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Coronavirus brought numerous difficulties for everybody around the world. Lockdowns prohibited people from going to their workplace. As a result, work-from-home became the ‘new normal.’
However, remote working is not a recent practice. People have been working remotely from their homes or places other than an actual office for quite a while. The pandemic has merely brought the obvious business benefits to the forefront.
Does remote working decrease efficiency levels? Is it a tricky task to manage a group of employees who work from different parts of a city or worldwide? These are a couple of questions that ring a bell in the minds of team managers and business owners.
A simple answer to both questions is no and no! A few tips and tricks in place will allow you, as a manager, to effectively manage a group of people working remotely without compromising productivity. Six of these tips are listed down below. Read on.
- Provide them the resources required to work remotely
It is essential to provide your employees with sufficient technology to finish their work remotely. These include smartphones, PCs, and ensuring that everyone has a stable internet connection. It isn’t fair to assume that your remote workers will already have these facilities present with them. For instance, suppose you have a team member working remotely from another part of the world, let’s say Taiwan. In that case, you should ensure that the individual has the necessary resources for seamless long-distance communication. You can also hook up the individual with virtual offices in Taiwan to provide a stable working environment. Technology helps break down barriers across distance and ensure that your team is available for work from anywhere around the world, anytime.
If you’re ready to embrace technology to effectively manage your team, then you need to work with an innovative company that can help improve remote team interaction. Collaboration with remote teams can be greatly enhanced through assessment, training, and using research-based innovation and creativity tools that such a company provides. By doing so, you can resolve your organization’s complex problems and face challenges more effectively because of seamless communication and business processes.
- Consider face-to-face interaction with your remote employees
While Text messages and emails account for a big chunk of communication between remote workers, having face-to-face interactions is equally essential. Video conferencing has numerous advantages. It adds a human element to communication, making work feel less robotic, and it reduces the chances of miscommunication over text and email. Both of these are effective ways to manage your team of remote workers and maintain productivity over a distance.
Fortunately, there are different video calling applications that you can use to make video conferencing more seamless in today’s digital era. ZOOM has become an increasingly popular tool in this regard. Consider holding frequent and regular meetings to remind team members that there’s an actual human being driving them. Once the workflow is steady, you can drop down the frequency to a more manageable number. Don’t limit face-to-face interaction to just work meetings. It is paramount to continue team bonding exercises and get-togethers even after everyone begins working remotely. Virtual hangouts and get-togethers can inspire team bonding and growth. Using a company like https://escapely.com/ can get your team working together to solve virtual escape games, connecting your team without the pressure of a meeting.
- Gauge performance by accomplishments, not working hours
One of the main reasons people prefer working remotely nowadays is the flexibility it adds to their routine. However, this poses a challenge, especially when you have people in different time zones onboard your team. In such a situation, remote workers may log in to your remote-working portal at different times throughout the day. Hence it will be challenging for everyone to be available online simultaneously. How do you deal with this? You modify your KPIs.
While bringing about efficiency, focus more on work-related goals than the number of hours they put in. Gauge their performance based on the number of tasks they accomplish accurately instead of how many hours they’re online. However, do emphasize the significance of meeting crucial deadlines.
- Give them one-on-one attention
At the point when you have a hectic work timetable, you regularly cancel or delay activities such as one on one discussions. In any case, you need to have these one-on-one communications to guarantee that each remote worker remains happy. It is simple to deal with an upbeat and happy remote worker than a disgruntled and underappreciated one.
Likewise, there might be times when remote workers won’t be in the loop regarding small changes in business-related practices. Thus, make an honest effort to hold one-on-one meetings with each individual in your remote workforce. Consider this like the regular small talk you make with people while working together in the same office space. Give them feedback, permit them to ask questions, share their thoughts, and express their interests. After all, employees, remote or on-site, will feel valued when giving them such one-on-one time, and will be easier to manage from a distant location. Happy employees tend to be more productive than unhappy ones.
- Do not micromanage your remote workers
The best team leaders and managers are individuals who are mentors as opposed to annoying supervisors. They understand the distinctions and subtleties that go into leadership and management. While it may be a typical practice among these leaders and managers to micromanage their workers, remember the circumstances in remote working are different. It probably won’t be simple for them to complete a given task in the assigned time because of some unknown variables.
Inquire whether they face any issues, regardless of whether it is related to their work or personal life. Try to empathize with them and guide them. Even as we face emergencies due to the ongoing pandemic, we can’t stop or delay our efforts to enforce our remote workers’ personal and professional development.
- Be transparent with all your remote employees
Distance can create long invisible walls that become difficult to break. Trust issues and paranoia can worsen this situation. Workers regularly look to managers and leaders as an example of how to conduct themselves in the work environment. In case you’re transparent, for example, they’re bound to be transparent with you. Making openness a part of your remote working culture will help build trust with all your team members.
Be sure your straightforwardness stretches out equally to all your remote workers. For instance, if you have news to share, try to tell each colleague simultaneously. By doing so, your remote workers won’t feel like they’re the last to catch wind of what’s going on in the workplace or that you’re deliberately keeping them in the dark. Inclusiveness fosters collaboration and promotes a productive team culture. Working in isolation and silos does the exact opposite, and you wouldn’t want that!
Conclusion
While you ought to maintain a distance from micromanagement, you also need to understand what your workers do during working hours. Always keep track work from home employees by enforcing deadlines and asking them for daily updates. Offer them training whenever it is possible for you, and consistently be accessible to them. By following the tips in this article, you will be able to successfully and effectively deal with your remote workers and carry on trying your best to bring success to your business.
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