How to Ensure Your Communication Process Keeps Your Remote Team Engaged
(Guest Post by Rae Steinbach, Freelance editor of award winning 15Five Blog)
In today’s connected environment, remote workers have become a regular feature of business. They are an integral part of the 21st century workforce. For employers, remote employees allow them to build the best teams regardless of geographical limitations. For employees, having flexibility in a work schedule while still feeling a part of the present and future of a company produces higher workplace satisfaction and greater engagement. Overall, the benefits are realized by both employers and employees. Each of them is benefited and apart from higher productivity, it also results in higher worker morale. However, keeping your remote workers engaged is essential. Otherwise, the result can be a lack of focus and loss of productivity. Several big global brands are utilizing the power of remote teams for higher quality results. The question is how good you are at managing and motivating your remote team.
So, how does a company manage remote and distributed teams? What processes need to be in place for employee recognition, goal setting, and achievement? Below are the steps you can take to maintain communication among your remote staff and keep them motivated. Communication is important to staff engagement and motivation in case of both in-house and remote teams.
Technology Is The First Step to Remote Work
Remote workers live on laptops, tablets, and cellphones. To tap into the power of this method of networking, shared project management platforms like Google Drive or Trello connect businesses with their remote workers in powerful ways that disrupt the traditional means of managing teams. As a manager, you must be more proactive, engaged, and available. Managing remote teams can be difficult unless you and your managers stay up to date with the latest in technology and engage the remote team proactively. Project management platforms and software can be of major help in this regard.
Recognize Your Team’s Goals and Progress
Project management applications typically enable users to list their “to-do” lists with timeframes and deadlines. You can monitor your team’s progress through their tasks as they check them off. Then, you can provide advice when challenges arise and praise for accomplishments.
Comment sections allow for specific notes and conversation. Without traditional face-to-face meeting opportunities, online discussion enhances creative approaches to problem-solving and sparks solutions to issues that would not otherwise happen without active discussion.
Checking In Boosts Engagement
Communication with remote workers is a priority. Connecting with your staff on a regular basis keeps you apprised of workflow, problems, and accomplishments.
Employees feel more connected to the workplace and maintain a better sense of accountability when they know you will be in contact. Asking for feedback on their work and needs is a crucial means of demonstrating to remote employees that they matter and their work has value.
Out of Sight Does Not Mean Out of Mind
Your feedback is important to employees and helps them remain engaged, motivated, and constantly improving in their role. From an engagement point of view, employees respond favorably when management shows an interest in them and their work. Employees also thrive in cultures where their work is recognized among their teammates, too.
Utilizing the shared project management apps to praise good work or note how that work contributes to the company goals gives remote employees a sense of identity within the company. It also reminds everyone that contributions are valued and shared. Knowing their contributions will be recognized publicly improves teamwork.
Responding in a timely manner to employee feedback, questions, and concerns motivates them to achieve more goals and remain aligned with your company’s objective. Unanswered communications reduce morale by sending the message that the remote workers are of a low priority. To have a productive team, you must cultivate their trust, motivation, and engagement.
Choose a Solid Platform for Your Team
Project management applications come in a variety of sophistication levels. Select one that keeps your remote team communicating and allows for teamwork.
Solicit your remote staff not only for routine project updates, but also for communications ideas that will enhance the process. Building a remote team means more than simply hiring good people; it also means fostering a collaborative environment that keeps the communication flowing freely and meaningfully. You do not want to waste your remote team and its efforts. To derive the best results from its efforts you need to manage its strategically. How you connect and communicate plays a decisive role. Leveraging the power of technology for ongoing feedback and regular communication can help you motivate them and raise their productivity. The growing role of remote teams in the 21st century business world calls for better management and engagement techniques. Remember communication fosters collaboration and helps you instill a sense of culture even in your remote workers. It will help your remote team keeping its objectives aligned with the business.
Rae is a graduate of Tufts University with a combined International Relations and Chinese degree. After spending time living and working abroad in China, she returned to NYC to pursue her career and continue curating quality content. Rae is passionate about travel, food, and writing, of course. Follow her on Twitter.