7 Tips For Running A Thriving Stress-Free Remote Team

Remote work has rippled through the globe creating a hallmark dent in the evolution of work with the statistics only getting higher each month. Research shows that in less than 5 years, more than half of the US workforce will opt to work in a remote setting. 

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In this technological age where communication is often carried through emails and texts, some companies that impose the traditional workplace among employees face the wrath of employees quitting in droves. In an effort to save their best talent, most smart forward-thinking companies have effortlessly leveraged this status quo.

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With more and more employees preferring remote work, it's no surprise that remote work is here to stay.

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As a business owner, that now poses unique challenges to the way you lead and manage your team. 

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Here are a few tips to help you be at the helm of a thriving remote team. 

1. Focus on Company Culture

While trying to build a strong remote team, start with the foundation of your business:  company culture. Culture is the palpable sentiment that touches every aspect of your business and it stems from defining your core values. It demonstrates how you conduct your business, how you communicate with your customers and employers, what values you stand for, and why.

Having a fleshed-out company culture helps to keep everyone on the same page and aligned with the bigger picture. 

Once you’ve chosen your values, commit to living, breathing, and embodying them. Use these values to help guide everything that you do – from social media posts to hiring new members. While hiring new members to the team, communicate these values to prospective team members. Even if you hit a roadblock down the road, rest assured that with the right people and a strong company culture you can navigate out of the slump. 

Just as important as it is to hire the right people, retaining your best-performing people is equally or more so crucial. They are the flag bearers of your vision and help cascade your company culture in the long run.

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2. Establish Systems and Process

A company that has no systems set in place is like a ticking time bomb that is bound to blow up anytime. Therefore, it is extremely crucial to create solid systems and processes to steer clear of such disasters. When ignored, it can lead to miscommunication, unsatisfactory results, and eventually, end up hurting the brand image.

This is especially more significant when working with a remote team that is spread out across the globe. The substantial time zone differences from one corner of the globe to another demand systems to be set in place in order to keep business operations running smoothly.

Make weekly sprint planning a regular activity. Sprint planning is a planning process wherein you identify and define the tasks that need to be tackled in a given time span. You can do this at the start of the week, for a maximum of 15 mins and a retrospective/lessons learned session at the end of the week for a maximum of 30 mins. 

You can further make use of agile tools for project execution and deliverables. This helps streamline day-to-day activities and workflows and sets you up for success. Consider using centralized tools to help store internal knowledge repositories or SOPs (standard operating procedures) in one accessible spot, this creates a smaller room for confusion and misunderstanding. Outline and standardize the processes for your external activities as well. 

These tiny compounding changes will immensely help your team to produce efficient and productive work.

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3. Emphasize Collaboration and Communication

Communication and collaboration are the most indispensable pillars in any successful and productive work partnership - whether it be remote or office. It includes communicating deadlines, and project details, troubleshooting work-related challenges, and facilitating conversations with the team.

When it comes to remote work, communication doesn’t necessarily have to be an email or a Zoom call. Remote work domination has given rise to plenty of collaboration tools for you to leverage. Some of the notable ones are Slack for team communications, Asana for project management, G-Suite for team collaboration and there are plenty more. Be strategic and choose your communication tools in a way that befits your team and your project needs.

Utilize a combination of collaborative tools, both for the team and company members, you can even have team-specific emails (team@, hr@, customerservice@) to segment your team and send specific information. 

Apart from all the tools and software, you also need to cultivate a culture that encourages autonomy and curiosity. 

For a leader, the virtue of listening is equally as significant as task delegation. Maintain an unrestricted open-door policy for team members. Encourage them to ask questions and be available for them and respond to their queries.

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Finally, the frequency of communication is important. Try to find the right pace and rhythm to check in with your team without being too inquisitive.

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4. Introduce Productivity Methods

In the realm of remote work, everyone (from business owners to freelancers) is looking for ways to be more productive. It’s a known fact that a typical 8-hour long workday isn’t necessarily a productive one. Everyone has their own rhythms which oscillate between productive peaks and unproductive troughs. During such instances, it’s wise for remote teams to rely on proven productivity methods that allow them to work smarter rather than harder.

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Time Blocking 

Time blocking is a time management system that’s helpful for mapping out hectic work commitments. It breaks down the workday session into time blocks and assigns specific tasks to each block. 

Encourage your team to first identify their highly productive hours. Next, classify all tasks into two categories. 

1. Deep work: Tasks that require more focus and are of high importance. 

2. Shallow work: Routine tasks that are important but of low priority at the time.

Schedule or time block your deep work tasks for your highly productive peaks and likewise, time block your shallow work during your less productive valleys, when you’re not as focused.

This technique allows you to define hours, prioritize tasks, and set borders to keep your time from leaking off.

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Pomodoro technique 

The Pomodoro method is an infamous productivity technique that uses a timer to break down the larger workday into smaller chunks of focused time, spaced by frequent breaks. 

This is how it works: You set a timer for 25-minute or 30 minutes (your choice) and get working on your task. Once the timer hits the 25th minute you take a 5-minute break. You repeat this cycle 4-5 times, and once you’re done you can take a long extended break of 20 mins. During 25 min sprints make sure to focus on only one task. The effectiveness of this technique lies in the deep, undivided focus that you put in while tackling large, complex projects.

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80-20 rule

The 80-20 rule also known as the Pareto law is a task prioritization guideline that helps to make informed decisions when you feel overwhelmed with a lot of conflicting tasks. The Pareto law states that nearly 80% of all of our output comes from only 20% of our efforts. While following this method, identify which of our tasks are the biggest needle movers to help reach your goal, prioritize them and get them done immediately. This ensures that you utilize your time and energy on priority work instead of getting caught up in minor insignificant tasks. 

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5. Plan social activities

Working in isolated and dispersed places all around the globe can get stressful and lonely at times. Devoid of live human interaction, hallway chats, and friendly banter can cause our mental health to fluctuate and make us feel disoriented. Carve out some time each month to encourage casual catch-ups and friendly discussions. Plan and organize other virtual activities like:

1. Ice breakers: Get-to-know-you questions to learn about each other and find common interests;
2. Office trivia: Host themed trivia once a month, group participants into teams, and keep a scoreboard to encourage friendly competition;
3. Virtual hangouts and happy hours: BYOB(bring your own beverage) along with Pictionary, Charades, or other online games. 

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Encourage members to prioritize movement and exercise in their daily schedule. Organize virtual yoga, meditation, or breathwork classes for your team if and whenever possible. These activities keep your team engaged, help them unwind from the daily schedule, as well as strengthen the team bond and build a sense of belonging and community. 

6. Reward and Recognize

The pandemic has forever changed how brands and companies operate. That means it has become harder to reward and recognize the people who keep the ball rolling even in the midst of this massive disruption. 3 out of 5 employees believe that recognition and appreciation are important while working remotely.

That’s why celebrating success and wins is perhaps more important now than ever. Think of ways to make each member feel heard, and valued and boost their morale.

Small thoughtful gestures like LinkedIn recommendations, social media shoutouts, and gift cards can go a long way in thanking them for the good work and also maintaining talent retention. It makes them feel appreciated and they will be more likely to continue the good work. Doing so also motivates other members to keep up and perform well.

Create a stand-alone place in your collaborative tools, websites, and vision boards to support and shower appreciation for the ones who go above and beyond. Make a habit to acknowledge wins even outside of work – like their personal milestones and achievements.

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7. Be flexible

Like the traditional 9-5, running a productive remote team doesn’t mandate everyone to be working at the same time. Although a definite schedule is beneficial, you should also be open to welcoming new ideas and philosophies of work. 

Outline your core working schedule but keep it flexible and give people permission to duck out if they need to run an errand or have an emergency. Some people do their best work at night while some prefer to get it done early at the start of the day. Some employees have young kids, pets, and elderly parents at home to care for. Be mindful and empathetic of these challenges and differences. 

When people are allowed to control their own schedules they are bound to be much more productive and less stressed.

Refrain from regular check-ins and constant inquiries, this can give off employees signs of mistrust. Have an open mind and measure the quality of the work and not time spent in front of the computer. If they are communicating well and hitting deadlines, you’ve hit the jackpot!

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Conclusion

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