5 Important Factors to Consider While Managing a Remote Team

Business owners and their associates have a vast array of options when it comes to work organization these days. As the average global coverage and speed of the Internet are increasing, you can find and run remote teams in different parts of the world. While this possibility hides dozens of potential business benefits, you need to count on some major considerations.

Here are five key elements you should pay attention to in order to run a successful remote team.

1. Workflow Rules

When your employees are sitting in the same office, they can easily get accustomed to your work rules. Having people scattered around the globe can make this work unification more complex. In order to reach that goal as soon as possible, you should perform a number of actions.

First and foremost, you should bring a set of rules and communicate them to each member of your team individually. The easiest way to do that is to create a document and send it to your employees via email. Since you have an international staff crew, make sure to write those rules in simple English.

Further, it’s important to define some major principles, such as the number of regular weekly meetings. Whenever you’re starting working on a new project, make sure to set clear deadlines for both the project itself and its milestones.

Finally, managing people from different time zones can lead to confusion and poor time management. Using some of these handy time zone tools will help you reduce the number of such misunderstandings.

2. Using Organizational Tools

When your entire work communication is performed online, it’s highly likely that you’re going to keep all the relevant data on the Web, as well. Naturally, every business owner is trying to cover all the work-related bases without spending a fortune. For instance, if you want to store up to 30 GB of data online for free and use some additional organizational features, Google Drive is a viable option. Also, you can choose from three different G Suite editions.

As for project management itself, you can go for the free versions of Basecamp and Trello for the initial stage of your business development. Later on, as you start employing more people, you can opt for one of the more advanced management tools.

Moreover, businesses with remote teams that are developing different products should bring a clear development plan. Defining the goals of the entire process, as well as the steps that will bring to its successful fulfilment is a must in every single project. That’s why you should learn how to speed up the product development process before you even take up your first business project.

3. Handling The Payment Procedures

Business owners who want to keep their remote employees loyal to their business should constantly improve their work conditions. You can’t provide them with some on-the-spot perks, like lounges and office equipment, but you can invest in their monetary satisfaction.

For starters, ask them how they want to get paid and define the payment pace. Some remote workers will prefer monthly payments, while others will rather be paid weekly or biweekly. It would be clever to meet all these different demands. Since employee turnovers are pretty costly, showing flexibility when it comes to payments is one of the efficient ways to build trust in a remote team. In line with that, you should include a variety of online payment options in your business agenda. From the mainstream ones, such as PayPal and Payoneer, to credit card payments and alternative payment solutions, let your employees choose from a wide range of options.

Also, it’s important to specify each payment you make to your employees, at least at the beginning of your collaboration. Therefore, invoicing is also another vital consideration for every business owner with a remote team. You can create invoices online at first and then just use those templates for your future payments.

4. Develop Bonds Between Employees

If you’re running an online remote team, it’s going to be a bit challenging to develop bonds between them. Your budget will probably not allow you to organize any team building sessions in the first stage of your business quest.

Still, you can organize chit chat sessions every ten days or so and discuss non-business matters with your employees. Just imagine that you’re all sitting in the same office, make some coffee and talk to your employees for a half an hour. Here are some other hacks for online team building.

As your business keeps expanding and your budget increases, you should make an effort to organize team building sessions in person at least once a year. For instance, you can cover all the expenses your employees will have on the spot of team building, while they should pay for their plane tickets. Also, you could partially sponsor the tickets for your employees that live in different continents.

5. Mind The Cultural Differences

Working with people from different backgrounds requires some additional cultural considerations. You should know from the very beginning that national festivals and holidays in their countries might differ from the ones in your homeland. Because of that, it’s imperative to discuss these things in advance and make a work schedule for such occasions on time. The most logical thing to do is organize replacements within the team. That way, people who aren’t celebrating a certain holiday will cover their colleagues during those periods. For instance, your employees from India should get some days off during Holi, but they can work instead of your Christian employees at Christmas time.

Further, when you’re recruiting your team members, get informed about their customs and communication details in advance. Body language and communication culture vary from place to place, so learn more about those differences on time.

Last, but not the least, always keep your English simple and straightforward when it comes to business communication. It’s crucial for your business that everybody understands the message and knows how to perform a certain task.

Conclusion

Remote teams are one of the major benefits of the 21st century tech progress. You can hire high-skilled and efficient workers under better conditions for everybody in a pretty simple manner. While doing that, make sure to create a compact work unit with the tips we’ve provided in this guide. Together with some practical tools and fast payment options, you’ll form a strong and productive team that will bring numerous benefits to your business.

Would you like to delegate some of your word to a remote team? We have dedicated engineering teams to assist you.

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Originally published at Cabot Solutions on May 2, 2018.