We hope these points helped you look in depth of the process that goes behind managing a team remotely. And while you’re with us on this guide today, click here to post jobs at Gorewo and let us shortlist the best candidates for your organisation. If you have any other suggestions for managing remote teams, please mention them in the comments below. Have a good day!
