How do I manage remote teams virtually?

To make your remote team cooperative, swift, and productive, it’s essential to choose the proper management strategy that helps to cope with all the downsides of the remote. Here’s a brief advice list for all the interested. 1. Find the alternative for the fixed schedule. If your team members live in different world corners, they won’t be able to work productively at the exact same hours — because when your Romanian specialist is finishing their morning tea, a professional working for you from the USA has just laid their head on the pillow, craving for sound night sleep. Flexibility in the question of working hours helps your team keep work/life balance and boosts their happiness. 2. Find virtual team management training and learn about new trends and helpful techniques. Remote management tools, teambuilding, sharing responsibilities, overcoming cultural differences — issues to study are plenty. 3. Think over the full-scale reward mechanism to create a competitive environment. Working remotely often means feeling a lack of competitive spirit. Don’t allow your team to slack and lag. 4. Organize team meetings during the most suitable hours. Make a chart with all the time zones of your employees and try to find an ideal overlap. 5. Maintain regular 1/1 and group meetings to discuss progress reports. Don’t be authoritarian — be caring and attentive. 6. Use team management tools. Try out several possibilities until you pick up the most suitable one. 7. Nurture a virtual team culture. If you can’t meet in the office, make it possible to see each other at least virtually (and informally). Don’t separate the virtual part of your team from the non-virtual one (with a possibility of offline meetings). Make everyone equal. If you’re meeting offline, try to organize an online connection too.

What are the challenges of managing remote teams?

Remote work is quite different from the offline in-house one. Offshore workers are separated from their direct managers, which can frequently pose a problem, especially if the staff isn’t used to remote work. What are the key challenges of managing remote teams? Here’s our (incomplete) list: No direct supervision. Managers are often afraid that employees will work inefficiently. Employees, in their turn, have much less access to managerial support. It makes employees think managers aren’t in touch with their needs. No clear expectations. Knowing your duties in the office doesn’t automatically guarantee you will know them while working from home. Many employees need more guidance when left alone and out of the working environment with the possibility to instantly address a manager. Lower productivity. Some of us weren’t created for the remote. Nothing to be done here, no offense should be taken. It’s often difficult to work with no supervision and additional supportive shoulder. Besides, the home’s full of distractions (especially if you have small children, leave them at home or homeschool them daily). Lack of communication. Remote work is devoid of spontaneous meetings (be that in the corridor, the canteen, or the water cooler). All the interactions are planned: both parts should find time, turn on the webcam, and hope for the wi-fi stability.

Why do managers hate remote work?

The main reason managers hate remote work is the lack of proper visibility. If you’re in different locations (or, worse, in different countries and time zones) with your employees, it’s impossible for you to track the projects’ progress, monitor, who’s slacking, and plan all the team activity accordingly. You can’t glance at your team’s faces and instantly grasp its feelings. You don’t get the information about who stuck where — or, at least, don’t get it in time. To solve this issue, you might want to get acquainted with the plethora of remote management tools (some of them are mentioned in our article above).

What makes a great remote leader?

Here are just some key characteristics of the great remote leaders we’d like to share. Dynamism. Dynamic remote leaders are always vigilant, caring, and quick. They help other team members with their assignments and make everything possible to focus on goals. Motivation. Efficient leaders understand they need a different approach to work tasks. Via collaboration and communication, they reach transparency and high results. Flexibility. Remote leaders should be able to adapt to their teams, but in doing so, they have to keep in mind all the project objectives and goals. In addition, flexible leaders are proficient in nimble adjusting their strategies and policies to multifold changing situations. Trust. Trust becomes a central pillar of the working process when you don't see your staff. Successful remote managers believe that their employees finish their tasks on time and warn them about all the blockers on the way.

How do you keep your team strong?

1. Announce your expectations right away 2. Respect your team not only as a team but also as an ensemble of individuals 3. Value and nurture sound connections inside the team 4. Practice emotional intelligence 5. Employ positive motivation 6. Don’t neglect any chance to communicate 7. Praise and reward all the deserving ones 8. Make your team as diverse as possible

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