Remote work has been around for a while now, but it seems like the coronavirus pandemic caused an avalanche of new out-of-office teams. Work from home has become a genuine necessity, thus leaving a lot of managers dazed and confused.

The key question every manager is asking is how to run a remote team successfully.

Before we explain how to cope with this challenge, we want to assure you that flexible organizations are doing very well these days. Here’s what reports say about it:

• People who work remotely at least once a month are 24% more likely to be happy and productive.
• Almost 75% of North American office workers reported they would change jobs based on a work from home policy.
• Remote workers save from $2,000 up to $7,000 per year.
• 85% of businesses confirm that productivity has increased in their company because of greater flexibility.

Remote work is obviously a way to go in 2020, so let’s check out a small guide to managing your remote team efficiently:

1. Hire the right individuals

No matter what you do for a living, rest assured that the overall success of your business will depend on candidate selection. Not everyone is capable of doing the job remotely because it requires a special set of skills and self-control.

For example, essay writing services and professional essay writing services will always search for goal-driven and responsible authors who can get the job done on time. You should follow the same principle and look for remote employees who possess both the knowledge and patience to work from home.

2. Set the right goals

Every manager must set the right goals in order to keep the entire team focused and goal-oriented. This is particularly important for remote units because there are no physical meetings where you can remind workers of the coming duties.

One thing you have to remember here is to set tangible and measurable goals, so don’t beat around the bush describing generic objectives. Focus on deliverables that really matter and determine key performance indicators (KPI).

That way, you can easily measure the performance of each team member separately and pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of your company.

3. Promote clear communication

Communication represents the essence of remote work. If you don’t organize it properly, you won’t be able to supervise the whole team and keep track of all KPIs. What makes a perfect communication strategy within remote teams? Here are the features you should try to achieve:

• Make it clear: Internal communication has to be clear because it’s the only way to avoid misunderstandings.
• Make it concise: Don’t allow your employees to write full-page messages if everything can be said in a paragraph or two.
• Make it direct: It is also important to speak freely and directly, not hiding anything from other members of the team.

Interesting Read: Feel Caged in Work From Home Set Up During COVID-19 Lock-down? 6 Things You Can Do to Unwind

4. Communicate regularly

You’ve probably figured out by now that the issue of communication is quintessential in remote work, which is exactly why we remind you to discuss business-related topics regularly.

First of all, team communication is mandatory and you have to encourage it every day. Everyone needs to know what other colleagues are doing, but it’s up to you to promote daily interactions and reporting.

Besides that, try to conduct a face-to-face meeting with every team member at least once a week as it is the most reliable technique for solving specific problems and planning new tasks for your employees.

5. Create a calendar of activities

Another important tip is to create a calendar of activities. You should design a long-term schedule and divide it into smaller (weekly and daily) units with highly specific tasks for each remote worker.

Do your best to sort activities according to urgency levels. Important and urgent duties come first, followed by all other tasks and responsibilities.

At the same time, try to align employees’ work hours. Although they are working remotely, they should spend at least a small amount of time every day working simultaneously. This makes it easier for you to control the team and form stronger bonds among colleagues.

6. Use the best remote work tools

The year is 2020 and you don’t have to rely on manual processes anymore. You should take advantage of digital platforms and use the best tools designed for remote teams in particular. The list of options is almost endless, but we can recommend some of our favorite platforms:

• Slack for agile project management and communication
• Google Docs for file management and editing
• Essay writing service for content creation
• Dropbox for file sharing
• Grammarly for content proofreading
• Zoom for video conferencing
• Lastpass for password management
• Zapier for workflow automation

7. Organize team-building events

Even the most successful remote managers cannot strengthen relations among team members using digital activities only. Online games, hangouts, and quizzes are cool, but it takes a little bit of human touch to make a compatible team.

Highly recommended to organize team-building events at least twice a year: “You can celebrate a national holiday together or mark a company’s anniversary. In each case, the point is to gather the entire team and let them meet face-to-face.”

8. Let them rest

Do you know that 22% of remote employees find it difficult to unplug after work? It’s a serious issue that could cause a quick employee burnout, so don’t demand non-stop communication. Let your workers get enough rest every day, week, and year.

You should know their work hours and stop sending messages after work. Let your employees spend weekends with friends or family, and always encourage them to take annual vacations. It will keep the team fresh, energized, and capable of completing the projects as scheduled.

9. Create monthly performance reviews

With everything you’ve done so far, your remote team should stay organized and productive. However, it doesn’t mean that you are not supposed to create performance reviews. As a best practice, you should give the real-time feedback it helps in tracking the performance while creating the monthly performance review.

On the contrary, it remains mandatory because you have to keep track of workers’ progress and figure out the overall efficiency of the team. Performance reviews will help you to identify the shortcomings of each employee, so you can give him/her the necessary suggestions on how to move on and improve.

The Bottom Line

Work from home is not only an option anymore but rather a huge benefit for modern businesses eager to increase employee engagement. We showed you nine ways to successfully manage a remote team, so now it’s up to you to use our tips and take your organization to a higher productivity level!

Author Bio:

Tiffany Harper is an experienced writer from New York. Now she consults as the subject matter expert with Assignment help, mostly in motivation and self-growth areas. And sometimes she writes as a blogger for ukbestessayss and essay writer expert. Do not hesitate to contact her on Twitter.