How to Increase Productivity of Remote Teams?
According to George Penn, VP at Gartner " Success in a hybrid work environment requires to move beyond viewing remote or hybrid environments as a temporary or short term strategy and to treat it as an opportunity."
During this pandemic, employees across the world were asked to work from home because of safety reasons. Many companies were facing challenges to increase the productivity of the remote team. It is because all the in-person office meetings routines, brainstorming sessions, events, and interactions are done virtually. Most companies shifted to remote and hybrid working cultures because it allows companies to acquire the best talents regardless of geographical limitations.
According to George Penn, VP at Gartner ” Success in a hybrid work environment requires to move beyond viewing remote or hybrid environments as a temporary or short term strategy and to treat it as an opportunity.”
According to the statistics, hiring remote workers have grown after the pandemic. Dozens of remote workers were outsourced to do the job. However, managing remotely with limited communication may face some difficulties in reaching the goals. Also, not sharing the same work environment can be tough to build trust and achieve productivity. Building better communications is one of the most crucial parts of any organization to enhance productivity. It helps to develop positive relationships with the company and the worker to reach its milestones.
To level up your remote team, you need to focus on the things mentioned below:
Help and support when they need it: Help and support are necessary factors that build trust. People will not trust you if you show no care and support. The remote workers usually do not have in-person supervision. Therefore, the remote manager needs to analyze and work harder to guide them in the best possible way.
Transparent communications: As a manager, you should encourage daily conversation with the teams. To stay in touch with each other, try to use communication channels like live chats, video calls, video conference meetings, and phone calls. Also, you can send written messages through emails, direct messages, and posting updates on management apps. It helps them to feel connected and well guided.
Social virtual meetings: Maintaining communication among remote workers is the best way to improve relationships. There should be transparent communications among the workers. Meeting on google hangouts or other video conferencing apps helps to give you a virtual face-to-face experience because nothing can connect face-to-face human interactions. Interacting virtually through video calling is an ideal method of getting along with each other. It helps to rely on each other.
Flexibility: Always be organized and flexible. Allow your remote teams to work in flexible time and atmosphere as it helps to maintain consistency. So whether your employees choose work in the morning or evening, it should not be a problem, as long as the job gets done on time.
Feedback: Managers should provide honest feedback to their team. It will help them realize if they need to improve in some specific area of their work.
Presentation: Allow your entire team to shine by showcasing their presentation skills. Sharing information about upcoming projects will boost reliability for each team member.
Commitment: Gaining commitment to achieving the goals is necessary. The manager should encourage and motivate remote workers to be committed to meeting deadlines.
Every team is different, and what works for one company may not work for another company to increase productivity. Always try to improve your management and communications strategies while managing remote workers. Experiment with your working style and provide the best work-life balance atmosphere and flexible working opportunities to improve productivity.