Your work is no longer limited to one or even several offices. You can hire people from around the world, no matter where they are located. Yet, the management process stays the same. You need to assign tasks, organize onboarding, control the work quality, and complete projects. And while remoteness gives your team members the freedom to work from anywhere around the globe, it also poses various challenges for you.
How can you properly manage a remote team across different time zones and tasks? Let’s look at it from three angles: efficiency, productivity, and security. We’ll explain each and give you actionable tips on creating a reliable, dedicated team of professionals ready to take on any task.
Team Efficiency
Subconsciously, we all know what efficiency is. That’s when your team’s resources are distributed properly. But what does that mean in specific scenarios?
Many confuse efficiency and productivity, which we’ll cover in the next part. Efficiency focuses on time, resources, and effort. The less time and energy employees spend completing a task, the more efficient they are.
Productivity, on the other hand, focuses on the quantity of work. In an efficient team, everyone knows what their responsibility is, and they are fully engaged in doing their job. Lack of communication and feedback, disorganized procedures, lack of clear role distribution, and too many meetings often serve as a huge distraction and decrease efficiency. Here’s what you need to do as a manager:
- Offer clear communication and constructive feedback. When you’re leading a remote team, communication becomes even more important than usual. A lack of it makes everything more time-consuming. You need to see that everyone is updated, knows the direction they are going, and receives effective feedback.
- Clarify roles and tasks. Every single team member should know their key responsibilities. From day one, you should clarify what every role entails. If needed, create a list of priorities for each project and distribute them across the employees. Avoid micromanaging once everyone understands their tasks.
- Limit the number of meetings. Did you know that meetings can be really unproductive? You might have an urge to video call every day to ensure everyone can see face-to-face, but not every remote team needs that. Limit the number of meetings and keep them as short as possible — let the employees do their jobs without distractions and overwhelm.
Employee Productivity
Now that we know the difference between efficiency and productivity, we can talk about increasing the latter. The truth is, that can be challenging in a remote environment. You don’t see what your employees are doing and how they’re spending their workday. Their productivity may be decreasing with time, and you might notice it way too late, when the project is overdue.
But simply asking the team to be more productive won’t do the trick. To improve it, you need to inspire the members and keep them motivated, no matter what. You need to be a leader, not just a manager, and show them that productivity is beneficial in many ways. Try the following:
- Discuss the workload. Productivity may be lacking because the workload is too high. It’ll make your employees overwork, give up too many resources, and strain their mental health. This ends in one way only — burnout. But a low workload also won’t benefit your team. First, they might appreciate a slow day, but they’ll end up getting bored and losing motivation quickly. You have to be able to engage them without overworking.
- Settle the internal conflicts. It doesn’t matter what your market is and who you hire; your team might have certain disagreements. That’s normal. When it turns into a serious conflict, however, you need to step in. Conflicts decrease productivity and negatively impact mental health. It also poses a challenge in communication. Sit your employees down and help them work on the issue until you come up with a suitable solution.
- Stop micromanaging. Many supervisors think that remote teams need more management. But that’s a common misconception. When you micromanage your employees, they will think you don’t trust them and will quickly become dependent on your help. Leaving them to work on their own tasks offers independence, empowerment, and an increased sense of trust. In the end, team members like these are more likely to be proactive.
Data and Connection Security
Your team might be great at completing tasks and working on projects, but one weak password or a phishing email, and a hacker steals your sensitive data. One piece of technology advice is to boost employee awareness and countermeasures against cyber threats.
Some team members might not have enough resources to protect their own connection and company files. Some may not even know they’re supposed to create long, unique passwords or use a VPN or an antivirus. As a manager, you should be the one controlling the security process and ensuring everyone understands how to safeguard personal information. Also, consider the following:
- Limit access to sensitive data. Not everyone needs access to all the files you store on the cloud. Some only have to use the brand’s visuals, while others need to download financial reports and receipts. When possible, limit the employee access to data they don’t need and continue monitoring so that they can find files essential for their tasks. The fewer team members who have access to everything, the lower the risk of mishandling and leakage is. Once someone leaves the company, make sure their access is instantly revoked.
- Invest in safety software and tools for your team. Similarly to the required knowledge, you need to equip your team with the right tools to keep their data and connections secure. Everyone should have an antivirus on their laptop or PC and use a VPN when they work remotely. If you want to keep everyone connected safely, you can also invest in eSIM cards for every employee. Then, they’ll have an embedded SIM card with an encrypted, reliable connection, no matter where they are.
- Train your employees. As we have already said, not everyone knows about data and connection security. Some might think it’s okay to work through the free coffee shop network without a VPN, and others might click on a phishing link, thinking it’s real. Discuss security with your team members and understand which information they can benefit from. Then, create tailored training sessions to discuss safety, how to reduce risks, and what to do when a breach has already happened. Update their knowledge regularly and provide them with step-by-step materials to help them in daily operations.
Manage Your Team the Right Way
Leading a remote team might seem harder than working from one office, but that’s a misconception. With the right approach, you can make your employees efficient, productive, and secure. We hope our tips help you and your team, no matter what project you take on.
