The importance of having systems in place when managing a remote team

Written by Kieran Fallon

Remote work and teams have grown in prevalence due to the recent pandemic. They provide flexibility and increase opportunities for both employees and employers, but they can also make peer connections and work integration harder.

What is a Remote Team?

A remote team is a group of professionals residing or working from different time zones. They usually bring to the company diverse skills and cultures. But the pandemic has made work from home somewhat the norm. Now, people from the same city, even neighborhood, can constitute remote teams.

One thing is remote working, but managing a remote team is another story. It can be challenging to track what everyone's up to and how the company is doing. But it's your job as a manager, VP, or CEO. You need to manage people. But how?

Remote Team Challenges and Solutions

Let's review the most frequent challenges you can face when managing a remote team. Don't worry, as you're not alone! Many managers go through the same struggles, which means there are also solutions.

1) Relying on Remote Tools

When managing a remote working team, the first thing to consider is: are you using the right tools? All your projects and communication will be conducted online. That's why you need to have the technical systems in place.

Make sure that you keep everyone on the same page by using the right remote work tools. Think of ProofHub, for example. It's an online project management software that brings the team together for work. Team members can interact with fellows or clients. You can share feedback with the employees and have the entire project controlled in one platform.

Every company is different and to each its own. You may find another software that works best for you. Just make sure that you choose a reliable, trustworthy platform. After all, that's where all the work will be.

2) Improve Cybersecurity

Software is less secure than you think. It's code, after all. And criminals can break code. Cyber-attacks have become a common concern for most companies, especially those with workers working from home. Maybe it's not your responsibility to provide secure cyberspace for employees. But as a manager, you might want to ask the IT team to check the technology infrastructure, the security policy, and more.

The IT team might enable multi-factor authentication to increase security, for example. Another option is to assign system access based on each worker's job, eliminating the risk of data leaks. The possibilities are endless, and every action taken is too little in cybersecurity. When you protect your remote working team, you're also protecting yourself and the company.

3) Lack of Coordination

As we mentioned previously, every employer and manager must be on the same page. If people don't communicate or coordinate properly, the projects will lack organization, and the results will cost the company money and time.

As a manager, you need to set meetings and get everyone to attend. Again, your team will need a reliable online platform that allows communication and sharing files. Use these meetings to track the results and questions of the employees and set goals.

4) Boundaries and expectations

It can be easy to get off track when working from home. The schedules might not be as tight, and there's not as much supervision. There are boundaries and expectations to set from the beginning.

Write down and share the company and team values with the workers. Make sure everyone understands what it's acceptable and what isn't at the job. Then set expectations and goals regularly. We discussed in point number 3 that you should meet with the employees to set goals and track results. Remote working can lead to disorganized workspaces, and you don't want that!

Once everyone knows what the company expects from them, both long and short term, they'll be able to perform their best.

5) Encourage autonomy

You may think this contradicts the "set goals and track results" point, but it doesn't! Although you need to track results to check if the company goals are being met, you want to hire people that work independently.

Most psychologists will recommend encouraging workers to be autonomous to boost their self-esteem. If they are responsible for what they do and have the freedom to work independently, they will perform better. No one likes having a boss around that tells you what to do all the time.

And there are more benefits to employees' autonomy. You will have more time to focus on managing the team from the big picture approach, which will probably translate into better strategies and outcomes.

6) Have One-on-One Meetings

It can be hard to socialize or get to know your fellows if you're working from home. Setting one-on-one meetings will provide a more personal, intimate space to discuss individual needs. There's nothing like a calm conversation to approach each individual's concerns and questions. Your workers will appreciate you taking the time to address them directly.

Maybe you notice that someone is getting off track or distressed lately. It would be easier to reach out in an in-person workspace, but we have to embrace the remote work condition. Send them an email setting up a meeting and offer to help solve any problems they have with the job.

7) Give Everyone Equal Opportunities

Not everyone can access the same technology and systems. Imagine one of the employees is working with a computer or Internet connection three times worse than the average one. You might think it's not a big deal, but it can be.

If someone requests better technology or financial aid related to remote work, you should listen. Maybe the request is unfair and doesn't relate to work, but perhaps the employee is correct. As managers, we should aim to give everyone the same opportunities and encourage them to perform their best.

Sometimes this isn't possible due to budget or other circumstances. Even then, we should try to adjust our expectations and the employee's work to promote a healthy work environment.

These are some of the top considerations related to managing a remote team. Work from home (WFH) can be challenging for the entire team, especially for the manager. It can be a stressful situation, but there are always ways of overcoming it.

Make sure your company uses the best management tools for online work, set boundaries and expectations, and have regular meetings. Remote work can be a powerful tool if we learn to leverage its flexibility and benefits! 

From Office To Remote Working: Ensuring Your Business Can Thrive Forevermore

For many entrepreneurs during this unprecedented situation, many have realized that they can actually run a business from home. And when you are looking to build up a business or find a new way of working, this lockdown has certainly forced us all to change our mindset. We have had to find different ways of working and in fact, some have been able to make it work in their favor, far better than they thought!

For those people who have realized that they don't need a physical office to run a business anymore and are looking to set up a remote company, what are the best approaches every business owner should take on board?

Don't Neglect The Tech

Everybody is either working with a device issued to them or they are using their own laptops. As we can struggle to oversee our employees in a personal sense, we've got to protect them in other ways. When it comes to phishing scams and viruses, we've got to make sure that our employees are clued up in spotting these issues but we've got to make sure that the tech is in place. While it may be cheaper to incorporate a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy where people use their own devices, this can prove troublesome when it comes to accessing sensitive business data. This means that we've got to invest in appropriate VPNs (Virtual Private Networks). And for many people, they don't know how to setup a VPN on a router or have any technical knowledge at all. As such, we've got to hold their hands through the entire process. But ultimately, it is our responsibility to make sure that they have the tools to do their job.

Communication Is Paramount

A lot of people feel that working remotely benefits them more than the typical office setup. For others, it can be an incredible shock to the system. This is why you have to make sure that your abilities to communicate with your team are better than ever before. Giving your employees the numerous options to communicate, whether this is through email, instant messenger, or the old fashioned phone call, your employees need to feel that they are in the loop. As people that work remotely can feel isolated, you've got to work doubly hard to include everyone.

You Need In-Person Meetings On Occasion

And while you can improve your abilities to communicate you can't underestimate that people need human contact. Look to those companies who have been working remotely for years. They work hard keeping everybody in the loop but they also make sure that everybody meets up once or twice a year, either for team-building exercises or as a way to enjoy some quality time together. This can help employees to see the bigger picture but it also works wonders for morale. When employees work from home full-time, there's a lot of positives but when you remove the option of an office, a lot of employees can miss that human contact.

While many businesses are, no doubt, considering remote working forevermore, and have yielded positive outcomes as a result of the current situation, you may have to put a lot more work into it further down the line.