Manage Remote Teams Effectively & Foster Collaboration with HR Software

Remote work has become popular worldwide. This change is happening because more and more companies are realizing how great it is to let their employees work from home or other locations where they are comfortable.

However, it’s essential to acknowledge the potential drawbacks that come together with these benefits. These include reduced visibility of employees, increased possibilities of miscommunication, high levels of distraction, and decreased engagement. Consequently, there is a much bigger issue of effectively managing a remote team.

Inadequate management of remote teams can result in team members feeling neglected and socially disconnected, leading to a decline in employee retention, overall performance, and productivity. Let’s read more about it further.

Difficulties in Managing Remote Teams

Remote teams’ management presents multiple challenges. Whether you’re new to managing remote teams or have extensive experience, you’ll encounter the following problems:

• Misunderstandings or Miscommunication: Remote communication methods such as email and Slack lead to misunderstandings. Employees working remotely often struggle with understanding business processes and expectations and hesitate to seek clarification.
• Diverse Work Preferences: Remote team members operate in various time zones and life stages, requiring you to be adaptable to different work schedules.
• Communication Variances: Each employee has distinct communication preferences which require flexibility and unique communication options to cater to different work styles.
• Isolation: Remote work leads to a feeling of isolation as employees rely solely on digital communication, potentially leading to a sense of loneliness despite their home surroundings.
• Burnout: Without clear boundaries, remote employees sometimes experience burnout due to an unstructured work schedule, blurring the line between personal time and work hours.

11 Best Practices to Manage Remote Teams & Improve Collaboration with HR Software

As remote work continues to evolve, the management of remote teams and mastering the skills to efficiently manage remote teams becomes crucial, especially given its current widespread adoption.

Let’s read the best practices for remote setups that help manage teams remotely to improve collaboration with HR software:

1. Establish Clear Expectations: Formulate clear guidelines for your remote teams. While flexibility is essential, it’s equally important to establish fundamental rules that every team member should adhere to. It should encompass:

• Team Meetings: Schedule a time suitable for all team members, accommodating various time zones.
• Communication: Determine the appropriate communication channels for different situations. For instance, utilize email for assignment updates and reserve Slack for non-urgent discussions.
• Workflows: Develop both automated and manual workflows to help team members stay on track in the event of communication breakdowns.

2. Foster Accountability: Empower your employees while ensuring they take responsibility for their tasks and projects. Their success should be linked to measurable metrics within their control, and they should regularly report on progress and challenges during individual and team meetings via collaboration with HR software.

3. Provide Appropriate Tools: Invest in essential software and hardware to support your remote teams. Ensure that each team member has access to suitable tools relevant to their roles. This would help avoid scenarios like graphic designers experiencing prolonged wait times for file uploads and processing.

Additionally, equip them with collaboration tools such as Asana for project management, Figma for online whiteboarding and design. Further, you can invest in Slack for team communication, Google Drive for cloud storage and sharing, and Zoom for video conferencing.

For design collaboration, you can provide access to InVision, and LastPass is for password management and sharing.

4. Emphasize Communication: Finding the ideal balance in communication frequency is challenging. It’s advisable to overcommunicate rather than adopting under-communication. Provide regular updates on project progress and broader company developments to ensure everyone remains informed. Assume that not all employees will read every email.

Therefore, set up weekly virtual meetings as an opportunity for team members to catch up and align. Consider incorporating regular round-robin sessions where each team member shares their ongoing tasks or recent accomplishments.

5. Respect Time Zones: Given that your employees are likely spread across different geographic locations, it’s crucial to be mindful of varying time zones. Avoid scheduling meetings at schedules inconvenient for team members. Whenever possible, utilize scheduling features available in email and messaging applications to ensure messages are delivered during each team member’s working hours.

6. Focus on Results, Not Input: Micromanaging can be cumbersome. Instead, put emphasis on output rather than input. What ultimately matters is the delivery of high-quality work and the achievement of established goals, rather than the number of hours spent working or the time duration when team members are online.

7. Encourage Flexibility: Promote flexibility among your remote workers through collaboration with HR software. Avoid imposing unnecessary regulations. Give your employees the flexibility to manage their work in a manner that suits their circumstances (while keeping the deadline of projects in mind), enabling them to balance personal responsibilities effectively.

8. Foster Regular Team Interaction: Regularly bring your entire team together, at least once a week. Even with a light agenda, allocate time for team members to socialize and interact. Consider organizing activities and games, serving as an opportunity for team building and collaboration.

9. Encourage Informal Communication: Foster a remote-friendly environment where team members can engage in casual communication. This can be facilitated through regular video meetings or dedicated channels on platforms like Slack.

10. Ensure Inclusivity: Actively pause meetings to allow remote participants to contribute and monitor group chats during larger gatherings. This will help accommodate even those individuals who do not feel comfortable speaking out loud.

11. Schedule In-Person Meetings: Arrange in-person gatherings at least annually to facilitate collaboration, cultivate belongingness, and reinforce personal connection behind digital identities.

Conclusion

In summary, successfully managing remote teams requires a comprehensive approach that focuses on clear communication, responsibility, and adaptability. Embracing the difficulties of remote work and using specific strategies, like setting clear goals, offering the right tools, and promoting a remote-friendly atmosphere, can greatly improve teamwork and productivity.

By making inclusivity, efficient processes, and regular team communication a top priority, businesses can create a solid base for effective remote leadership and team management in today’s work environment.

Manage Remote Teams with HR Software: FAQs