How to effectively manage a remote team

Friday, 05 November 2021 06:49

How to effectively manage a remote team

By Anastasiia Lastovetska, MLSDev

GUEST OPINION: After spring 2020, when many companies decided to work from home or remotely, we have become accustomed to this lifestyle.

Statista cites such data before the coronavirus pandemic; 17 percent of the U.S. employees worked from home five days or more a week. That proportion increased to 44 percent during the pandemic. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trend towards teleworking as quarantines and isolation have made commuting and office work impossible for millions of people around the world.

That is, of course, people worked remotely even before the pandemic. However, it was she who forced the general transition to this way of working.

However, people worldwide still face a significant challenge in telecommuting: how to work and manage your team remotely effectively?

What problems are there when managing remote teams?

The main problem for a manager is to understand how to manage a team remotely. When you have a dedicated development team that you do not see every day in the office, you may have difficulties distributing tasks, reviewing work efficiency, and finding an employee in the workplace.

Tips for improving remote team management

Despite all the challenges of telecommuting, there are several effective methods to keep your team productive. Here are some of them.

1. Schedule daily meetings For managers and teams new to telecommuting, this is key. You can choose the communication method and agree in advance in what format your daily meetings will occur.

2. Communicate more often In addition to a daily meeting or stand-up, it makes sense to periodically contact your employees personally and find out how they are doing with the current problem, whether everything is clear about the task, and what he is doing at the moment. There cannot be a lot of such communication because you are not around and are forced to find out how things are.

3. Manage expectations It is always necessary, but in the current conditions, it is becoming more and more critical. Forbes writes that many organizations and teams have had to reorient themselves (some significantly), which means that you can now reorient those same employees to new tasks that affectability and motivation and, therefore, productivity and results.

As a manager, you need to set clear expectations and solicit feedback to ensure consistency.

4. Focus on results It is best to define the goals clearly, and the desired result and the whole team understands what needs to be achieved. Also, make sure that your team has the resources to achieve the desired result. Then you, as a manager, will not need to constantly jerk employees and find out at what stage of the task they are.

5. Encourage remote social interaction The fact that you are now forced to work remotely does not mean that you need to give up teambuilding and social gathering. Just do it remotely. Pizza parties and socializing outside of office hours still build team spirit and bring your employees closer together. Just make it a little more creative.

Remote work and team management involve slightly more effort than office work. However, with the tips in this article, you will have more inspiration and strength to set up good team management. Good luck!

*Author’s bio: Anastasiia Lastovetska is a technology writer at MLSDev, a software development company that builds web and mobile app solutions from scratch. She researches the area of technology to create great content about app development, UX/UI design, tech & business consulting.

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