7 tips on managing teams working from home & optimizing productivity

When the entire nation is staying at home in the wake of the recent Covid 19 crisis, things have changed drastically. For one thing, it has made work from home mainstream. The change from office to the home setting has also thrown several business owners, managers and teams a little off balance. Businesses are still adjusting to this new normal, trying to figure out how to manage a remote team, relying solely on digital media to coordinate and communicate. It is definitely challenging, and yet critical to our fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Here are a couple of helpful tips/hacks that will help create a more productive work environment, optimise your team’s schedule for enhanced productivity and prevent a burnout.
 

1. Set Boundaries 

   Setting boundaries is essential when your team is working from home. Define working hours so that the work does not interfere with their personal lives. Remember they are working from different locations and may have certain reservations. Messages, calls, chat notifications any time during the day can be disturbing. However, if the work demands them to be available 24/7 especially in client-facing roles, make it clear right at the start, to avoid problems later.
    

2. Set Clear Expectations 

   Every business has expectations, objectives to be achieved, and goals to fulfil. Have certain rules in place. Be clear about your expectations about workings hours, availability, deliverables, communication, meeting schedule, email responses etc. This is so that each individual employee is clear about is expected out of them in terms of productivity.
    

3. Communicate Regularly 

   Managing employees across different locations can be difficult. In order to ensure that all your employees are on the same page, you need to communicate regularly and effectively. Talk about the day’s agenda, discuss tasks, clarify doubts, give feedback and encourage suggestion. This will keep all your employees feel valued and respected. There are different tools and application available to facilitate communication like Slack, Skype, Zoom, GoToMeeting, Basecamp, Google Hangouts etc. It is worth investing in these tools as these tools as these help improve efficiency, productivity and knowledge-sharing in the remote workspace.
    

4. Be Available when your Employees Need You 

   When working remotely, employees are anyways out of sight. However, don’t let them be out of your mind. Be available for them when they need you, whether they need to talk or discuss something. Hear them out. It could be regarding a problem they are facing while working, something they don’t understand or anything else. Lend them a helping hand, offer solutions. This will give them the confidence that they are not alone and that the management is there to support them whenever they need.
    

5. Invest in the right Project Management Software 

   A must for anyone managing a remote team. Project Management software help you keep a track of tasks completed and what each of the employees are doing. You can assign tasks to each employee, have discussions, share files, track the progress all from a single dashboard. There are different project management software that solve the purpose like Asana, Basecamp, Zoho etc. They may be bit pricey but it’s worth it.
    

6. Hold Regular Meetings 

    Regular meetings is the key to effective management of teams working from home. Fix a time everyday for meetings either at the start or at the end of the day to discuss about the day’s work, agenda for the next day, review, feedback etc. This will ensure that everybody is on the same page.
    

7. Be Flexible 

   Lastly when you are working remotely, you have to allow teams some flexibility. You cannot be micromanaging things. That just does not help. You have to trust your employees. Focus on deliverables. Allow your employees to work at their own time or pace. This will not just result in higher productivity but a more satisfied workforce as well.
    

Managing a remote team can be challenging. It isn’t just about supervising or keeping track of what everyone is doing. It is beyond that. You have to make sure that they have the necessary infrastructure needed to work from home. Since we live in age where technology has redefined the possibilities of work, a distributed team can also be a good thing and can result in higher productivity and higher levels of satisfaction, not to mention the improved work-life balance. So hang in there, get the fresh air once in a while and try and enjoy this arrangement while it lasts.