When it comes to managing remote teams, the steps are different for different companies. What works for one may not work for your company. It all depends on the culture followed and the approach of the remote team. A few managers trust their employees, whereas others use tracking software to track their employees.
Managing remote staff is one of the crucial management skills that every team leader should master. This is done to satisfy the teams who are working remotely. Though people are often trained to handle remote teams, at times efficiently, some rapidly changing situations may not work feasibly.
Thanks to some research-based tips with the help of which managers can hire dedicated developers to enhance the productivity of remote employees and, at the same time, manage them effectively.
-
Set Expectations And Adhere To Them
One should know what to expect from your remote teams and the objectives you want your entire team to achieve. Each team member should be on the same page as you and should know what your expectations are. Though the expectations are straightforward, they may have sudden changes. It is significant for you and your team members to adhere to the expectations and perform accordingly. It will also help them feel content after working for numerous hours in front of the computer screen.
-
Appropriate Education And Skill Level
Deloitte recently conducted a study that concluded that almost 29.4% of professionals need automation training of higher levels. Also, to meet the market’s ever-changing demands, they need to hire the best they can. To fulfill this gap, businesses are hiring from remote locations to ensure that the quality of developers stays paramount. A few things should be kept in mind while hiring people from remote locations, including:
i. Increase in the working capacity of the firm without any liability on the infrastructure.
ii. Prior working experience in relevant technical streams.
iii Education of the field and suitable expertise in a particular segment.
-
Good Communication Channels
Proper communication is essential between remote workers, or else it will become difficult for them to stay on the same page. To maximize the efficiency and efforts of remote teams, several communication tools are available in the market. For instance, the workplace of Facebook, Slack, and Yammer have seen a significant rise recently.
The tools have an intuitive user interface and are highly interactive for employees to communicate and connect. The life of managers becomes much easier by integrating such tools into their daily chores.
-
Inspire Your Members To Be Independent
When teams work from a remote location, they need to have a healthy work-life balance to take things easy as they come in their way. Hence, encourage your employees to practice their hobbies and do things they like outdoors during the non-working hours. It will enable them to develop a sense of independence, something which is critical for remote work.
Virtual employees should understand that they will decide the balance between their personal and professional life. By instilling a sense of independence in them, you give them a chance to develop, enrich and discover their work-life balance.
Even the best management systems can have human error. That said, during unprecedented times, teams may face struggles. Hence, the incorporation of KPIs (key performance indicators) is vital to track employees’ progress. For KPIs, you need to consider the organization’s goals that you want to attain, and then you need to align them with your team.
Make sure that the goals are all realistic that can be achieved and will ultimately lead to the success of your organization. You need to find the correct way of measuring the performance and track the progress of your remote teams.
This way, you will have a better understanding of areas where your organization lacks. You will have better opportunities to overcome all barriers and work on your weaknesses.
-
Cultural And Language Barriers
Besides the expertise of your team in technology, languages known serve as the trump card. When a firm is about to hire dedicated developers, they will also look for language fluency. When cost factors and language barriers are combined, a major factor is born: the decision-making factor. Effective communication skills with seamless interpretation help speed up the process flow for your organization.
This is why firms are always behind building a team that is culturally close and has effective communication. An internal network helps reduce communication downtime or lags hence enabling teams to communicate and align better.
Managers need to understand that their employees will have major distractions when they are working from home. Also, distractions are inevitable in a remote work setup. Hence, you should accept such distractions of your remote teams from time to time since it is critical to enhancing their productivity.
You should show your employees that it is okay if they are playing with their children or check their social media profiles once in a while. You should not ask them to remove these habits completely since a little distraction from working long hours will prevent them from getting burnt out.
Final Words
Employees will stay longer in your organization if they see balance in the workplace. They are always working in a company that can provide them with what they want, especially remote work options. If you are outsourcing software development, you will have to master the management of remote teams to obtain maximum benefits. The tips discussed above will not only enable everyone to perform better, but it will also help them enjoy the opportunity of working from home.
Vikrant Bhalodia
Head – Operations
Head of Operations with 12+ years of multi-functional expertise across Sales & Marketing, Consulting, Web Content Management, Operations and HRM at WeblineIndia. Having passion towards technology and with multi-functional expertise in a Software Development Company based in USA and India, Vikrant loves sharing insights on optimizing the success and internet visibility of the customers’ businesses.
