Nowadays, technology is developing at a tremendous speed, changing our daily lives and our work. More and more companies and employees are choosing the remote work format, which allows them to work from anywhere in the world, save time and money, improve work-life balance, and gain access to the global talent market, which has begun the managing remote teams role.
According to a study by Global Workplace Analytics, in 2023, about 25% of workers worldwide worked remotely at least partially, and by 2025, this figure could reach 30%.
However, remote work has challenges and risks, especially for managers who must manage teams in different time zones, cultures, and environments. How can effective communication, collaboration, motivation, and control be ensured in such conditions? What methods, tools, and practices exist for managing a remote team? And how can we prepare for a future in which remote teams will play an increasingly important role? In this article, we will try to answer these questions about managing remote teams.
Methods for Effective Managing Remote Teams
Managing a remote team requires not only technical and organizational skills, but also social and emotional competencies. After all, remote work sometimes creates additional problems and barriers in communication, collaboration, motivation, and control. How can you cope with these challenges and ensure efficiency and harmony in your team? There are several methods that will help you with this. Here are some of them:
- Regular calls to discuss current tasks, plans, problems, successes and ideas. Calls allow you to monitor the progress of activities and create an atmosphere of trust, transparency, and mutual support. You can hold them in different ways: daily or weekly, individually or in a group, formally or informally, depending on your goals and needs. The main thing is that the calls are regular, productive, interactive and held on time. Use video communication to see your employees’ faces and facial expressions, as well as tools for screen sharing, file sharing, voting, etc. Do not forget about the importance of informal communication and conversations on various topics; this helps strengthen team spirit and reduces feelings of isolation.
- Goal setting. To ensure your team works efficiently and in a focused manner, you need to define and agree on goals and expectations clearly. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). You can use different methodologies, tools and frameworks for goal setting, such as OKR (Objectives and Key Results), KPI (Key Performance Indicators), MBO (Management by Objectives), etc. The main thing is that the goals are clear, adaptive, motivating and consistent with the overall strategy and mission of the company. Regularly tracking and analyzing progress and results is also important, as well as adjusting goals if necessary.
- Feedback. One of the key factors for success in managing a remote team is feedback. It allows you and your employees to learn about their strengths and weaknesses, improve the quality of their work, solve problems, develop skills and careers, recognize achievements, and encourage initiative. You should give feedback to your team not only on the results, but also on the process of activity, and also accept feedback from them. Feedback should be honest, constructive, timely and friendly. Use different tools, channel,s and formats: video, audio, text, surveys, ratings, etc. Do not forget about the importance of positive feedback, it allows you to increase motivation, loyalty, and satisfaction of the team.
- Delegation. This is the transfer of part of your powers, responsibilities, tools, and tasks to employees who have the appropriate competencies and resources. This allows you to reduce the workload, focus on strategic tasks, and develop the potential, independence and responsibility of the team. To delegate effectively, you need to choose the right people, clearly define tasks, tools and expectations, provide the necessary resources, tools and support, monitor the progress and quality of work, and provide feedback.
- Recognition. This is an expression of gratitude and respect for your remote employees’ work, achievements, and contributions. Recognition helps to increase your team’s self-esteem and satisfaction, and strengthens their commitment and engagement. Recognition can be given in many ways: in person or publicly, verbally or in writing, formally or informally, tangible or intangible. The main thing is that it is sincere.
- Flexibility and trust. Flexibility is the ability to adapt to changing conditions, needs and preferences of employees. Trust is confidence in the reliability, honesty, and competence of your team. Flexibility and trust allow you to create a comfortable, safe and supportive environment, reduce the frequency of conflicts, and reduce stress. Give employees freedom of choice and decisions, take into account their opinions and wishes, support their initiatives, do not interfere with their work, and do not constantly control them, demonstrate your openness, honesty, and reliability.
Best Practices for Managing Remote Teams
Here are some time-tested and proven principles for improving efficiency, quality, motivation, and collaboration in your remote team.
- Establishing clear rules and expectations. To ensure that your remote team works smoothly and without conflicts, you need to establish and agree with them on clear rules and expectations regarding work management. These should cover aspects such as work schedule, availability, communication, reporting format, deadlines, performance evaluation, quality criteria, work ethics and culture, possible rewards and sanctions. Rules and expectations should be clear, fair, and mandatory for all team members to follow. Use different documents and tools to manage rules and expectations, such as contracts, agreements, guidelines, checklists, dashboards, etc.
- Create a strong culture and values. To ensure that your team is productive and enjoyable, you need to create and maintain a strong culture and values that unite and inspire the team. This is a set of views, beliefs, norms, and goals that define how your team works, communicates, collaborates, and develops. Culture and values should be aligned with the company’s overall strategy and mission, and reflect your team’s specifics and needs. There are many ways to create and maintain a team’s culture and values: by regularly communicating them, demonstrating them through your example and behavior, including them in decision-making and performance evaluation processes, and encouraging their expression and development.
- Encouraging independence and responsibility. To ensure that your team works harmoniously and proactively, you need to encourage independence and responsibility in your employees. This is the ability and willingness of your employees to work on projects without constant control and supervision, and to be responsible for their actions and results. This will help you reduce your workload as a manager, as well as increase productivity, quality, and motivation of the team. Give employees freedom of choice and decisions, delegate authority, resources, and projects, and provide feedback and recognition.
- Maintaining a work-life balance. This is a state in which your team can effectively and efficiently perform their professional duties, while also finding time and resources for their interests, hobbies, family, and friends. Work-life balance reduces stress, fatigue, and burnout, and increases loyalty. There are many ways to maintain a work-life balance in your remote team: respecting their time zones and work schedules, not overloading them with work or invading their space, giving them the opportunity to choose what time and where they work, providing various benefits and perks such as paid time off, health insurance, fitness programs, etc.
- Strengthening team spirit and engagement. This is the feeling of belonging, solidarity, and emotional connection that employees have towards the team, the company, and the work. Team spirit and engagement can increase the loyalty, productivity, creativity, and innovation of your team and reduce turnover, problems, and conflicts. There are many ways to strengthen team spirit and engagement in your team: creating a common vision and mission, giving meaning and value to work, recognizing and rewarding employee achievements and contributions, holding events and activities to strengthen bonds, giving employees the opportunity to participate in decision-making and influence work.
- Employee training and development. It is important to help employees acquire and improve their knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to perform their current and future tasks. This allows you to enhance your team’s qualifications, adaptability, competitiveness, and career growth, as well as reduce errors, costs, and lags. Provide employees with access to courses, webinars, books, podcasts, organize internal trainings, seminars, master classes, conduct mentoring, and provide feedback. Be sure to encourage subordinates to self-educate, experiment, and exchange experiences.