The biggest stressor to having a remote workforce is not knowing the status of projects and deliverables. Thankfully with a little planning, you can both relax and focus on getting your most valuable tasks completed.
In my company, our remote workers check in once a week through our “Big Rock app.” There we document our big tasks completed for the week, key victories and tasks for the following week. You can also use a spreadsheet, task manager or even email to document your victories and to-do lists.
If there is a behavior that you need your remote team to really make habitual (e.g. your sales team making 50 dials a day, or your client support team processing new orders the same day, etc.) then consider having your team report in an a self-scored KPI such as “# of dials made today” or “% of orders processed same day today”. The choice and self-scoring of a smart KPI will direct attention to what matters most and can really help establish the winning habits that are otherwise hard to set when working in isolation.
Tip #3: See Their Smiling Faces
This tip is another one that a lot of businesses overlook when managing their remote team. There is a lot to be said for productivity and remote work, but when it comes to brainstorming and creative projects there is nothing that competes with face time together. We have tried conference lines, video meetings and other tools and nothing beats being together in real life. So we use a two-pronged approach.
First, we get together 1-2x a year to collaborate. We often piggy back these sessions with our client training events by tacking on an extra day before or after events. But many companies will schedule employee retreats, where they sit down together and connect and plan for the quarter ahead.
Second, we get together once a week as a team virtually to stave off feelings of isolation. It is usually a 15-minute quick huddle via conference line. Once a month we upgrade this huddle to a video conference for 30 minutes. One of the best parts of the video huddle is the chance to see our team in their home offices. For example, we get to know our head of marketing Kim better when we see her “Wonder Woman” comic on her board, or our Coaching Director Colleen’s zen-like room.