4 Tips for Building and Managing a Successful Remote Work Team
If you’re looking to successfully manage and build a remote team, there are a few things you should keep in mind to ensure optimal results.
Today, countless employers are learning the benefits of hiring remote workers. When companies hire for telecommute positions, they have a much bigger pool of candidates to choose from, and they can generally save money on office space.
Whether you’re trying to grow your own business from the ground up, or you’ve had to manage your business from home because of the pandemic, know that there are financial resources available for small businesses adapting to this crisis. Government programs like the Main Street Business Lending Program can keep you get back on your feet, and some private companies are also offering grants to small businesses.
Once your finances are sorted, you can go about hiring remote workers and keeping them on task for projects when you’re not in the same building. Here’s how to find qualified freelancers for your team, conduct remote interviews to select the best candidates for every open position, and develop a genuine company culture even when you’re in different locations.
Built Your Remote Team
Instead of bringing on new full-time employees, hire professionals to take your company to the next level. Whether you’re looking for writers, administrative assistants, sales associates, web developers, or even accountants and tax professionals, you can find someone who will get the job done. Plus, many freelancers already have experience working remotely.
If you don’t want to go through a job board in search of freelancers for something like accounting, SAR Accounting can help. Not only does SAR Accounting offer an array of services for businesses, they also take care of personal accounting as well. It’s important to know when you can hire a freelancer or outsource the work to another company.
Conduct Remote Interviews
If you’re hiring a remote team, you’ll be conducting remote interviews! Planning to interview candidates with a video chat app? Go through a trial run with your technology to make sure there are no glitches before you start the video call. And even though you won’t be sitting in the office together, you should still make an effort to look polished and professional.
If you plan to interview candidates by phone, try to keep the conversation casual and friendly while asking important questions. HubSpot suggests beginning the interview by telling them a little bit about yourself, moving on to asking specific, targeted questions, and then giving them time to ask you questions.
Establish Communication Channels
When your team can’t meet in person, you need to stay on top of virtual communication to keep everyone on the same page. Besides relying on email, you should choose platforms and apps that will help everyone on the team communicate effectively, such as Slack. With Slack, you can keep messages organized by establishing several different communication channels dedicated to specific projects or the whole team. You can also create a company-wide news feed to display information that everyone on the team should know.
Cultivate Company Culture
Company culture generally stems from your team spending time together and bringing their unique ideas, values, and insights to the table. But when you’re managing a remote team, it’s easy to feel like company culture is lacking because your team members don’t have this opportunity. In order to encourage new friendships, connections, and company traditions, host virtual events for your team. This will give team members the chance to get to know each other outside of work. Plus, you’ll all get to have a little fun together off the clock!
Bringing remote workers on to your team and figuring out how to streamline communication can be a little tricky at first. If you’re used to popping into your coworkers’ cubicles whenever you need to touch base with them on something important, adjusting to managing a remote team may take some time. But as you get to know your team, adapt to virtual communication, and develop a genuine company culture, you’ll find that working with a remote team is just as effective as working together in person.
If you need to connect with your remote team in person, the Croissant app can help you find open seats at nearby co-working spaces to meet, work, and focus on your projects.
Tina Martin started her career in business administration but eventually decided to pursue something that actually inspired her: becoming a personal fitness instructor. She is working on her first book, Ideaspired: Put Your Ideas, Your Inspiration, and Yourself First to Make Your Dreams Come True. She is also the creator of ideaspired.com which is a side project to reach as many people as possible and encourage them to put their dreams first.