Marcus RichardsIf you have a team that has been moved to fully remote work status, you might be worried about how to best manage remote team connections and work processes. Managing remote teams training and remote managing needs are becoming an increasingly common need in the business world as more and more companies choose not to bring their teams back into the office.
If you need a little help to manage remote team processes, you need to learn some more about remote team management. There are some great best practices that you can follow that will help you to make the most of your team’s remote status. If you are ready to learn the five effective ways to manage your remote team successfully, you need to keep reading!
Five Effective Ways to Manage Your Remote Team Successfully
Use the Right Tools
One of the best ways to manage remote team interactions is to be sure that you have the right project management tools on your side. You will want to have access to these tools on a daily basis so that your teams can stay connected and so that there is good visibility for the state of the current projects that people are working on.
Quality project management software can help you and your staff to be able to work cohesively, just like they did when they were in the office. This is one of the best ways to make sure that your teams will continue to be effective without having to be a micro-manager or having to force everyone to send out emails asking for updates about set steps in the projects that you are working on as a business.
Learn to be Flexible
The remote work reality is not the same as the office. You cannot be sure what people are doing during their work hours for sure, but you can be realistic about the goals for each workday. Your plan should not be to worry about what people are specifically doing at all times but to look at productivity as it relates to completed tasks and jobs.
Being reasonable about the fact that you cannot be sure that people are working non-stop on project tasks all day long will help you to foster a more pragmatic understanding with your teams. When you allow some flexibility in people’s work schedules and look at results more than at hours worked, you will foster a happy work environment as well as a productive one.
Communicate Through Huddles
Recognizing that people are working more on their own time and in their own way does not mean that you have to give up the ability to gather everyone to check in and touch base. Having a morning huddle is a great way to touch base with everyone on the team and make sure that they are aware of the deadlines that might be approaching, as well as other details about jobs that are ongoing.
Huddles are informal and relaxed, which means that they do not really feel like meetings. This makes them a better means of communicating with your staff, and you will be more likely to get realistic and honest answers from team members about current issues or roadblocks to success. Huddles are a great way to foster teamwork and a happy work environment.
Use a Calendar
When you need to be sure that you know where your team members are at each day, you will need to use a calendar that everyone can access and see. This is one of the best ways to manage remote team scheduling and processes so that everyone knows who is in the office and who is not. When everyone has access to a shared calendar, they can also update things like appointments and other items that will take them out of the office just for a little while on any given day.
Calendars are a great way to manage deadlines, vacation days, and more, all in one handy location. This might sound too simple to be helpful, but a shared calendar is a big benefit to the productivity of your teams.
Share Kudos
Even though you are not in the office, you can still share information about those who have been helpful, highly productive, or have offered great customer support each week. You can make sure that everyone gets the credit they deserve for their hard work, even if you are just thanking them publicly. This is one of the best ways to foster a positive work environment, and you will be able to use this tool even though you are not in the office in person.
Back up kudos rewards and praise with small gifts or perks that are offered for meeting these goals. You can give people a half-hour longer at lunch, a gift card, or anything else that you think is fitting for the interests of your team. Sharing kudos offers you the chance to personally thank your teams even though you are not in the office each day.
These Tips Will Help You Manage Your Remote Team Easily
Managing a remote team is not that different than managing your staff in person in the office. If you are flexible enough to adjust to this new work reality and you are willing to be creative about the ways that you interact with and communicate with your teams in the remote work reality, you and your teams will work perfectly together despite being away from the office.
The future will see more and more remote work jobs and teams being formed since this change saves companies a lot of money overall. Having the right remote team management process in place will make sure that you and your staff of employees are on the same page and are working toward the same goals each day. Use technology to your advantage and be flexible with your teams, and you will have great success keeping your teams on track and goal-oriented each day.
