In many ways, managing a virtual team is similar to managing a local one. Below is a short list of some highly effective management techniques, some of which are specific to managing remote teams. You are welcome to steal these techniques as is, or adapt them for your own use. Throw in a whole bunch of new virtual tools, communication methods, and a new environment, and it’s no wonder managing remote teams can be such a whirlwind. Speaking of shared interests – you should also consider creating more opportunities for these conversations to take place between remote team members. In-office colleagues are more likely to have these types of conversations and even organize after-work hobby groups.
Each Friday, every person on the team posts an update to Async about what they shipped that week and what they are working on for the next week. I know most people don’t like to think about process, and process might feel boring and rigid. But if you think of process as “how we work,” it starts to feel more powerful. Much like how GitHub uses GitHub to build GitHub, we use GitHub to build Zapier. Pull requests are how we ship features, while issues are reserved for bugs only. Feature requests and planning happen in Trello, a planning doc, or another tool like Airtable.
Being able to message, call, or video call a colleague means that we’re able to effectively collaborate on all of our projects. Because of the differences in time zones, we have agreed on a time-slot after taking input from all our team members. It is important to provide a set of tools that would fit the company’s goals and improve team productivity. For example, Zoom for calls, Slack for communication, and G Suite for project discussion. From my own personal experience working with my team, my best tip is to minimize virtual meetings. When everyone isn’t present in the same office, some owners feel the need to increase the number of meetings to make up for the reduced contact time.
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At a certain size, it can start to get noisy, so it makes sense to section off rooms into things like “water cooler”, “engineering”, “marketing”, etc. I would hold off on this as long as possible, though, when you’re a small team.
This gap represents an opportunity for companies to be proactive and step up their engagement efforts. In other words, you’ll need more than perks and remote happy hours to keep your remote employees engaged. Engaging remote employees requires a strategic approach and long-term commitment to your people. In this article we’ll cover how remote work impacts employee engagement, plus 10 strategies backed by research you can use to engage your remote team. We can’t overemphasize the importance of communication between managers and remote staff when learning how to manage a remote team. Learning how to manage a remote team starts with setting boundaries and work rules your employees should adhere to as they work from home. If these meetings aren’t scheduled regularly or get rescheduled, it can make remote workers feel out of touch with the company and unsure of where they stand.
A well-rested and balanced group is more likely to be productive and engaged. Building team camaraderie in a remote environment can be challenging. Creating a virtual water cooler for informal interactions, akin to an office water cooler, can foster a sense of community and belonging, making team members feel more connected.
How to manage a remote team effectively with Teambook (Tutorial)
To avoid this scenario, remote companies can consider promoting a culture of open and frequent communication. In addition to increasing productivity, eradicating misalignment and misunderstanding, this practice can have a major role in helping remote teams feel more connected. Agile development was originally intended for teams physically located in the same office. Software like Zoom, Slack, Jira, Confluence, and Trello have improved how remote teams collaborate. Zoom has done a great job of furthering remote conferencing for individuals and teams and helped expand agile to remote workers.