Managing Remote Teams – Best Practices For Success

In the modern workplace, remote teams have become increasingly common, driven by technological advancements and changing work dynamics. This has brought about a lot of new benefits for businesses across many industries – including access to global talent and increased employee satisfaction – but it’s also created a number of challenges along the way.

How do managers ensure productivity, foster collaboration, and maintain team cohesion with a remote team, all of whom could be in different cities, different countries and different time zones? A strategic and proactive approach is essential to make it all work smoothly. As a company that manages remote teams on behalf of other brands, we wanted to share some of our key best practices for ensuring success.

Establish Clear Communication Channels

Clear, effective communication is the backbone of any successful team. But in remote environments it’s more essential than ever. Miscommunications or a lack of communication can lead to confusion, missed deadlines or disengagement, and you can’t just pop down the hallway to have a chat and resolve the issue. This means you need to put real thought into how, when and where your teams will be able to communicate both with each other and management. This includes:

Choosing the right tools: Give your team the tools they need to succeed from the start. Slack, Microsoft Teams or Zoom can facilitate seamless interaction between team members. Make sure your team know the purpose of each of the tools, for example instant messenger for quick updates, email for more formal communication and video calls for meetings. Choose tools that work well with your business and your teams, rather than just picking the market leader.

Encourage transparency: Make sure that everyone on the team knows how (and when) to reach each other. Shared calendars with availability statuses work well for this, and It’s important to set out guidelines for expected response times, so there are no bottlenecks.

Schedule regular check-ins: Run weekly or bi-weekly video calls with individual team members and the entire team. This should be a check-in to see how everyone is doing, identify and discuss challenges and promote accountability.

Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Remote work requires clear direction. When a team isn’t sharing the same physical space, setting clear and precise objectives becomes essential to ensure alignment with the business and make sure everyone is maintaining focus. You can do this by:

Defining roles and responsibilities: Ensure each team member knows what is expected of them. Clear job descriptions, key performance indicators (KPIs), and project milestones will all reduce ambiguity.

Using project management tools: Platforms like Trello, Asana, or Monday.com can help teams track progress and manage tasks effectively. This ensures that everyone has visibility into ongoing projects and individual contributions, and everyone is on the same page.

Encouraging autonomy with accountability: While it’s important to trust your team to manage their workload, maintaining regular progress updates will keep things on track and let you know if you need to act. Consider using weekly reports or briefings to review tasks completed and set goals for the upcoming week.

Foster Team Collaboration and Engagement

One of the big challenges of remote work is creating a sense of camaraderie and teamwork. A more dispersed team might struggle with feelings of isolation or disengagement, which can lead to less productive employees and low morale.

Use collaboration tools: Make sure that your team has access to cloud-based tools like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, which allow for easy collaboration on documents, presentations, and spreadsheets in real time.

Encourage virtual team-building activities: Building connections can happen beyond project work. Organize virtual coffee breaks, online games / quizzes, or after-hours hangouts to create informal bonding opportunities. This helps team members feel more connected on a personal level, even from a distance.

Recognize achievements: Celebrate successes, both big and small, in team meetings, through group chats, or with shoutouts in newsletters. Recognition boosts morale and makes employees feel valued, even when they’re working remotely. Ensure that successes are measured objectively, rather than subjectively to ensure the team understands why individuals are being called out, and do not become disengaged.

Prioritise Flexibility and Work-Life Balance

One of the biggest positives of remote working is the flexibility it gives. Many employers forget this, and out of fear of blurring the line between personal and professional life, can overcompensate. You should always try to strike a balance by:

Trusting your team: Focus on outcomes rather than micromanaging hours worked. If the work is getting done well and on time, offer flexibility in how and when tasks are completed. This can lead to greater employee satisfaction and retention.

Encouraging time off and breaks: Remote workers may be tempted to overwork because they don’t have the traditional boundaries of commuting or leaving the office. Make sure your team takes regular breaks and uses their vacation days to avoid burnout.

Respecting time zones: For globally distributed teams, respect each member’s working hours. Ensure that meetings are scheduled at times that are convenient for all, or if this isn’t possible, ensure that it isn’t always the same people working antisocial hours.

Invest in Employee Development Resources

It doesn’t matter where your employees are, they will want to know that there is an opportunity for progression in their role. To help remote teams thrive, you will need to ensure they have the resources and skills they need to succeed, progress and thrive. This includes:

Offering training and upskilling opportunities: Remote work tools and best practices evolve rapidly. Regularly provide your team with training sessions to enhance their skills, whether it’s mastering new software or learning time-management techniques.

Ensuring proper equipment and tools: Remote workers should have access to the tools and technology they need to do their jobs effectively. Providing stipends for home office equipment or subscriptions to essential software can make a significant difference in productivity.

Creating a feedback loop: Actively seek feedback from your team on what’s working and where there’s room for improvement. Use surveys, one-on-one meetings, or anonymous forms to collect insights on remote work challenges.

Lead With Empathy

Finally, it’s important to remember that there are people on the other end of the video call. Remote work can be challenging for some employees for a number of reasons. Distraction, isolation, personal circumstance – you name it. A successful remote team leader understands all of these challenges, and supports their team with empathy. In practice, that looks like:

Check ins on well-being: Regularly ask your team members how they’re doing, both professionally and personally. Be aware of signs of stress or burnout and offer flexibility when necessary.

Being approachable: Create an open-door policy where employees feel comfortable sharing concerns or ideas. When employees know they can come to you with issues, they’re more likely to stay engaged and productive.

Providing emotional support: Encourage a healthy work-life balance and understand that remote work can feel isolating. Sometimes, a supportive conversation can be as valuable as a technical solution.

Managing remote teams effectively requires a blend of strong leadership, clear communication, and an understanding of the unique challenges that come with a distributed workforce. By fostering collaboration, supporting employee well-being, and focusing on results instead of activity, leaders can build high-performing teams that thrive no matter where they’re located. At Go-Global, our aim is to help your team to do just that – go global – and we’re here to make it happen. We can help you achieve your sales objectives without increasing your headcount, drive brand recognition and deliver the results you want, working with and managing remote teams through all of that. If you’d like to know more, just get in touch with the team today, and we’ll be happy to discuss it with you.