In today’s modern work life, many of us no longer work in the office. Having a remote team is something that’s becoming more popular. Remote work and distributed teams allow companies to hire talent regardless of location. Many different personalities, time zones, and people are involved in the process. 

But managing a virtual team can be challenging. It can be really difficult to keep everything in order. That’s why it is necessary to find the right tools that can help you in leading remote teams effectively. 

In this article, we’ll cover some standard guidelines for successfully working with remote team members as well as many powerful tools you can use to manage your team more effectively.

Tips for Managing Remote Teams

Managing a remote team is not as simple as it seems to be. However, we have listed some practical tips for managing remote employees. Following these tips can create a professional working experience for your team.

• Weekly check-in

The weekly check-in is an excellent opportunity to check in with each of your employees. It’s a chance for you to see how things are going and for them to share their progress and challenges. You can also use this time to talk about upcoming projects or tasks that need completion.

• Set expectations with each employee 

One way to ensure everyone is on the same page is by clearly setting expectations at the beginning of each project or task. This includes outlining what must be done and how long it should take. If possible, include deadlines and benchmarks throughout the project so that everybody knows where they are with their goals.

• Establish a strong company culture 

Company culture is the environment in which people work. The attitudes, beliefs, and values define how employees relate to one another and how they perform their jobs. It includes the way things are done around here. A strong company culture is an essential element of any successful business.

• Clarify roles and responsibilities 

Everyone should know what they’re responsible for. The more precise you can be about a person’s role in your organization, the more successful your business will be. The best way to ensure everyone knows what is expected from them is by creating a clearly defined position description for each employee.

Right Tools For Managing Remote Team

When managing a virtual team, it is vital to have the right tools and practices in place to succeed. Here are some essential tools to help you maintain a professional environment in a team.

• Meeting Tools

Meetings help you engage with your team members and keep everyone on the same page. The right meeting tools like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams can help you avoid these issues, making meetings more productive for everyone involved. Whether you want to use video conferencing, text chat, or whiteboard tools, plenty of options are available.

• Project Management Tools

Using project management tools for managing your remote team is a good idea. Project management tools like Trello, Monday, or Asana are great because they allow employees and managers to see what tasks need to be completed by anyone involved in a project at any given moment. They also allow managers to track progress on projects along with deadlines.

• Collaboration Tools

Collaboration tools allow your team members to work together in real-time and get things done quickly. Slack, Google Hangouts, or Skype for Business is among the most popular collaboration tools. You can create different channels for different topics, share files, and create direct messages with individual colleagues.

• Document Sharing Tools

Document-sharing tools are one of the most popular tools used by remote teams. They allow you to easily share files with your team members and work together on them. Google Drive and Dropbox are two popular and free cloud-based productivity suites. They include Docs, Sheets, and Slides. You can create and save documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms that can be accessed from any device.

Conclusion

Remote team management is a learned skill. It takes time, patience, and the right set of tools to manage remote team effectively. So it’s essential to understand best practices from the people that have come before you. Tools can not do much, and it is ultimately up to you to make or break this type of working arrangement.