Five tips to effectively manage a remote team

Five tips to effectively manage a remote team

With the competition for finding the right workforce at an all-time high, more and more companies are now looking at building remote teams in different countries. However, there

Introduction

are still companies who are skeptical, and that’s because they don’t know how to manage a remote team and make it work.

Will it hamper productivity? What if the project fails? Is it efficient to build a remote team? These are some of the many questions that prevent them from going offshore.

1. Intentionality is important Your local team is the team that you see everyday. If you build a remote team thousands of miles away, that isn’t going to be possible. Your remote employees cannot stop by your desk or catch up with you over the weekend. And that’s where being intentional can work wonders. ●

Taking extra effort to make your remote team feel like they belong to your organisation

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Ensuring they feel appreciated and recognised — including things like birthdays and work anniversaries

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Create virtual areas for socialising and team building

2. Comms, comms, comms Geographical distance no longer needs to affect how teams communicate. With modern tech, initiating contact and managing a remote team barely takes a few seconds. With 60% to 90% of communication being non-verbal, it makes sense to build a robust comms strategy. ●

Engage with your remote team at least once a day. It doesn’t always have to be work-related

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Use multiple channels to communicate as different ones have different benefits. The key is to choose your channels wisely

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Schedule weekly, or bi-monthly calls with your team. This interaction and engagement also help remote workers feel included and heard

3. Cloud is key If remote employees can't find an important document because there’s no system in place, or forget when an important task is due, you’ve failed to address the basics — implementing cloud-based task-tracking and project management tools.

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You don’t need sticky notes or desk-hogging planners

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Everything is backed up and easily accessible, and simple to edit and review as a team

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You spend much less time organising your work in terms of folders and access

4. It’s all about transparency When working with remote employees, it can be hard for them to see the bigger picture. Sitting in a different country, they may not always know what’s happening at the local office and vice versa. But if you are open and honest, there is no reason why you can't replicate how it works locally. ●

Practicing transparency and implementing it as a part of your team culture gains the the trust of your remote employees

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This also goes a long way in retaining your remote employees in the long-term

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Your remote team won’t feel like they’re the last to hear about what’s happening in the office

5. Pay your team a visit You can’t expect your remote teams to feel connected to your company if you can’t make that happen through action. Visiting your remote office, even if it’s just once a year, can build real cohesion within your team. ●

Conduct short one-on-one meetings to review each individual’s goals and analyse their performance

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You can even organise a work vacation, where your local and remote teams come together to visit a new city or country

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Team-building activities, socials, brainstorming, board-games — whatever works best for your team!

Thank you

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