Many businesses around the world are employing remote workers to fill the talent gap within their companies.
If you’re a manager—or even a business owner—you know how collaboration can be especially challenging for a remote work set-up.
So, we’ve come up with a list of strategies on how to manage a remote team better.
Communicate Constantly
You need to have regular communication with your remote team.
Always provide updates on the progress of ongoing projects and ask for your team’s. This enables transparency and accountability—especially if you need to troubleshoot.
However, this doesn’t mean you should micromanage your employees.
Once you’ve onboarded them properly, trust that they are professionals who know what they’re doing.
Establish Clear Expectations
We say this all the time and for a very good reason.
Before onboarding any of your remote employees, always set clear expectations.
You need to establish their scope of work and how often you expect them to communicate.
This way, your remote workers understand what you need from them.
There would also be less back-and-forth when they already know what’s expected of them.
Clear expectations can also provide some structure in the workplace, allowing the team to cultivate a comfortable work rhythm within the right bounds.
Provide the Right Tools
Having the right tools makes your remote team extremely productive and effective.
Don’t skimp on any critical product subscriptions or your team’s performance—and by extension, your company’s bottom line—will suffer.
For instance, if your brand needs to produce a lot of visual and written content, your remote staff might need Adobe products (such as Photoshop) for the graphics and Grammarly, or even ChatGPT, for ad copies.
Read reviews to further ease your mind (on whether to purchase a tool).
Don’t forget to put project management and communication applications on your list. (Fortunately, a lot of them are free.)
Be Mindful of Time Zone Differences
If you’re managing remote teams, always be mindful of different time zones.
You wouldn’t want to accidentally wake up your virtual assistant for no good reason, for instance—especially when they’re asleep and living halfway around the world.
Further, don’t schedule meetings that are too late or too early for your remote team.
To avoid this, you can use a calendar app to gauge everyone’s availability.
Give Regular Feedback
Don’t forget to give constructive feedback to your team members.
This allows them to figure out their strengths and areas for improvement.
You can also set daily check-ins for your team’s progress and to address any issues.
Lastly, schedule 1-on-1 meetings for personal feedback and other training your remote worker might need.
Plan Virtual Get-Togethers
It always helps to establish rapport with your remote employees.
Done correctly, it makes them feel valued and that you appreciate their work.
Virtual get-togethers don’t have to be complicated either. A simple water cooler chat before starting a meeting can do wonders, for instance.
Ask your team members about what they did last weekend or if they have plans they look forward to.
You can also organize a more elaborate virtual gathering—or even an onsite one—once in a while.
This helps you develop a better working relationship with your offshore team.
Learn How to Manage a Remote Team
While remote work has many benefits, it’s not without its challenges.
Remote team management can be especially tricky as you can’t constantly monitor your team in person to help them out.
Hopefully, these strategies will give you an idea of how you can handle a distributed team better.
On that note, if you’re looking to fill roles in your company via a cost-effective solution, partner with a trusted staffing agency—like Remote Staff.
Remote Staff has been around for 16 years (and counting)! We thoroughly vet our applicants to ensure that only highly qualified professionals are in our pool.
Ready to hire? Schedule a callback today!
Herschel Lili has a collective four years of professional writing experience. She enjoys reading anything under the sun, but in recent years, she has turned her attention to books that leave her feeling profound. At present, she looks forward to learning everything she can about remote working and sharing the knowledge through succinct write-ups.
