It can be challenging to manage a long-distance relationship with employees, as the distance often seems unrelated to our relationships in any way. This is true for both work and personal relationships. As technology evolves and people are working away from home more than ever before, in person meetings are becoming less popular.
The remote work is becoming the new business norm and therefore remote working employees are on the increase. This article discusses how remote teams differ from local ones, what remote managers need to keep in mind if they want their team to excel, in order to ensure both a successful remote team and a successful remote leader.
What Are Remote Teams?
Remote teams are those that comprise of members who work from different places not at one particular office or city/country. These organizations have small remote offices instead of focusing on meeting several times a week, where everyone presents their work and updates each other about it.
Employers have been known to conduct pre-employment assessments as a part of the candidate’s consideration for hire. Other employers administer tests as an initial assessment when someone first joins their company, or they might use these skills evaluations during selected training sessions. Remote employees can face Integrity tests, Cognitive ability tests, Personality tests or general aptitude test.
Responsibilities are shared and distributed between remote team members. Work that needs to be done is divided into tasks; each remote team member takes a part of it to complete the whole work on time.
Schedule daily check-ins:
Daily check-ins give team members the chance to get quick updates on what other members are working on and increases the likelihood of staying connected.
Check-ins should be scheduled at a set time each day, and can help you in review progress like how are the remote team members progressing toward their goals? Are they running into any obstacles or challenges? What needs to change to keep them on track?
Regular meeting:
Meetings are a great way to stay in touch while you’re remote. Since there are no co-workers in the same physical space, you will not have opportunities to interact as much about issues.
This will result in a remote team that is not aligned with the goals of your company. As remote team manager, you need to make sure these issues are discussed and solved as soon as possible. While remote teams have some advantages when it comes to teamwork, they also come with several challenges. But don’t worry, we will help you conquer them all!
Team Bonding:
Not everyone is well suited to remote work, but those who are can use it as an advantage by making a focus of team bonding when on online or remote assignments. A remote team is not limited by geographic location, but this can also be both a blessing and a curse. While remote workers are flexible enough to adjust their work hours as needed, it can still be challenging if they have difficulty meeting with the rest of the remote teams or managers assigned to them. Having remote employees takes away any sort of camaraderie that is fostered in an office environment. It’s up to you as the remote job manager or remote team leader to foster a sense of teamwork among all your remote employees on your online jobs.
Invest in Project Management Software:
Investing in the best remote project management software helps teams stay coordinated, connected and productive. In today’s world, it is no longer a question of whether you get to work from home or not. With technology evolving and companies learning how to deal with the absence of physical infrastructure in their offices, more and more people are leading and managing remote teams nowadays. And if you think that it involves just a bunch of lonely guys sitting by themselves in front of laptops, then read further to find out why your paradigm needs to shift!
As the global marketplace emerges, so should your team. To effectively manage a remote workforce, establish a wide variety of tips and tricks to best suit each employee or department within your company. With the right approach and attitude towards managing remotely, you will be able to maximize your efficiency by developing a firm working relationship with those in different parts of the world.
