As the world becomes more and more digitized, so is the business market, especially the online one. The number of startups that choose not to have an office and run their business remotely is growing every year.
And in the year 2020, the number of businesses working remotely has grown even more because of the Covid-19 pandemic that has spread all over the world. For businesses that were forced to start working remotely and have never done it before, it may become quite a challenge.
Even though it’s difficult, remote work also has its benefits. The employees will save time and money because they will not have to travel back and forth from work and will be able to work in less stressful environments, which may enhance productivity. Today, we will share eight tips for managing a remote team to make this process easier and more pleasant for you.
Tip #1: Automate HR Processes
Your HR team might be struggling with the ways they have to perform their regular tasks. More to it, writing instead of talking and explaining tasks remotely might be quite tricky and more time-consuming than doing it in person.
To make the life of the human resource team easier, invite employees to join a reliable communication platform. Slack is a good example. You can use slack integrated HR templates to automate important HR processes, such as onboarding and off-boarding.
Tip #2: Plan Direct and Indirect Communication
Direct communication is video calling, talking on the phone, and video conferencing when there is a possibility to discuss important matters live. Indirect communication includes texting, messaging, and emailing.
To ensure an effective communication process for your team, plan which topics, tasks, and projects should be discussed directly and which can be handled using indirect communication tools.
Tip #3: Think About the Expectations
Make sure your team is familiar with the turnaround times, costs, terms, limitations, or any other factors, especially if your company is working with resellers. This will let your coworkers work independently, make their own solutions, and inform the clients effectively.
More to it, it will save time for your team because they will have learned the information beforehand and do not have to disrupt the workflow of others by asking questions.
Tip #4: Plan a Routine
Being consistent, especially when working remotely, is very important. If you already started working remotely, you probably know how chaotic things might get sometimes. Usually, it’s because people become more relaxed when working from home.
To deal with this issue, have such routines planned like a video conference every morning that everybody has to attend.
Tip #5: Stay Away from Assumptions
As you and your teamwork remotely, you will be chatting, texting, and emailing each other more often than before. Written text leaves room for interpretation. You can assume the mood, tone, even the intentions of the person who sends you an email.
Unfortunately, this also depends on the mood that you yourself are currently in. If you didn’t sleep well or had a bad day, the emails you receive may seem more angry and ironic to you than they really are. Thus try to stay away from assumptions and stick to objective thinking.
Tip #6: Use Video Calls More Often
If you have a meeting, it is better to have a video conference than to add everybody to a group chat. It will help you discuss and come to a conclusion faster than typing words would.
Video chatting will also increase engagement and lower the number of distractions because people will have to listen and not miss important details during the discussion. Just make sure you have a dedicated video communications app like Zoom that provides a quality service.
Tip #7: Have Agendas for the Meetings
To make sure that the video call meetings you have are productive and time-efficient, always prepare a plan for these meetings. The plan should include the main questions and topics you are about to discuss and an approximate time you will spend talking over each of those topics.
Tip #8: Prepare Meeting Reports
Even if you work from home, the chances are that you may get sick and cannot attend an important meeting that is taking place. Thankfully, there are ways to get the message across even to those who were unable to attend.
One of the solutions could be to film a meeting and prefer a video that others can watch later. If there are no video cameras, the audio format will suffice, so long as the quality is good and listeners can make out the words in the conversation.
Or, as an alternative, prepare a meeting report with the most important moments of the discussion. An employee who could not make it because they were sick will have the details written down to read.
