Managing a remote team comes with its own unique strategies and considerations. Virtual team members often have different schedules, roles, and communication styles, making team management more challenging.
These team management tips will help keep you and your virtual team organized, productive, and effective.
Team management tips for remote employees
Managing a remote team means knowing that team members are available, getting their tasks done, and producing quality work. Because you’re not in the office with them all the time, this can be a little trickier than in-person team management, but these tips can help.
Implement a task management software
Task management might not sound like the most fun team management tip, but it’s helpful when you need to know what your team is working on. You can use tools like Asana, Flow, Workfront, or other collaborative task management software to ensure projects are being completed on time. You can also store documents on these programs for easy access from anywhere.
Schedule designated work hours
When you manage a virtual team, you’ll likely have employees in various time zones and countries. To streamline communication, schedule designated work hours so everyone knows when their team is available. Remote workers often set their own schedule, but having set hours throughout the day when everyone is online great for collaboration and productivity.
Offer multiple forms of communication
Communication is key when it comes to good team management. But, not everyone enjoys communicating the same way. When managing a remote team, offer various channels of communication so people can choose what’s right for them and the situation. A more formal request might go through email, short messages might be better suited for organizational chat platforms like Slack, and last-minute emergencies might require a call or text. You can also set guidelines about how to use each form of communication. These processes will help your team stay organized, no matter where they’re working from. Poll Everywhere for Slack can be a great way to quickly take a vote or gather feedback from your team.
Host virtual meetings
Just because you’re not in the same office doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of all-hands meetings, fireside chats, or virtual employee trainings. Today’s technology makes it easy to video call, collaborate virtually, and engage your audience in real-time. Whether you’re hosting a virtual scrum, training, or retrospective, remote team management is easier than ever with these technology options.
Use cloud-based collaboration software
Another tool that can help with remote team management is cloud-based collaboration software. These live-editing platforms allow multiple people to work on a project at once and the most recent copy is always saved to the cloud. Google Drive is the most common choice for team management for this reason. Easily track all changes made to a project, see when work was completed, and collaborate from all over the globe. Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, Box are a few other options, but Google Drive has the most functionality.
Meet in person when possible
Although remote work is growing in popularity, there’s nothing quite like a good old fashion in-person meeting. When possible, organize a company-wide meet up for employees to put a face to a name, collaborate in-person, and get to know one another.
Remote team management isn’t easy, but there are some tips and tricks that will help you make sure everyone is working, producing quality work, and being efficient. From using collaborative to-do lists and cloud storage to hosting virtual meetings, today’s technology makes it easier than ever to work from anywhere around the world. Learn how Poll Everywhere can help you gather team feedback, engage your team, or host a valuable retrospective.