It’s being seen more and more that a virtual workplace is more common than not in today’s modern world. With the advent of technology designed to make life easier – like Skype and Slack – remote workers now have the freedom to work from almost anywhere they like (with internet) while still staying in touch with the business.
For employees who are working remotely, the virtual work-life balance is second to none; while for the employer, having a virtual team ensures that the pool of qualified employees is much more accessible. This is because location is no longer an impediment to hiring the right person for the right job. It doesn’t matter if the right person for the role is in India, America, or in Australia; working remotely can mean that finding the right person for the job is so much easier.
If you are lucky enough to have a virtual team then you’re going to need a virtual office to complement things. A virtual office gives you all the benefits of a bricks and mortar address without all of the expense usually associated with a commercial lease. For more on signing up for a virtual office, follow this website link.
We want to give you some tips for managing your remote team effectively, so that you can ensure a successful business further down the line full stop.
Be organised
One of the most important things when you have a virtual team is that you are so organised it hurts. While you might think that you have to be super organised in your day to day life in a physical office, you haven’t even begun to think about how organised you need to be for remote work. The reason you need to be so organised is because when you have a remote team, they are rarely – if ever – going to be meeting with you physically, and so they need to have their boundaries set up very clearly in order to ensure that the work that they’re doing meets the guidelines. That way you can navigate different time zones and working hours and ensure that people are productive 100% of the time. We all need to have guidelines in place in order to feel comfortable, and while working from home can be both good and bad – having the right organisation in place will make things a whole lot easier.
You might want to consider creating a weekly plan, or working to a scheduling tool like Asana to ensure that everyone is optimising their time at work. You could also use something like Basecamp or another project management system to ensure that everyone is on track. The benefit of project management software is that not only are you notified – but clients are notified too when updated happen.
Have regular face to face time
We just mentioned the importance of being organised, and something else that’s critical to having a great remote working team is having face to face time. You need to ensure that you are setting up regular meetings via Skype, or some other video calling software, in order to confirm that people are connected with the team and feeling that all-important team culture. Face time is also a great way to hear about things that aren’t working, or things that are, and to make changes to the workflow in order to improve productivity.
Manage expectations
When you have a team who is working remotely you need to ensure that you are managing everyone’s expectations.This doesn’t only mean the expectations of the client, it can also mean the expectations of your employees, and any relevant bosses.
A virtual office is a great way to have your team growing and evolving while unrestrained by the confines of a physical office space. Be sure to cultivate exceptional culture and enjoy the journey. Celebrate the wins and learn from the losses and you’ll be sure to have a great time as you grow.
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