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Remote teams: Why are they so popular?
- Remote work opens up more opportunities for finding the best talent. According to a 2018 study, more than 70% of full-time workers work remotely at least once weekly. This is a common expectation for the next employer.
- Remote staff can increase worker productivity. Numerous studies show that professionals who work remotely are happier and more motivated.
- Telecommuting reduces overhead costs and real estate expenses.
1. Remote workers - The Ins & Outs of Hiring
Businesses around the globe have greater flexibility thanks to remote staff. It is now possible to create an efficient and cost-effective team without everyone living under the same roof. IT staff augmentation can be overwhelming for the first time. Some simple tips help you navigate the hiring process smoothly and painlessly.
Verify each candidate's ability to work remotely
Some people are not able to work outside the office. While some workers can be distracted by personal matters while working from home or others when in public places, others may not be able to work effectively. A lack of a traditional structure can also negatively impact performance, particularly for those who have never worked remotely.
Alex Robinson, Team leader Hero's HR Manager, said loneliness could be a problem. An inexperienced candidate may struggle to overcome these challenges, so hiring someone with a track record is better. Consider short-term projects to test your candidate's ability to work efficiently and stick to deadlines if you are looking to hire someone new to remote working.
Use video when interviewing
The last step of the interview process was traditionally meeting face-to-face. If the person lives far from you, it may be impossible to meet face-to-face.
Video conferencing is the next great thing. Markelle Harden is the chief content coordinator for ClassyInbound. She notes that multiple video meetings allow you to gauge body language and availability. While having previous remote experience is a benefit, it is not a guarantee that the candidate will be flexible in scheduling meetings, punctual, and free from distractions during meetings.
Find people who can work together
In remote team meetings, members don't necessarily have to sit together, but that doesn't mean they can't work together. Even though everyone may be far away, collaboration is essential for team members. While the right tools can bridge geographic gaps, you must also consider whether individuals are better suited to work alone or with others.
Patricia Barnes, the owner of Redheaded Patti, shares her method for determining whether candidates are a good match. "Host an interview with your top candidates and the other members of the team to see how they interact." This is the most important factor when choosing a remote employee.
Time Zone Differences Must Be Considered
Remote Staff Augmentation means that you can recruit from anywhere in the world. You also have access to skills that may not be available locally. This also means you don't need to worry about time zone differences, which you won't have with onsite staff. You might avoid hiring someone who works in a different time zone than yours or that of the majority of your team members to prevent communication delays.
This may not always be an issue in some cases. Your remote team might be used to working at different times and may have been spread around the globe. Your team might not need to respond immediately or have a lot of synchronous activities. Remote workers may also be able to adapt their work hours to fit their team members' needs, making their time zone less important.
Take into consideration cultural and language differences
Remote teamwork can be complicated when you work with people from different cultures and languages. Will everyone be able to communicate easily and comfortably with one another? What common language must everyone know? All team members must consider cultural differences.
It can still be beneficial to have a multilingual or multicultural team. This will open up new opportunities for gaining access to foreign markets and generating new creative ideas. This can help you find better ways to work. These differences shouldn't be a hindrance to teamwork. You need tools that facilitate communication.
You might consider hiring contractors
Remote work is also allowed for non-employees. Some tasks require skills that you don't use regularly. An accountant might be needed to calculate the costs of building a new plant. You might also need a web developer to redesign your company's website. No matter your situation, a remote consultant or contractor could work for you as a temporary resource.
These resources can be found through traditional methods such as job boards. However, many websites connect third-party agencies and freelancers with clients. These resources require less effort, regardless of your approach. Their role may not require team interaction which adds layer of complexity.
How do you create a company where remote workers are happy? Continue reading to learn how remote employees can contribute to your company culture.
2. Company Culture-The Greatest Challenge for Remote Teams
The company culture is the set of common shared characteristics, behaviors, and values within a company. This includes how employees communicate, how managers interact with their staff, and how they treat customers. Even the smallest interactions with colleagues at the water cooler, lunch with friends, informal meetings with managers, and other small activities can show a company's culture. It is developed from the top. Management sets the tone for all other employees.
Remote workers cannot experience these aspects firsthand, so it is difficult to communicate with them, especially if they are remote. Here are some things you can do.
All team members should be judged equally
If only a portion of your team is away, you can still spend time with them in person. Even if you don't know it, this can lead to bias. It is natural to feel more connected with people you meet face-to-face than with someone you only talk with via video or phone.
Examining any biases you may have about how you treat your team members is crucial. Remote team members could paint a different picture of the company's culture than staff onsite. David Chaudron, the managing partner of Organized Change, shares an objective way to prevent this. Establish clear performance metrics consistent across all team members but still reflect their circumstances. This will allow all team members to strive for excellence and create a cohesive image of the company's culture.
You can mirror in-person practices
It is easy to take little things done in person for granted but not by email or phone calls. Casual conversations at the office, or after-work drinks, are all common. Remote workers miss these chances to connect and socialize with colleagues who work in the office as well as those who work remotely.
This can be countered by encouraging casual conversations or calls between team members. It's like stopping by someone else's desk. It's a great way to communicate the culture in your office by reaching out to someone on your team.
Tammy Bjelland is the CEO of Workers. She emphasized this tip for company culture: "Foster an environment of inclusion and connection." You must create opportunities for virtual teams to connect. You must set aside time and space for informal and formal communication, just like in a physical office. Make sure everyone is included! Although this seems obvious, it is often overlooked in virtual teams, especially hybrid ones.
Remember that Face-to-Face is the best way to communicate with people
Technology can be a great tool to help your team stay connected, but it cannot replace in-person interactions. Although you can see body language and the video is close, people behave differently in front of cameras. Social aspects of office work are a big part of company culture. Having get-togethers can help to strengthen shared values. It's crucial to get your team together whenever it is possible. Connecting, building relationships, and ensuring that your company culture is fully expressed for telecommuters is possible.
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This sentiment was championed by Zach Selch, a global sales mentor. When leading an international sales group, I would hire three people at once and bring them to our headquarters for a month-long orientation. They would get to know each other, see how things are done, and learn why we do what we do. To ensure everyone had enough socializing before returning to their homeland, we would throw a pizza party at the end of orientation. We tried to ensure they returned for short visits once or twice per year. These experiences in person helped to embed our company culture."
But culture is not the only area where remote team management can be difficult.
3. How to manage and communicate effectively with remote teams
You must ensure that you and your remote team take the right actions to keep your goals and team dynamics positive. It is all about managing virtual teams. You must know when to give and when to take. Also, you must ensure that your team has the resources to communicate with each other. Let's take a look at some of these.
Do not micromanage; delegate
More than one manager shares the trait of micromanaging. Numerous studies have been published over the years, and a lot of workplace training has helped curb this unproductive behavior. The trait has been reintroduced with the advent of remote work. It's not surprising that some managers don't like that they can't physically observe their workers during the day. Even though remote workers can produce work equal to their onsite counterparts, managers sometimes doubt their employees' productivity.
This trend is not something you should succumb to. Set clear deadlines when you assign tasks to remote employees. Also, ensure they know that your virtual office is available for any questions or assistance. It is distracting and unnecessary to constantly check on their progress. If a remote worker is not performing well, it's understandable that you need to intervene.
Delegate effectively instead of micromanaging. This encourages your team to work independently, leading to higher productivity. Your team should not have to ask you for your opinion on every issue. Your team should be empowered to make decisions on their own or with the help of other members.
Keep everyone on track
You are the captain of your ship as a leader. Your team must be on the right track and doing the right thing at the right times.
Nicholas Christensen, the founder of Lottery Criticism, has his team send weekly progress reports to ensure they are moving in the right direction. "I made a template and had my team complete it. They send it to me every Monday. It requires a brief description of the current status, estimated completion date, work completed from the previous week, and work expected next week. It also asks for a wish list of items they would like to work on and any issues. This helps me keep track of my progress and help me spot potential problems.
Establish Expected Core Hours of Work
This may not always be possible, but it will ensure that communication is fluid and open in all circumstances. This is a time frame during which all members of the team are expected to be available and active working. This allows for synchronous collaboration, which is often essential.
Remote workers who live within commuting distance could be invited to the office on a semi-regular schedule. These commutable remote workers could come to the office on alternate Tuesdays to meet up with onsite staff. They could also be invited to events onsite that they might not otherwise attend if they aren't working in the office.
Schedule, Schedule, and Schedule
If you don't have a plan, remote work can become a waste of time. It's a good idea to use a weekly planner to create a weekly and daily plan. This includes client meetings, standing team calls, deadlines, and deliverable due dates. This is especially important for remote agile teams where time is limited.
Organizational teams are more productive than those that have to plan their week in detail. Your entire team should be on the same page whether they're in San Francisco or London attending a business seminar.
This remote collaboration would benefit greatly from a tool that allows you to keep track of tasks, schedule events, and manage your calendar.
Use the Right Tools
Understanding how to manage virtual teams requires understanding that email is not enough. Email is a way to exclude team members and hide information in long communication chains. Email also creates communication gaps, which we prefer to fill with in-person interactions. Remote work can result in these types of interactions being limited or absent. It's better to use solutions that have more robust capabilities.
Faster team collaboration, for example, should be as simple and fast as if you were at the office together. This makes it possible to resolve issues and foster relationships quickly. Communication tools such as Calls and chats are great options.
You should also see which tasks have been completed easily, rather than searching for someone to update you. This is where task-tracking via visual boards or list form works.
Define your Roles Clearly
Even when a part of the team is working remotely, great leaders set clear goals and roles for their employees. Remote workers might not be able to contact you immediately. They need to know where to go for any other needs. Every team member should have a clear role, which should be communicated to all members. The role you assign to team members will depend on their skills and the project. Determining roles will avoid communication delays and deliverable delays.
Allow distractions to occur
Although initially seem counterintuitive, great leaders must accept that distractions can occur when working remotely. Remote teams may be scattered all over the globe, so it is possible that at any one time, either your employees or independent contractors have wandered off course. It also happens in the office, where employees frequently interrupt others to ask questions or make requests.
While distractions temporarily reduce productivity, they also allow team members to recharge and stay motivated. Focus on the output and not the input at the end of each day. Set your expectations, and don't worry about things beyond your control.
You will be able to manage remote teams if you know how. To keep your team motivated and on track, you must be able to lead them from the beginning. Continue reading to find great tips for team building.
4. Motivation and Team Building-The Best Ways to Keep Remote Teams at Full Potential
Motivation is key to any team's ability to work together and stay productive long-term. Remote workers require extra effort due to the infrequent or inexistent in-person interactions. There are also inter-team dynamics in hybrid teams where some members may be onsite. These are ways to ensure your team is at the top of its game.
Make them feel part of the team
It's an old saying that out of sight is out of mind. It's more true than most people would like to admit. It is a common reality that remote team members are often neglected, especially in hybrid teams. They can feel lonely and forgotten if they don't get any contact from their manager or onsite peers. This can lower motivation.
It's easy to keep in touch with remote workers. This can be done by organizing group calls, video conferencing, or calling each individual. It should be a daily alert in your habit to contact your remote workers at least once per week. If you have to, schedule it in your calendar! A short call can help keep them motivated and make them feel like they are part of the team.
You need to celebrate the little victories more often. "You need to highlight the little wins more often.
Rizzo takes it one step further for his team. Rizzo recognizes that remote workers may not enjoy the same benefits as those onsite, such as a never-ending supply of coffee. We created a budget for incidentals that was only applicable to remote employees. Remote employees could have a $50 coffee budget each month. Remote employees could use the company's coffee shop tab to get to a new workplace or a mid-day pick-me-up. These small perks show that the company's IT staff augmentation services cares about their success and is forward-thinking.
Recognize their contributions
Recognizing your team is an important part of motivating them. Let your team know when they do a great job. You would normally stop at someone's desk to congratulate them on closing a sale or solving a complicated customer issue. But virtual teams make that impossible.
You can also look for other ways to recognize remote workers. Send them a digital thank you card. You could also set aside time for your next team conference to discuss their successes. Even better, you could schedule a video conference to share the good news immediately with your team. A simple message of appreciation for their hard work can make all the difference. Be unambiguous in your message. You can't depend on subtleties that may be conveyed to someone in person.
Encourage feedback
It is different to get feedback from colleagues working remotely than sitting around a table. Communication within an office environment is usually easy. It is easy to communicate with your boss or coworkers from your desk. Remote workers, however, must communicate with their coworkers and bosses using their tools. They can't rely solely on their body language to decide if it's appropriate for them to give their input.
It is important to communicate that you are open to receiving feedback. This will ensure they can ask questions and give input while sitting at their keyboard.
Assign a Point Person
Working remotely can lead to lost information simply because you aren't there. Even one day can cause you to miss important details. This could be information related to a project or policies, practices, and procedures changes. It is important to use a project management tool, or you can designate someone in the team who will be extra vigilant in relaying vital information to remote employees and also answer questions from remote team members.
Enjoy some lightheartedness
This is work. But it doesn't necessarily mean that everything must always be business. You can motivate your team by adding color to an otherwise boring canvas.
Fiona Adler, the founder of Actioned, shares, "Have fun every day." Create a channel or communication method specifically for sharing non-work-related information. On Mondays, for example, you might share something you did on the weekend. You could also share a picture of your recent dinner or ask your team what they are reading on TV. It is easier to get to know your remote team members and helps you build trust and willingness to help one another.
5. The Future of Remote Work in a Post-Pandemic World - Impact and Trends
Karl Armstrong, founder, and CEO of EpicWin App,, says that the pandemic has remarkably impacted remote work. Many companies have adopted previously impossible work-from-home arrangements. It was difficult to adapt to this new arrangement. It allowed us to think differently and improve our businesses.
Ryan Malone, president of DDH, Now speaks out about one of the difficulties in remote work: perspective. According to Malone, those who had worked remotely before the pandemic experienced anxiety and tension compared to their onsite colleagues. "As a remote worker, I've often had to defend my case to coworkers. Many of those coworkers were forced into the same situation by the pandemic, which ended much of the hate. People now better understand how to work remotely with a team.
Malone believes that the pandemic has made it easier for professionals to use video calls and other technology. "This could potentially bring coworkers closer as they get used to seeing their colleagues in their own home, even if it's only via video."
Summary
You will need to first identify the problems associated with remote business management and then consider how they might affect your business and team.
Even though it may seem impossible to manage a remote team, many professionals have experienced similar issues. You might find your remote management problems easier to understand by looking at the experiences of others.
CISIN allows your virtual team to accomplish this via unique workspaces that you can customize to suit your needs for a specific purpose, such as department announcements or smaller projects. You can even make a workspace for your team members!
In addition to the expert-based advice, you can also use the apps and tools specifically designed to automate and streamline your business operations.
You'll be ready for any challenges remote work may throw you.
