5 tips for successfully managing a remote team.

Organisations around the globe were forced into remote working at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, but at Heart Talent, we chose to work this way. 

Our team is 100 percent remote with people based from coast to coast in Australia. We can’t imagine working any other way.

At Heart, we know that employees now value flexibility, including remote and hybrid work, as a key consideration when moving into a new role. So how can you make it work for your organisation? 

Here are our top 5 tips for successfully managing a remote team:

1. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Many remote team leaders struggle to strike the right balance between effective communication and micromanaging employees. It’s important to check in with your team, but it’s equally important to trust them to do their jobs. Remember, your people are experts at what they do. That’s why you hired them in the first place! 

It’s a good idea to set up regular team meetings or one-on-one catch-ups, but these don’t need to happen daily. Sometimes, a quick email is enough to do the track. In saying this, it’s important to let your employees know when you’re available and when you’re not. 

Effective communication works best when your colleagues know your door is open should they have any questions.

2. Lean on tech

Our work wouldn’t be possible without the technology that allows us to communicate and collaborate as a team. 

At Heart, we rely on Slack. The casual and instant nature of the platform takes the place of brief conversations you’d have across the desk or in the kitchen if you were in the office. Slack allows our team to create topic-specific channels that help us stay on task. While face-to-face conversations could be forgotten or misinterpreted, our Slack chats are always written down for future reference. 

Similarly, our team uses Google Meet as a great way to connect with each other, our clients and our candidates. It’s nice to meet in person, but virtual meetings are so much more than a phone call, allowing you to share screens and collaborate on documents in real time.

3. Offer flexibility

According to recent research by Slack, up to 93% of employees want flexibility at work. Remote working is the perfect example of this. 

What we’ve learned at Heart is that employees want to be empowered to work at the time and location that best suits them. Night owls can work in the afternoon, and early birds can clock on when the sun rises and have time to pick up the kids from school. Maybe it’s the lack of commute or less time running for the train. Either way, studies around the globe are showing that flexibility in the workplace leads to happier, more productive employees.

Need another incentive? Offering flexibility also means you aren’t bound by location and can open up roles to the best talent, looking beyond the local area and attracting great people on a national or even international scale.

4. Set expectations

When you aren’t face-to-face with your team all the time, you can’t just lean over a desk to clarify something, so it’s essential to communicate effectively and clarify expectations from the outset. 

Are your employees required to work certain hours? Do they need to email, message or phone when they log on or off? How are they expected to hand in work? What deadlines need to be met? When does the team meet? 

All these questions should be answered early on so your employees understand their responsibilities. 

5. Create a workspace 

One of the few downsides of working remotely is that it is difficult to separate work and leisure. The dining table’s key function often transforms from family dinners to meetings and brainstorming sessions. 

If you can, it’s a good idea to separate your workspace. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself answering emails while eating dinner and taking calls while watching TV with the kids. 

Create a workspace that you love, whether that’s a study nook or converting the spare room into an office. When work is done for the day, leave your workspace behind, and make balance a priority.

What now?

We all know that remote working is here to stay, but what impact could it have on the job market going forward? Read our blog on the evolution of remote and hybrid work to find out more or check out our ebook on hybrid teams.