Managing a team remotely can be hard for any business. One of the most common challenges is finding ways to increase team productivity. It’s a learning process for everybody involved, but with the right communication strategies and tools in place, you can ensure everyone on your team is working more powerfully and cooperatively. Here are nine simple techniques to help you maximise the output of your remote team.
Conduct Regular Online Meetings
Touching base with your team frequently is one of the easiest ways to strengthen employee relationships and keep your team on track. If you don’t hold regular meetings, people will start to feel isolated and ignored. Whether you decide to hold daily or weekly meetings, make sure you communicate clearly with coworkers, outlining your expectations and addressing any problems that arise.
Avoid Micromanagement
There’s a fine equilibrium between open communication and intrusive micromanagement. Talk to your team members to define the best way forward regarding the frequency of meetings. The last thing you want to do is hold too many meetings, which can weaken inspiration levels, erode trust, and damage productivity.
When you determine a frequency of meetings that your team is relaxed with, make sure everyone is aware of the schedule. This way, everyone will be ready and can schedule their work around each meeting. Also, remember that not all team members need to be called to every meeting.
Conduct One-on-One Meetings
To help motivate staffs, it can be helpful to plan less frequent one-on-one meetings. This is a great way to get more personalized response from team members who may find group discussions intimidating. Talk about any issues they are stressed with and ask if there’s anything you can do to help with their productivity.
Use the Right Collaboration Tools
Does your team have the tools to cooperate effectively? There are various free and paid tools that businesses can use to streamline communication and work procedures. From communication to task management, these tools offer plenty of selections. Trello, Asana, Wrike, Basecamp, and Google Drive are great for plan management. Slack, Glip, Zoom, and Google Hangouts are also worth checking out for their effective communication capabilities.
Think about what you actually want to achieve in the short and long term and use the tools that help you succeed these goals most efficiently. To maximize output, pick one primary tool that suits you and your team and make sure your entire team accepts it.
Centralize Important Information
It’s an current task to keep processes and produce information updated in real time, but cloud-based software enables you to share this information instantly. By creating an online hub for document storage, your team will always have access to the most up-to-date data.
Encourage Autonomy
While clear communication and collaboration is key, it’s also important to give individuals the space to develop their own work routine. By giving people the liberty to accomplish their goals without scrutiny, you’re giving back control to individuals and building trust. No one likes to be micromanaged, so give team associates the time to find their own work rhythm. It may go against your instincts, but stepping back can actually increase incentive levels and boost productivity.
Offer Productivity Guidelines
To grow a healthier, more productive team, send out some general guidelines on how employees can improve their productivity. Simply create a short file with tips and suggestions and upload it to the cloud so that team members can access it voluntarily. The checklist could include:
- Tips on creating a more productive working situation.
- Altered working methods and the importance of taking regular breaks.
- A list of online tools that support with productivity.
- Advice for dealing with separation.
- Ideas for employees who find it hard to focus.
Give Regular Feedback
The more happy your staffs are, the more motivated they’ll be. To help your team feel more happy in their job, make sure you frequently show that you recognize and appreciate their work. You can do this in a number of ways:
- Praise employees for meeting specific deadlines or goals.
- Give a recap of all the things your team has reached in the last week.
- Show employees how their efforts are helping your business be successful.
- Send a simple thank you communication to all your employees for their hard work.
Be Flexible and Patient
For staffs who are used to working in an office environment, remote working can take time to get used to. As well as new skill to contend with, there’s also the challenge of learning to work in a new environment. This is why it’s important as a team leader to show patience and offer some flexibility to staffs. Make sure all your team members get the compulsory training for any new tools, and let them know that you’re available if they need help with anything.
The Bottom Line
In this digital age, the ability to work remotely is more significant than ever before. As technology continues to evolve every year, the number of people working remotely is also likely to increase. This is why it’s so significant for managers and team leaders to understand how to incentivize remote teams and put the processes in place to optimize output.
