More and more workplaces are offering some form of flexibility in terms of where an employee works. Some organizations have even developed a 100% “virtual” workforce—having no central offices where employees gather and instead allowing all employees to work from home or wherever they happen to be. Other employers have chosen to allow more flexibility while still keeping a more traditional office setup; they may allow telecommuting for certain roles or for X days per week, for example. Still others are offering something in between by having some workers who are home-based and some who work at a central location.
 |
With this increase in flexibility, now more employers than ever are facing the challenge of keeping a geographically scattered team working together smoothly. Thankfully, there are a lot of ways that this can be effectively managed.
These are all tips that HR managers can help to incorporate by working with the organizational leaders to create remote-work policies. By incorporating these types of tips into the policy and implementation of the program, it will help the teams to be most effective. Additionally, these can be incorporated into any training provided by HR to the rest of the organization. These tips are also relevant for HR managers looking to help influence retention rates by allowing greater work flexibility—it’s all part of creating an HR policy that allows that flexibility without losing productivity.
Tips to Create Effective Remote Teams
- Train all employees on how to effectively work as or with a remote team. This means training on things like meeting time selection (being sensitive to time zones), incorporating frequent feedback (both to and from management), and training on how to use the communication tools that will facilitate good team interactions (described more below). Be sure to include training on what technology is most appropriate for different types of communications. (E-mail is not always the right tool; the team should have a go-to choice for different types of communications and should understand how to communicate effectively.)
- Clearly communicate responsibilities to ensure everyone understands his or her role. Also be sure to provide information to remote employees so they know who to reach out to with questions, since they will not have the benefit of other employees sitting nearby to ask.
- Incorporate fun ways for remote team members to get to know one another. For example, consider asking each member to offer up a piece of personal information or trivia during the team’s quarterly conference call. This can be a great way to break the ice and make team members more relatable—thus fostering more trust among the team members.
- Invest in the right technology to allow the team to communicate and work well together. What this means depends on the organization. For example, it might mean great project management software. Or it might mean a good instant messaging program to allow fast communications among team members. It will likely mean there needs to be a way for employees to access updated versions of electronic documents from various locations.
- Create occasional ways for face-to-face contact, like quarterly or annual meetings. This fosters camaraderie.
- Supplement in-person time with virtual “face time” through video conferencing. There are free and paid software options available that can facilitate virtual in-person meetings to allow coworkers to see one another.
- Communicate frequently to the entire team to ensure that everyone—regardless of location—is on the same page. Ensure that company and team goals are effectively communicated so everyone is working toward common objectives and understands their role in achieving these goals.
- Create effective goals for all employees and have frequent check-ins to discuss goal progress. Ensure that all employees—and especially remote employees—are judged on their performance, not on “seat time.” In other words, train managers to not have a bias toward only the employees they physically see sitting at a desk or at a worksite for X hours per day.
What has been your experience in managing a virtual team or helping other managers who have scattered team members? From the HR management perspective, have you seen problems come up?
*This article does not constitute legal advice. Always consult legal counsel with specific questions.