Remote work has become the new normal for many businesses, but it also poses some challenges for team productivity. How can you keep your remote team engaged, motivated, and aligned with your digital strategy goals? Here are some tips to help you manage your remote team effectively.
One of the keys to remote team productivity is to establish clear and realistic expectations for each team member and project. Communicate your digital strategy vision, objectives, and milestones, and define the roles, responsibilities, and deliverables of each team member. Use SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) criteria to set and track your team's progress and performance. Provide regular feedback and recognition to your team and address any issues or concerns promptly.
I got asked by "how do you ensure your remote team is effective?" 1. Stop calling them your remote team. Call them by their names. 2. Spend time learning about their cultures and what they are proud of. 3. Have a system (we use slack) that unites everyone together in both communication, productivity and document sharing. 4. Dont bemoan time-zone issues, just understand them, set expectations (internally and with clients) and remember there is so much to gain. In short, if you are trying to "deal with" remote teams, you likely are going to fail. This is not something to deal with. Its something to embrace.
Practicing and preaching "One team, One goal" - foster a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect among team members, encouraging them to support each other and work cooperatively. It's a reminder that individual efforts, while important, are most effective when they contribute to the team's overall goal. In essence, "one team, one goal" is a mantra for teamwork, unity, and shared success.
I echo Jared's comments. When you call a team "remote" or worse the "country" they work in it sends the wrong message. As a leader doing things (not all but some) in 'family friendly' time zones for your global team sends a message of respect. One other tip....I was told early on that if someone is on the team they are a team member. If they are an FTE, a contractor, a PT, or whatever they are still on the team. So learning names and thinking of everyone on the team as "on the team" will go a long way.
How do you make a remote team more effective? By being a leader who is not fragile, can take and give feedback, able to effectively communicate (ie make sure the other person understands) and can trust the team to do the jobs they were hired to do. It's up to the leader to start this convo looking at themselves, not at the team. Try flipping this conversation and start with the question, "are you an effective leader? Would your team say the same if there were not repercussions?"
I experienced some key factors: 1) Communicate goals, and milestones clearly. Focus on the "what", the "when" and also the "why". Make sure everyone on the team knows what you're trying to achieve and how their work fits into the big picture. 2) If there are any issues, address them quickly and effectively. Also, encourage your team to do the same. This will help to prevent them from becoming bigger problems down the road.
Another essential factor for remote team productivity is to use the right tools to facilitate communication, collaboration, and workflow. Depending on your digital strategy needs, you may want to use tools such as video conferencing, instant messaging, project management, file sharing, and cloud storage. Make sure your team has access to the tools they need and train them on how to use them effectively. Establish some guidelines and best practices for using the tools, such as when to use video calls, how to share files, and how to update tasks.
The collaboration tools available today are so capable that they should increase your productivity multi-fold. You can leverage features like real-time language translation (can be rather valuable for global teams), meeting transcriptions, AI-generated summaries of threaded conversations, etc. Slack and MS Teams are some of the most widely used ones, but depending on your requirements, you can keep more niche tools as part of your stack.
Surprise and delight your team! Virtual happy hours, delivered lunch or coffee, company swag all go a long way to engendering loyalty and commitment.
Choosing the right tools is crucial for remote team productivity. Your digital strategy needs should guide the selection of tools for communication, collaboration, and workflow management. Consider video conferencing, instant messaging, project management software, file sharing, and cloud storage. Ensure that your team has access to these tools and understands how to use them effectively. Establish guidelines and best practices for tool usage, like appropriate times for video calls, file sharing protocols, and task updates. The right tools, used effectively, streamline operations and enhance team efficiency.
From my experience, Asana has been a great tool for our team and has worked wonders. The main goals and assignments can be added as projects and can be further accounted for in the tasks list. It also has a chat for each relevant task and a separate chatbox to keep the team aligned. Also allows for screen recording and monitoring if needed.
It’s important not just to have the tools but to use the right tools at the right time. For example use slack to send a quick message but not to delegate or discuss tasks because they can get lost in the flow of chat. For tasks management use a project management system, we use ClickUp.
Working remotely can make it harder to build trust and rapport among your team members, which can affect their productivity and morale. To foster a positive and supportive team culture, you need to create opportunities for social interaction and bonding. For example, you can schedule regular check-ins, virtual coffee breaks, or team-building activities to help your team get to know each other better and share their challenges and successes. You can also encourage your team to share their feedback, ideas, and opinions, and listen to them with empathy and respect.
Besides regular virtual meetings/discussions/activities, try and arrange team retreats every quarter or so. It can be invaluable for team bonding, and a nice company perk too.
This is by far the most important point here. Hire good people and invest in the relationship you have with them. Hold them accountable for results, trust them to deliver, and support them however they need it. It shouldn’t matter when or how much they are working - the results speak for themselves. End of story.
Building trust and rapport is vital in a remote team setting, as it directly influences productivity and morale. Foster a positive, supportive culture by creating opportunities for social interaction and bonding. Schedule regular check-ins, virtual coffee breaks, or team-building activities to help team members connect on a personal level, sharing their challenges and successes. Encourage open communication where team members feel comfortable sharing feedback, ideas, and opinions. Listening with empathy and respect is key to nurturing a trusting and cohesive remote team environment.
One of the benefits of remote work is that it allows your team to have more flexibility and autonomy over their work schedule and environment. This can boost their productivity and satisfaction, as they can work when and where they are most comfortable and efficient. However, you also need to respect your team's boundaries and preferences, and avoid micromanaging or overloading them with work. Trust your team to manage their own time and tasks, and focus on the results rather than the process. You can also offer your team some options and resources to help them balance their work and personal life, such as flexible hours, wellness programs, or online training.
Adjusting work practices to an asynchronous model sets a new level of success for a remote team. Based on collaboration, shared documents, strategic alignment and autonomy, asynchronous work reduces meeting fatigue, increases productivity, allows greater concentration on tasks and better deliveries, in addition to supporting workers in different time zones and improving working conditions for everyone.
Promoting flexibility and autonomy is key in remote work environments. This approach not only enhances productivity but also boosts job satisfaction, as team members can work in their most comfortable and efficient settings. Respect their boundaries and avoid micromanaging. Trust your team to manage their own time and tasks, with a focus on results rather than processes. Additionally, offer options and resources to help balance work and personal life, such as flexible hours, wellness programs, or online training. Such support acknowledges individual needs and fosters a more productive and content workforce.
Finally, you need to measure and improve your remote team's productivity and digital strategy outcomes. You can use various metrics and indicators to evaluate your team's performance, such as completion rate, quality, feedback, revenue, or impact. You can also use surveys, polls, or interviews to assess your team's satisfaction, engagement, and challenges. Based on the data and insights you gather, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your remote team and digital strategy, and make adjustments or improvements accordingly.
Thinking of measuring and learning, I found that a positive error culture is essential for digital teams to learn and improve. When teams are afraid to make mistakes, they are less likely to take risks and experiment. This can lead to stagnation and a lack of innovation. A positive error culture encourages teams to learn from their mistakes. When teams make mistakes, they should be encouraged to analyze the mistakes to identify what went wrong. This information can then be used to improve the team's processes and practices.
Measuring and improving are crucial steps in managing a remote team's productivity and digital strategy effectiveness. Utilize various metrics like completion rates, quality, feedback, revenue, or impact to evaluate performance. Conduct surveys, polls, or interviews to gauge team satisfaction, engagement, and challenges. Analyze this data to identify your team's strengths and areas for improvement. Use these insights to refine your digital strategy and team management approaches. Continuous assessment and adaptation are key to enhancing productivity and achieving strategic goals in a remote work environment.
Remote work has so many advantages but in my experience, it works best when relationships are in place. In person offsite are an important part of developing the relationship to make remote work effective. Meet your team. Seek to understand what motivates them and never stop managing them. Just because we aren’t in the office together, it doesn’t mean that the people part of the equation goes away.