With the increasing technology, businesses rely highly on the internet to get more skillful team members worldwide, boosting remote jobs on a large scale.
Many well-known companies like Airbnb, Lyft, and Spotify also make fully remote work models. Remote businesses are expanding and will continue to grow but achieving effective remote team working is the key to the success of companies.
Remote teams have a bundle of merits for businesses, but remote teams also have some challenges for companies.
Therefore before moving toward the tips on how to manage remote teams effectively we will first discuss the challenges faced by managing teams.
5 Challenges Managing Remote Teams
No doubt, companies have to go through various difficulties, even with onsite team members. But remote teams are not old-fashioned. It is a new way of bringing diversity; managing remote teams’ challenges effectively is of top priority. You could even introduce NDIS rostering software which you can organise meetings and most importantly you can manage all of your teams from one place – making this quick and efficient for the business. Whatever you choose, make sure that you have made sure it is the right move for your business, as some employees still like things the old fashioned way and the last thing you want is to lose employees down to a different piece of software.
1. Lack Of Better Communication
Face-to-face communication is the easiest way to engage with team members. Still, in remote teamwork, it becomes difficult for the manager to communicate with team members. Because there needs to be a direct way of daily communication that is otherwise possible in an office.
Therefore managers need to find various efficient ways to communicate with each team member to ensure everything is going smoothly.
2. Trust Issues
Making the team means you trust them and depend on them for your business growth. But when a few members only work to get money without providing quality work to the company, it impacts the overall progress of the company. For this reason, making a team of trustworthy members is worth considering.
3. Cultural Difference
When team members are from different cultures, there are some differences the company manager needs to overcome to keep the workflow smooth, good research on this subject is here.
4. Absence Of Company Environment
The office provides a working environment to the employees, which can’t be achieved while working remotely.
5. Lack Of Proper Engagement And Collaboration
When a company leads its team in an office environment, it lets the team members and manager engage with each other in various activities and meetings. This ensures a positive environment for all the people in the office.
It also makes it possible for everyone in the team to collaborate and bring in great ideas while collaborating. But in the case of remote teams, engaging team members and creating an environment for their collaboration is a strenuous task for the manager.
Top 12 Instant Ways For Managing Remote Teams In 2023
Remote work is continuously evolving, and the companies are facing challenges, but there are 12 best practices for managing remote teams in 2023.
1. Enhance Communication
Remote teams should have a manager who understands the importance of effective communication and ensures that every employee can contact him for discussion or any inquiry.
For this, the manager can eliminate the communication barrier by setting a certain time during which the team members can communicate with the manager. Making a communication strategy would prove helpful for all the remote team members.
2. Use A Project Management Tool
For managing all the projects, it is important to keep a record of all through software like project management tools which is the best tool for project management.
The foremost advantage of a project management tool is that all the remote team members can check the progress of various projects without hassle.
You can check the list of best Microsoft Project alternative here.
• Merlin Project
• OmniPlan
• MindGenius
• Project Manager
• Rational Plan
• Monday
• Celoxis
• Vizzlo
• Instagantt
• GanttPRO
• ActiveCollab
• ClickUp
• Forecast
• Proworkflow
• Gantter
• Workzone
• LucidChart
• Aha
• Ganttify
• TeamWork
• ProjectLibre
• Open Workbench
• Gantt Project
• OpenProject
• LibrePlan
3. Make The Rules Clear
Another great tip among remote teams’ best practices is that the company ensures their rules are clear to all remote employees, and no point is left unclear to any member. This will prove beneficial for both the company as well as for the remote team members.
4. Admire Excellence
When people work in an office, it becomes easy to determine their work progress through their daily activities and interest in the company’s better development.
But extra efforts should be made by the company manager to recognize those team members performing much better and making the best efforts towards company values.
5. Treat Employees Equally
One of the important tips among all is to develop good relations with the employees and establish an environment where all the remote team members are dealt equally by the manager. It would bring a positive vibe among the participants, leading the company towards further empowerment.
6. Keep Track of Tasks
Keeping track of tasks assigned to the team members and planning for the upcoming missions to give without overburdening the employees will make it possible for the team members to work easily without any pressure.
7. Provide Training
While working remotely, learning various skills is important. Therefore the company needs to provide training specific to remote team members in order to enhance the level of employees’ interest and effectiveness towards the company.
Managing remote teams training also increases the productivity of employees while working remotely.
8. Give Feedback To Team Members
When working in a building, it is easy to give direct feedback to the employees. However, giving formal or informal feedback to members of remote teams takes a lot of work.
But as a team manager, it is up to you to provide clear and reliable feedback to team members often which enhances the level of progress.
9. Accept Different Communication Styles
When you have team members from different cultures, you will surely notice different styles of communication and differences in the accent, which the team manager should accept to increase employee confidence.
10. Be Flexible
One of the great practices for managing the remote team is providing flexibility to the employees.
For example, if an employee has an appointment with a doctor at 2 pm and works an extra hour in the evening, this will bring positivity to the company and team members.
11. Give Emotional Support To Employees
While working in a co-located place, it becomes easy to understand the emotional condition of employees. However, managing a remote team becomes a challenging task.
Therefore, as a team manager, you should ensure that you provide emotional support to each team member by understanding that the employees are not available 24 hours and seven days a week. Thus, communicating with your employees only during reasonable hours is perfect.
Providing empathy and letting the employees know you are here for them if they need your help will positively impact the team participants, which will also boost their interest in work.
12. Make Sure Each Team Member Is Participating Effectively
To make the company successful, this is vital to let every member of the team participate and present something in meetings. It doesn’t mean talking just about work; it could be as simple as talking about the experience of the last project.
This will make every employee confident, and in this way, every employee will like to be involved in making great strategies for the company’s betterment.
The Final Verdict
Remote work is continuously upscaling. Understanding, learning, and implementing these practices in managing remote teams will bring great results.
The 12 best practices for managing remote teams in 2023 described in this article are equally important; each one depends on another and affects the other. Enhancing communication with team members is only possible by being flexible.
Following the practices described above will ensure business success and an effective, friendly working environment for every team member.
