Remote Work — Team

Remote Work: Team

Last week, we talked about remote work, and how to manage it, to be efficient. We know it may be hard to think of a work team working in harmony when they are all in different places and don’t even know each other in person.

Just like movies, it’s easy to imagine that, inside an office, the second the boss is gone, the rest of the work team goes wild and does nothing. That may be an exaggeration, but “you never know.”

Our human nature makes us distrustful that’s why our minds create this scenario of chaos when the one in charge is missing. That’s why a manager of a remote work team must make sure he can rely on his delegates.

TEAM is EVERYTHING.

Here are some relevant points when we talk about remote teams:

1. Know your team: In a remote work mode, it is even more important to know the team. We know, in remote teams, there can be people from all around the globe, so we aren’t talking about getting to meet them face to face, but it’s always vital, as managers, to take the time to know a bit about them. It’s almost impossible to trust somebody else if you don’t even know their name.
2. Rely on abilities: If you know your team and their capabilities, you can use them to your advantage. For example, one of the developers is also a talented graphic designer, so when the design team is full of work, you can count on them to give you a hand or even a professional second opinion.
3. Personal work performance range: Every person has their work dynamic, based on their capabilities, experiences, knowledge, etc. It’s essential to take the time to understand the way they work, and again, take advantage of it, fix what isn’t working for you, and boost its strengths to improve efficiency.
4. Be clear: in any work team, it’s indispensable to be realistic from the beginning, make sure all the team knows the goals of the project they’re working on, what you expect from them, and the kind of approach you’ll have to their work.
5. Thrust them: If you hired or kept them in the team, there’s gotta be a reason. They are professionals, the team knows what they are doing, so you need to trust your team, and the job they’re doing. This doesn’t mean that you just let them to their luck, of course as a manager you got to be present and aware, but you don’t need to do their job, they can do it well.
6. Create a healthy relationship: Lastly, it’s necessary for you as a manager, to set boundaries on the relationship between you and your team. You don’t have to be the evil boss that everyone fears and hates, but don’t have to be the super relaxed boss that doesn’t even care if the work is getting done. Create a healthy boss-team relationship, be there for your team, and make sure everything is working as efficiently as possible.

Remote, please.

This remote work style is trending thanks to its effectiveness. Now plenty of businesses are looking forward to saving some useful resources and rely on this new era of work teams. However, there still are some important aspects to take into consideration when thinking about going remotely.

Next week we’ll be talking about the importance of a well-established work dynamic for remote work teams.