Introduction
Managing remote teams requires a different skill approach to communication and collaboration, compared to the traditional in-person teams. Although remote work offers many benefits, distributed teams can cause miscommunication, feelings of isolation, and difficulty in monitoring progress.
In this article, we will discuss the challenges of managing remote employees and effective strategies for remote team management.
Challenges in managing remote teams
To make remote work effective there are a few challenges that you should take care of, including:
- Communication issues: Maintaining clear and effective communication with team members in different locations and devices can be difficult.
- Monitoring performance: Tracking the productivity and performance of remote employees can be challenging, it requires reliable tools and methods to ensure accountability.
- Managing different time zones: Coordinating schedules and meetings with team members working across various time zones can lead to mismanagement and communication gaps.
- Making everyone feel part of the team: While working remotely, some employees might feel left out or disconnected from the team, impacting their morale and engagement.
- Collaboration: Collaboration and teamwork on projects or different tasks can be harder without physical proximity and spontaneous interactions.
- Onboarding and training: Providing effective onboarding and training remotely can be less impactful than in-person sessions.
- Consistency in work standards: Maintaining work quality and standards across all team members can be challenging.
- Conflict Resolution: Addressing and resolving conflicts among employees remotely can be more complicated due to the lack of face-to-face interaction.
- Feedback process: Providing timely and constructive feedback to the virtual team can be less straightforward remotely.
- Lack of cohesion within the team: Creating a sense of team unity and maintaining strong relationships can be harder without face-to-face interactions.
How to manage remote teams?
Many companies like Aha, NationBuilder, Automatic Buffer, and many more have successfully worked as 100% remote companies. Still, many companies are going through thick and thin to successfully adapt to remote work.
Managing virtual teams is a new role for most managers and it requires a slightly different set of skills to effectively manage the employees remotely. It requires strong leadership skills to ensure that team members remain productive, engaged, and aligned with the organization’s goals.
Now, let’s get into the best practices you should follow to manage a remote team effectively.
Best practices for managing remote teams
1. Set boundaries for work-life balance
Remote teams often need some kind of boundaries to outline their work and personal lives.
As the teammates are working from different time zones any notifications chat messages or emails can affect someone’s sleep or disturb their family time.
Discuss work schedules with each team member by respecting their time and showing them that you care for their time.
This will help in building positive relationships with employees making sure nothing is too hard for anyone.
2. Encourage and embrace diversity
It is no surprise to come across cultural obstacles when managing remote teams. The problem with multicultural teams involves misunderstandings and conflicts that divide the teams apart.
It becomes pretty hard to manage people of different races, embracing cultural diversity to allow team building.
A simple way is to find how different people from different areas are open to receiving feedback, promote a mindset of celebrating differences, be respectful about national holidays for your global team, and respect every cultural difference.
3. Set clear expectations
Every manager has some expectations from their team members: whether working remotely or virtually. Being clear with employees will keep them focused on working towards the same goals.
This process involves defining specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART goals) objectives that team members are expected to achieve. Clear goals provide direction and help ensure everyone is working towards the same targets.
You should set clear expectations for:
- Work hours
- Availability
- Communication system
- Timely meetings
- Key projects and deadlines
- Scheduled meetings
- Respond to email
4. Brush up on your online communication skills
Many remote working teams come across a setback in communication when working on projects. It is always going to be difficult to connect with your teams in different areas without having good communication skills.
And of course, online communication skills. As you start with the conversation, be quick and concise, so the teams do not get confused.
Develop your writing skills, talk precisely, and use the right remote collaboration tools to collaborate effectively as awesome communication is vital in the remote workplace.
5. Give them help when they need it
Being out of sight, you may have to struggle to address the needs of every employee. Though you may be out of sight, don’t ever let them be out of your mind.
Unexpected problems related to the project, a teammate, or how the work is being done are common in every business.
If something is bothering your employees or they’re feeling under the weather, understand the clues they might be giving you and give them a helping hand.
6. Invest in the remote project management software
Your remote team working culture will flourish when you have everything under one roof.
And this can be made possible when you rely on remote team management software to plan tasks, projects, and even people. Here’s what you can do with project management software:
- Communicate with your scattered team
- Keep track of project evolution
- Track productivity
- Maintain and manage timesheets
- Share information in real-time
- Have discussions
- Manage the tasks on a task list
- Interact across different time zones
7. Foster collaborative culture
Fostering a collaborative culture in remote teams is essential for enhancing productivity, creativity, and team cohesion.
To encourage collaboration, you can start with small virtual team-building activities that help break the ice and build trust among team members. These activities can be casual virtual coffee breaks or more structured games to improve teamwork and communication skills.
Additionally, using collaborative tools is crucial to facilitate teamwork. Platforms like ProofHub offer features that support real-time communication, file sharing, and project management.
8. Clarify roles and responsibilities
As a leader of the team, you should clearly assign the roles and responsibilities of each team member. It is vital for maintaining efficiency and ensuring that everyone knows their specific duties and contributions to the larger project.
To clarify you should outline their primary tasks, responsibilities, and expectations. By doing this, you create a transparent framework that helps team members understand their roles and how they contribute to the project’s overall success.
9. Work on team bonding
When working with remote teams, you cannot have that washroom meeting and talk to each other, gather around the water cooler to get to know each other, or enjoy the happy hours after the office.
So, to have team bonding you need to stay connected with your team. Try these methods:
- Once a year face-to-face get-together
Try to have a retreat once a year for team bonding. This is very important for all remote work teams. Keep the energy high and have big discussions around what would be difficult to do with employees working in different parts of the country.
- Say hi
When asking your employees about work updates, do not forget to say hi, and how they are doing. Do not communicate as if you are talking to robots, they are humans, talk to them like humans and try to build a team.
- Celebrate their victories
Though, it won’t be possible to meet up and celebrate their victories. But you can surely send emails, GIFs, or notes to appreciate them for their work and your victory.
The last tip: Be honest! Be honest with your workers and be honest with your expectations.
You need to be a proactive leader when managing remote teams. Striking a work-life balance is important for all remote workers. Try to get the best for your teams.
Conclusion
Managing remote teams is not as easy as it sounds, however by following the best practices you can do wonders for your business. Having the right tips and tricks on effectively managing remote employees, you should be ready to create an energetic business with your remote workers.
If your remote team is already working at its peak, what are your amazing tricks and tips for managing a remote team at its best?
Good luck with your remote working culture!
