The Ultimate Manager’s Guide to Managing Remote Teams

Introduction: The Complete Guide

Today, due to the pandemic, organizations are increasingly expanding their remote teams. Remote work is becoming highly popular among companies with physical offices too.

The problem is, that remote work doesn't necessarily entail a new set of management issues. Many of the same ideas that apply to managing an in-office staff apply here as well. It's more the fact that certain difficulties become... accentuated if you will.

The Ultimate Guide to Remote Management is a comprehensive guide designed to help managers and leaders of remote teams.

This guide will teach you how to create a productive working environment in a remote setting. It will also give you the tools to stay in touch with your remote team and make sure they are happy and productive.

A Remote Team Management Framework

Managing remote teams is difficult.

However, with the right management framework in place, it can become a lot less of a problem. A management framework is a set of tools and tactics that will assist you in efficiently managing your remote team.

A Remote Team Management Framework is required since it aids in the planning and execution of your remote team management strategy. You can use this framework to track and measure your progress, identify areas for growth, and devise a strategy for reaching your goals.

What Does a Good Manager Look Like?

A good manager is someone who can give the correct direction to the remote team, set clear goals and objectives, and give constructive feedback.

A good manager should be able to provide regular feedback to their employees.

Both good and negative feedback is welcome. A successful manager must also have great interpersonal skills and should have leadership qualities to be able to interact effectively with all levels of the organization's personnel.

Challenges in Managing Remote Teams

Remote team management comes with its fair share of challenges. Below are some of the challenges:

• Lack of the perfect communication tools and channels
• Issues with hiring
• Lack of accountability
• Lack of mutual respect of everybody’s time
• No clear roles and duties
• Lack of proper and timely schedules
• Poor tracking of employee performance
• Lack of unity within the team

5 Ways Managers Can Support Remote Workers' Productivity and Well-Being

Employers must make an investment in their remote personnel.

In order to accomplish so, they must ensure that they support workers’ productivity and provide the resources required. They will be able to have a more productive staff and happier employees as a result of this.

Managers may help remote workers by establishing a comfortable office environment, giving required tools, fostering communication, ensuring they have a flexible work schedule, and providing possibilities for advancement.

The well-being of an employee is a good manager’s responsibility.

Remote employment is becoming more popular. There are numerous benefits to this, but it also has drawbacks. When it comes to employees’ productivity and well-being, this is especially true.

When they are not in the office with their co-workers, remote workers confront the difficulty of feeling lonely and detached from their business culture. Managers must take responsibility for ensuring that remote workers have all of the tools they need to succeed at home and at work in order to combat this. Here are five ways managers can improve productivity and well-being among remote workers:

1. Clear Communication Guidelines

When you work from home, it's tempting to let communication slip through the cracks and let your team operate on their own. That is, however, precisely what you want to avoid. You must attempt to establish a virtual team presence in which everyone feels at ease.

Make sure everyone on your team is aware of what's going on.

It's preferable to,

• over-communicate than to under-communicate
• avoid micromanaging at all costs
• Provide daily check-ins with the team to ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding priorities, urgent tasks, and long-term goals
• Try meeting team members on a weekly basis to enquire about how things are at their end.
• A zoom call isn't required for every meeting. Consider conducting 15-minute Slack talks or, on rare occasions, a traditional conference call

2. Determine and Assign Responsibilities

One of your major responsibilities as a manager is to distribute work and tasks. That is still true, if not more so if you are in charge of remote personnel.

• Determine the nature of the work - Know what has to be done, whether it's a single project or a series of continuing activities.
• Breakdown of work - Break bigger tasks into smaller bits and parts for ease of execution. This helps to reduce the burden on remote workers.
• Setting of Goals - Establish clear guidelines for what defines a finished work. Determine both short-term and long-term goals for the remote teams. Determine who will make up the team. Which duties are most suited to which people?
• Using the Right Software - Use a strong task or project management system to keep everyone informed about where they are and what they need to do in a remote setting.
• Engage in Discussions - Make it a point to discuss almost everything with your remote team. Lead them in the direction of any significant resources and info they may require. Also, talk to them about your expectations and seek their approval.
• Communicate clearly - Establish a timetable for regular conference calls to discuss progress and issues. Remote employees should also be able to reach you if necessary.
• Monitoring remote teams’ performance - Create a system that makes it simple to generate reports and analyze how things are going in a remote team.
• Offer Incentives to remote workers - Why not incentivize the effort if you have deadlines? There’s no harm in making it competitive as long as there’s a fun element.

3. Gathering Regular Feedback is Crucial

In case you are pivoting from physical office to remote work, it becomes necessary to keep taking feedback and inputs regularly. Feedback can help you spot weak spots that need to be addressed, as well as items that aren't working at all.

This can be accomplished in numerous ways like:

• One-on-One - If you're already holding virtual meetings with individual remote employees, use them to inquire about how well current remote processes are working.
• Conducting Anonymous Polls - One of the easiest and safest ways to collect info about your working model is by conducting anonymous surveys and polls. Use physical workshops to troubleshoot difficulties with your model if you have them.

4. Leverage Technology

Managers can employ a variety of technologies to promote remote workers' productivity and well-being, including social media, online storage, video conferencing etc.

When members of your team work remotely, they may not have access to the same toolkits as they would in a traditional office setting. Depending on your sector and their tasks, they will require different tools. Tools like Dropbox, Asana, or Microsoft Teams, are game-changer in this scenario. Unified collaboration is crucial for remote teams.

5. Before Being a Manager, Try to Be a Good Mentor

As a manager, always try to mentor and coach your remote employees to the best of your ability.

Don’t feel shy to take outside help and pieces of advice. Be open to embracing new ideas. Keep giving less experienced employees insights and feedback. Support them with crucial wisdom and knowledge.

Being a Great Manager Can Now be a Reality

All the above-mentioned tips are simple, yet their execution is challenging. It requires consistent efforts, keen attention, and loads of time to perfect it. However, with little perseverance and patience, the organization is sure to benefit. And not to forget, as a manager, you will be in a better position to tackle the challenges of remote working. All the best!