There are many businesses around the world that have embraced virtual working over the recent years. The spread of the coronavirus also made many businesses ask their staff to work remotely. By the way, the new generation that is joining the workforce are digital native and communicating virtually is highly preferable by them. As this type of home-based working seems beneficial for the time being as well as the future, it may not be only limited for the COVID-19 era. Virtual working is turning into the future of the business by its advantages on cost reduction, providing comfort at home, reduction of daily commute and finally being environmentally-friendly.
However, there are also several challenges to manage virtual working efficiently. It is of important significance to manage remote working in a proper manner, so you can make sure about its productivity.
Here are some tips for managing a virtual team to get the most out of it.
- Hire the right people
A challenge companies that work remotely may face is that virtual or remote working for many people is not part of the culture and leaders may be uncertain how to manage it. To handle this issue, managers need to consider hiring the right people for working remotely. Some individuals do not have the preferred conditions to work remotely, are reluctant to do it, or may be of the opinion that they can perform better in a face-to-face work environment. Remote working is a kind of culture, so you need to hire people who are familiar with this culture and can perform effectively under remote working conditions.
- Communicate constantly
The most important tip is the manager’s constant communication with employees. The manager should constantly monitor the work process of employees. This would help to motivate and grow their work. Different platforms can be used. It is necessary to consider that video calls are the most appropriate methods of communication because the use of body language, tone of speech, and face to face communication is more impressive in expressing the message along with preventing possible misunderstandings. For this purpose, tools such as Skype, WhatsApp, etc. can be used. Furthermore, to manage the project or share files and data, some online tools can be useful, the most popular of which are Google Drive and Dropbox.
- Get feed-backs
Weekly feedback should be received from a company’s employees. It would help to assess the shortcomings of the work, become aware of the problems that employees are dealing with, take action to solve them, and design new strategies and measures. This cycle is better to be done every week to speed up the process.
- Work together for a common goal
An employer should encourage co-workers to partner with each other. A team achieves the desired result when members work together for a common goal, feel productive, and are satisfied with each other’s presence. Therefore, a common goal should be defined in order to increase the responsibility and commitment of team members and work towards that goal. One of the benefits of partnering with each other is the use of each other’s experiences, which especially helps new members to develop.
- Be creative
The head of a business should be creative in his work. Since the preference of remote working has increased, an administrator should try to be distinguished from competitors by using creative ways and helping employees improve efficiently. The boss can use incentive schemes and offer points to employees.
- Agree on terms and conditions
The manager should clearly explain and agree on all terms and conditions of work to employees. For example, the working time is better to be within a specified period that everyone can participate in. The more flexible the working hours, the more operative it will be, moreover, it is better to be similar to other employees to increase their cooperation and interaction with each other. Cultures, values, obligations, and rules should also be illustrated to employees. For this purpose, you can use videos, creative posters, photos, etc. to make it easier to understand and appealing.
In today’s world, geographical boundaries no longer prevent you from working, and any entrepreneur can benefit from the talents and abilities of different people around the world, if they manage their team members well, communicate effectively and continuously with them. In this way, the success of the business can be achieved by spending less money.
