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In 2020, remote working is more of a necessity than a luxury. The Coronavirus pandemic has forced organizations across the globe to use virtual systems to run their businesses. This places team leaders and project managers in the novel position of leading completely remote teams.
Considering how important leadership is to any project's success, it's important to discuss ways to manage the unique challenges of leading a remote team. So, what are the strategies for effectively managing your tech team remotely?
Here at Cloud Employee, we work with companies looking to hire and manage professional offshore developers in the Philippines. In this article, we’ll offer some solutions to help you manage your remote team effectively.
There's no doubt that leading a remote team is a scary venture. Your ability (or inability), to effectively lead the team can either make or break a project. Before we share some leadership solutions, here are a few reasons you should be interested in remote leadership solutions for your tech team.
One of the most important perks of working from home is the flexibility it gives to both managers and employees. Workers can plan their hours to include family time and other aspects of their lives. The result of such flexibility is a better work-life balance, and ultimately, a happier team. In fact, one study shows that working from home can improve performance because remote employees are 29% happier than their on-site colleagues.
Without remote working options, businesses are limited to employing people within a fixed geographical area. Usually, this works out fine, but problems arise when it limits access to highly-qualified professionals who may be outside your geographical confines. With remote working options, employers can hire talent from all over the world; distance is no longer a barrier.
Remote working has obvious financial benefits for every organization. For one, all the bills that come with operating and maintaining office space are cut off. Rent, electricity, and stationery bills are no longer necessary in a remotely operated organization.
In a virtual working environment, team leaders can have more frequent meetings with team members. Rather than holding long meetings to address a handful of matters at once, virtual meetings can be streamlined, with each meeting focusing on a particular topic. This way, discussions are more targeted and more productive.
Unlike other industries, the tech sector has embraced remote working with arms wide-open. This is probably because tech industries are digital, and success doesn't depend on physical presence. Whether your tech team is going virtual temporarily, or you're planning to make remote work a permanent thing, it's essential to seek out ways to lead your remote team proactively effectively.
This section will share some of the most effective ways to manage your remote tech team to achieve the best results.
It goes without saying that communication is a central aspect of any organization to achieve its goals. Communication will ensure that your team is on the same page and that they're working together to achieve the same purposes. In a virtual working environment, communication is twice as necessary but also more challenging.
Despite the challenges, a good leader must prioritize communication and strive to make it work. A remote tech team needs to hear regularly from its leader.
However, good communication isn't just frequent; it's also practical. It's not enough to have several meetings a day with your team; you should have meetings that are structured and goal-oriented. The first step to achieving this is to create communication systems for your team.
Decide which communication channels you'll use (email, phone call, or video call) and when it will be appropriate to use them. It's also helpful to create some communication patterns with your team. Set up fixed days and times to have meetings, so everyone knows when to expect a meeting, and they can prepare ahead of time.
As a team leader, one of your critical tasks is performance management. It's your job to facilitate each team member's development to contribute their best to the team project. It's easier to do this when you can meet your team members in person. With a remote team, you have to intentionally make time for performance management. The key is to schedule coaching sessions on your calendar specifically; it will not happen naturally or by chance.
In one-on-one meetings, you can check an individual's work status and offer tailored feedback to help them get better. It's also an opportunity to remind each team player of the team's vision and keep them focused on achieving that goal.
Apart from this, one-on-one meetings allow you to relate with your team members on a more personal level. It lets them know that you genuinely care about their development and wellbeing. It's also a chance to determine if employees are satisfied with work conditions and if they have suggestions for improvements.
One of the perks of remote work is that working hours are flexible, so for the most part, employees can choose when to work. There's freedom for team members to work on a schedule that makes them the most productive. This kind of flexibility is especially important for teams with members in different time zones. It also maintains a relaxed and stress-free working environment.
Despite the benefit of having flexible working hours, it’s also vital to ensure that there are at least a few hours a day when work times overlap. During this time, all team members should be online and accessible. It’s easy to resolve issues and answer questions when everyone is online at the same time.
Further, this overlapping work time is an opportunity to have your daily check-ins via video call. It will ultimately bring cohesion and create some rhythm.
First of all, remote team leaders should define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which will guide your team members in their work. It should be clear to everyone what is expected of them and how their performance will be evaluated.
Secondly, set KPIs for the whole team. In face-to-face work, it makes sense to divide your team into smaller segments with different goals to achieve. However, this is hardly a good idea for remote teams. As a remote team leader, you should rather strive to keep your team members as synchronized as possible. And one of the easiest ways to do this is to have team-wide KPIs.
Additionally, it would be best if you focused more on the results and outcomes of a person's work than on the number of hours worked. The days of strictly demanding eight hours of work a day are gone. What matters now is whether your team members can meet their targets and achieve the goals set out for them. This is the most important standard to measure your remote tech team.
Working from home means that you no longer need to worry about setting up office space with computers, etc. However, you need to make sure that your team has all the tools and technology required to get work done. Laptops, mobile devices, software, and a good internet connection are some of the things a remote tech team might need. It's the responsibility of the team leader to ensure that all team members are well-equipped for work.
As a leader, each decision you make concerning your team should be discussed with everyone during meetings. The best leaders aren't dictators; they know how to draw their team members into the decision-making process and give everyone a chance to voice their thoughts. This way, no one feels left out.
Additionally, it would help to periodically ask your team to objectively assess your skills as a team leader. Please make sure you pay attention to their views and consider their suggestions.
Find Innovative Ways to Reward Good Work
Working from home makes it hard to reward team members for work well done, but it’s not impossible. There are several ways to reward your remote team despite the distance. For instance, you can send subscription codes, coupons, or digital goods. All of these are innovative ways to show your team members that you appreciate the work they do.
2020 has shown us that there are numerous advantages of remote working. Employers have begun to question the need to work on-site, especially since research shows that remote workers are more productive than on-site workers. In light of this, it is more important than ever for team leaders and project managers to learn how to lead remote tech teams effectively.
This skill is likely to be highly sought after in the near future. The most important leadership solutions for a remote tech team are communication, a balance of flexibility and rhythm, and a focus on outcomes rather than activity.
Hopefully, this article has been shed some light on some vital points; please share this post if you enjoyed it. Also, leave us a comment in the section below.
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