Remote working refers to the process of working at home through a virtual office. This means that you don’t meet at a physical office. You have a team working from their home offices, and globally at that, too.
Remote working has, without a doubt, massively grown its demand and favor. The number of companies choosing to go this route has grown significantly. Particularly with the pandemic last year, and its effects moving on to this year, it’s not surprising that it’ll continue to soar as the main mode of working for the next couple of years.
That said, it’s also safe to say that even when you’re already a seasoned company, there are still so many adjustments that have to be made when moving towards this new mode of working. One of the areas that need the most attention is project management.
To help you out, here are insightful tips on how you can project manage with your remote workers:
1. Maintain Project Visibility
Maintaining project visibility means that even if the team members are scattered remotely, everyone is on the same page as to what tasks in relation to the projects have been done, and what needs to be done urgently.
A good way to maintain project visibility is to invest in project management tools. These would provide a central and fully accessible location so that everyone in the team has access to changes that would have to be done.
For instance, there’s a shared social page where every member can be assigned specific tasks so that all the other team members also know what has been taken – and what is left to be done. Having this kind of system can help increase productivity, like if you were still working in a physical office.
That said, here are some important factors that you’ll have to consider when choosing a project management software online such as those from easyagile.com for your team:
- It should be able to give your employees access to all the information they need, at any given time;
- It should help track project milestones and deadlines;
- It should be able to simplify various communication channels into a single, unified system;
- It should make assigning different tasks to each employee easier.
2. Set the Foundation Firm, First
Before proceeding with the nitty-gritty of the project, it’s very important to lay down the groundwork first. This applies whether you’re managing a physical or remote team. Your team has to fully understand the foundation of the project, so they can go ahead and work on it smoothly – even with very minimal supervision from your end.
Here are some important aspects of setting the foundation strong that you must get accurately:
- Understand the problem and what you’re trying to achieve, by providing the solutions to these problems;
- Get to know the goals and objectives of the project;
- Establish the timeline of the project;
- Break down each task of the project to the employee who’s responsible for it.
3. Trust Your Team Members
While you might think that’s it’s going to be right to check your employees all the time when you’re working in a remote setting, this will be counter-productive. Those hours spent doing regular video calls or conferences could’ve been spent by the employees doing their respective tasks so that each will be completed faster.
Hence, it’s very important for you also to trust your team members. Give them space to do their job on their own. Only call for a virtual meeting when it’s necessary.
Most importantly, when you’re managing a remote workforce, remember that they still need to create that boundary between their physical and work life. It doesn’t mean that they should be on call 24/7, whenever you want them to be. All the more is this truer when you’re managing a global team, with considerable time differences.
Discuss everyone’s work schedules in advance, and set the deadlines, so that each member is aware of what they have to accomplish within a certain timeframe. Try to avoid micromanaging remote teams in a project, as this may only alienate them from the job they have to do.
4. Promote Regular Communication
In balancing out the tip above, this doesn’t mean that there should be no communication at all. Regular communication is still necessary to iron out gray areas if there are any. But, be sure to draw the line between what’s still alright, and what’s too much.
The key is to create that virtual company culture of having an open line of communication whenever necessary. Make it a practice to encourage employees always to ask questions, whenever unsure. That way, there would also be a lesser need for revisions, which can only be time-consuming.
As part of upper management, it’s your responsibility to ensure that there are also clear communication channels across the entire team, from conference calls, bulletin boards, and even to teams or chat rooms.
5. Offer Clear and Direct Feedback
When an employee submits a part of their work to the next team assigned to revise their work or review it, be sure that clear and direct feedback is immediately provided, when necessary. It’s not just enough to tell a certain employee to “make revisions”. Chances are, your employee with that instruction will only feel lost as to the problem areas. It’ll take longer for them to revise their work, and perhaps even not make the revisions that were called for.
It doesn’t take much time to provide clear and direct feedback right away so that errors can also be immediately corrected. That way, the delay will be lesser. And, who knows, next time, they won’t make the same mistakes anymore.
Conclusion
There are so many advantages to hiring a remote team of workers. But this doesn’t mean that it’s also not without a challenge. Particularly when you’re still new to this system, there will naturally be an adjustment period. Things aren’t going to go a hundred percent smoothly right away. The tips above can give you that boost, so that project management becomes an easier task for you to handle. Now you know how you can best guide and support your team members as they walk through this journey.
