7 Ways to Effectively Manage Your Team Remotely

Remote work has been on the rise for years. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies saw the advantages of a remote workforce.

Foregoing a central, physical office means that you can hire from a much larger pool of potential employees. And, because many people prefer to work from home, you can stand out as a more attractive employer to top talent.

Our PR Manager, Julia Voloshchenko, gives you some basic tips and advice on how to effectively manage a remote team, so you can take advantage of all the benefits and avoid the pitfalls.

1. Schedule Time to Check-In With Your Team Daily

Whether your team is spread out across town or around the world, remote teams can often feel disconnected and disjointed — but that doesn’t have to be the case. A quick daily “standup” meeting can help keep everyone pointed in the right direction and working together.

2. Prioritize Communication

On that note, don’t rely solely on your daily check-ins for communication with your team. Stay in touch with your team and encourage them to stay in touch with each other through instant messages, texts, email, calls, and quick video chats, along with more formal video conference calls.

3. Align Expectations

Do your employees know what’s expected of them? And do you know what’s reasonable to ask of them? Along with prioritizing communication, you should ensure that your employees have a clear understanding of deadlines and objectives.

4. Prioritize Outcomes Over Activities

Working from home is convenient, but the (lack of) commute isn’t the only attractive aspect of remote work. People working on remote teams enjoy the freedom of working in a comfortable environment where they can take a break to cook lunch, go for a walk, or even throw a load of laundry in the wash.

5. Make Sure Your Team Can See the Big Picture

With that in mind, do your employees understand what they’re working toward? Do they have a roadmap for their assignments, and how do their tasks fit into the big picture for your team and/or your entire organization?

6. Offer Flexibility — But Define and Maintain Boundaries

I hinted at this earlier in the section on prioritizing results over activities, but it is an important enough aspect to discuss in more detail. Things are going to happen in your employees’ lives that disrupt their workdays.

They’ll have emergencies with family members and loved ones, or they’ll get a delivery driver knocking on the door in the middle of a conference call. And sometimes they’ll need to get out of the house and go for a walk to clear their heads. If you don’t offer them the flexibility to handle these situations, you’re going to lose good team members.

7. Provide Resources For Success

Finally, if you’re going to expect top work from a remote team (or any team), you need to ensure that your employees have the tools they need to succeed.

In Conclusion: Set Your Team Up For Success

From scheduling daily check-ins to ensuring that your team has the right technology to succeed, these tips should help you manage any remote team. Remember, if your employees feel valued and supported, they’re more likely to put out great work than if you try to micromanage every task and moment of their day.