{"id":70,"date":"2019-05-17T18:01:54","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T17:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.attendancebot.com\/?p=70"},"modified":"2022-10-19T07:46:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T11:46:00","slug":"5-tips-to-managing-remote-teams-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.attendancebot.com\/blog\/5-tips-to-managing-remote-teams-better\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips To Managing Remote Teams Better"},"content":{"rendered":"

Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has around 800 employees but they don’t have a physical office space. Instead, the team works remotely, spread across 67 countries. Automattic believes that working from home is good for business, and they aren\u2019t alone. But is managing remote teams as good?<\/p>\n

Working remotely<\/a> isn\u2019t uncommon but the last few years have seen a shift in the way people perceive remote work. A study by CareersWiki<\/a> revealed that remote work has grown by 44% in the last 5 years.<\/p>\n

Companies have been recognizing the benefits of a work-from-home culture<\/a>. They are even relaxing their policy to allow employees to choose where they want to work from.<\/p>\n

But, the more important question is – does working remotely benefit the business directly?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a common myth that working remotely will affect productivity and employee efficiency.<\/p>\n

But, according to a Stanford<\/a> study, remote workers tend to be more productive. In this two-year experiment at a real company, employees who were working remotely did 13% more work in the same amount of time as their peers.<\/p>\n

Moreover, encouraging remote work has a positive effect on employee loyalty. According to research by Gartner, organizations that embrace remote working, increase employee retention rates<\/a> by 10%.<\/p>\n

As a manager, you might be wondering about the impact of having remote employees on your overall ability to run an effective team. Without having a process in place, it\u2019s difficult to have a firm grip on how your remote team is working and progressing.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, we have an extensive guide to help you navigate every part of remote working<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, what processes and systems can help you manage your remote workforce and increase employee efficiency?<\/p>\n

5 smart tips for managing remote teams and keeping them motivated\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1. Autonomy and Control<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When working remotely<\/a>, there is little context to what\u2019s being done. Transparency is key in ensuring your company runs smoothly, despite your team sitting in different parts of the world.<\/p>\n

Instead of assigning projects and tasks, use your monthly and weekly meetings to discuss the work to be done and then allow your employees to pick up tasks on their own.<\/p>\n

By giving your team members the liberty to pick up projects and tasks as they come up, you can expect your employees to be more passionate about the work and see more efficiency on their part.<\/p>\n

But at the same time, make sure things remain transparent here by writing it all down – which brings us to the next point.<\/p>\n

2. Document your processes clearly<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One important rule of thumb to emphasize with your team would be to document crucial details of the work being done. A lot of the work happens over water cooler conversations but remote workers feel left out of such conversations.<\/p>\n

As a best practice, documenting the minutes of the discussion and the plan of action can make it easy for someone remote to contribute. On top of this, documenting even small discussions and decisions makes it easy to add more members to the project team without needing to be briefed first.<\/p>\n

Similarly, if two team members are working on a design, it\u2019s always best to have a conversation about the plan on the shared channel instead of a direct message so that everyone else on the team knows why and what was discussed.<\/p>\n

Side threads often lead to information silos, therefore always default to sharing everything with everyone and letting people decide what they want to spend their time on.<\/p>\n

While information overload is a real concern, all of us have learned to cope with emails at work and Twitter\/Facebook in the real world. The benefits of transparency far outweigh information hoarding.<\/p>\n

3. Work on building rapport<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One problem with working remotely is the lack of constant contact with peers. Lack of communication between co-workers can affect productivity, especially for projects that require collaboration.<\/p>\n

Automattic does a great job of keeping its remote team connected. The company flies team members to meet in small groups, and once a year, it brings the entire company together in a gathering called the Grand Meetup.<\/p>\n

While flying out teams on a regular basis isn\u2019t always feasible, creating systems to ensure constant communication is easy. One system that remote teams should look into setting up is weekly check-ins.<\/p>\n

Set aside an hour every week for a team check-in where everyone can discuss their progress and roadblocks, and get feedback from the team. These check-ins can keep your team in the loop and ensure everyone is well-informed about what their peers are working on.<\/p>\n

While you do so, always keep in mind the different time zones that your team is in. More often than not, companies tend to schedule calls as per their head office time. That might actually end up being way too early or way too late for some members.<\/p>\n

So make it a point that you schedule calls in a fair manner. Every member should feel cared for and should have a joint sense of ownership when setting goals.<\/p>\n

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source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

4. Share your wins, best practices, and celebrations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Another smart way to maintain regular communication is to encourage a sharing policy.<\/p>\n

For instance, if your company is mentioned in a prestigious publication, sharing the news with the team can be motivating for the team.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, members can also share their breakthroughs and achievements with the team. Inculcating this habit of sharing can create a sense of belonging, helping employees bond and ensure there is little disconnect despite not having any face-to-face communication.<\/p>\n

And it doesn\u2019t need to be all work-related!<\/p>\n

You can also share birthday and work anniversary<\/a> pictures on company-wide channels. It\u2019s important to celebrate with your team whenever possible. It brings colleagues closer and that helps build better rapport in the team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ps. Always do video calls instead of audio dial-ins. A little human touch to the call goes a long way! Like how Buffer does it…<\/p>\n

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Also read: 10 team-building events and activities to spice up work routines<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

5. Get organized with project management principles and tools<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Remote workers are often self-managed. Due to this, it\u2019s important that project managers utilize tools to track the work done and stay informed while giving employees the space to manage their work on their own.<\/p>\n

Many remote teams have seen high productivity in their organization by planning their work on a bi-weekly basis. with bi-weekly sprints.<\/p>\n

At the start of the 2 weeks, employees can break down their work into smaller tasks and add them to their to-do list for the defined period. This allows your team to work faster since you already know how much work needs to be done and your priorities are set for the next 2 weeks.<\/p>\n

Managing the daily tasks and well as larger tasks that span weeks can be tough without a work management tool.<\/p>\n

Remote workers swear by project management tools like Asana<\/a> and Trello<\/a> to help them track their projects and tasks with ease. Here are a few quick tips to maximize these work management tools:<\/p>\n