Remote Team Mastery: Engagement & Collaboration

Remote work, even if part-time, has been practiced in many different companies for years. And with the Covid-19 lockdown, it has become essential even in industries that never considered such an approach before. Today, many professionals across various fields understand the benefits of remote work even more and do not seem too eager to return to offices full-time. No wonder — after all, remote work emphasizes personal flexibility and usually results in better work-life balance.

Of course, having a staff of remote workers has its benefits for the employers as well. It gives them a chance to minimize some office costs and commuting expenses while building a team of independent employees who can manage their own time. But the risks are considerate, too. Even though many remote team members can work more productively than traditional office employees, they can also get demotivated, which results in productivity loss and higher absenteeism.

Ensuring that the team is working at its full capacity is one of the many HR manager responsibilities . So, it often falls onto the HRs to introduce strategies for effective remote teamwork. And the following tips should help with that.

It’s all about healthy communication — the first and most crucial building block of effective team building. You cannot expect remote employees to work efficiently if they feel stranded and lack quality support from management and other team members. There are several ways to create an effective communication strategy, for example, holding regular meetings and checking up on the project performance.

But most importantly, project managers should set clear, actionable goals for the next week, month, year, etc., and monitor this progress.

Another suggestion to strengthen communication is to make sure it goes both ways. Employees should have easy access to any relevant project data and be encouraged to consult the management and colleagues whenever they have questions or experience difficulties.

The right tools are the principal investment into your team’s productivity — not to mention that without the right tools, it would be impossible to ensure effective communication. Here, a lot will depend on your business specifics, of course, even though there are some pretty universal solutions, too. For example, as one of the pioneers in building effective remote teams, Google has plenty of products in its suite that make remote collaboration easier.

But you do not have to limit yourself to GSuite alone, of course. Consider other, more niche-specific tools, too. For example, a task tracker is a great way to monitor project progress. Group chats and conference software are other choices that cannot go wrong.

Joint activities are one of the classic team-building strategies that can work wonders if done right. Here, choosing something most of your team members will enjoy is vital — some might love a corporate outing to the next basketball game, while others would rather attend a dancing class. With diverse teams, it is not always easy to pick an activity everyone would love, but it’s also hard to go wrong with something neutral, like a corporate barbecue or a similar outdoor trip.

This gives your employees a chance to socialize casually — something that is very helpful for the team’s morale, productivity, and motivation.

This tip is a logical continuation of the previous one — give your employees a chance to get to know each other. Of course, hosting regular barbecues is not always an option, but you can think of virtual events that promote the same message. You can achieve the same by running corporate social media channels or starting a separate group chat for casual communication.

Give your team members a chance to engage with each other not only professionally but also casually.

Three-thirds of workers in the McKinsey survey state that their immediate boss is the significant stress factor s is often the result of micro-management, a highly counter-productive strategy. Employees who are constantly…