With the rise in remote job offerings, you need these 7 Tips for managing virtual teams. The more companies get sophisticated in technological advancement, the more some staff have the luxury of working virtually. There are a lot of benefits attached to working virtually. At the same time, you must learn how to manage your virtual teams to boost productivity and engagement. Follow these tips below to manage your virtual team better for more productivity.
Know Your Team Members
There are high chances that you may never get to meet your team members. But there are ways to know them still. Once a new member is hired, introduce them to other team members. Make them share some personal details to get an idea of who they are aside work. You can even share a database form for them to fill details like favorite colours, food, dream vacation destination and lots more. Also, encourage your team members to interact with one another. This can foster collaboration.
Make Communication Regular
Make a commitment to either call or text a member of your team at least once in a working day to establish regular communication. Give them reason to relate with you freely for both work and personal reasons. You are more organized when you put a system in place for your communication. You can allocate different communication channels for different purposes. Maybe a chat for one-off questions and an email for detailed concerns.
Adopt Personal Forms of Communication
Apart from messages and emails, you can extend your communication to more personal options from time to time. Placing a call can help you and your team member appreciate each other’s personality better. This will also foster detailed communications easily. You can try video call option for meetings so you can see and hear each other. This will give you a chance to pick body languages and voice inflections of team members. Ultimately, personal communication approach will sponsor in-depth understanding and build stronger bonds.
Review Performance
Monitoring a physical team is easier because you can see them. For a virtual team, it is important to review their performance to help them understand their progress. Schedule a meeting with each of your virtual team members to discuss their high points and challenges. Talk about their career goals and remind them of their expectations to help them put in their best.
Organize Team-Building Exercises
There are a lot of ways to foster friendships among virtual team members. Think of playing an online game that everyone is familiar with. A casual video chat just for team interactions can also help. Share fun icebreaker questions every week on the team’s group chat. They can equally share fun facts about themselves with each other. This can include favorite movie, favorite artiste, dream vacation destination, jokes and a lot more.
Specify Working Hours
When you work with a virtual team, chances are that they will come from different time zones. It is important to define working hours for your employees. You can schedule their working hours to overlap for proper communication and collaboration.
Read more: 5 Ways to Create a Work Arrangement That Works for You
Celebrate Their Success
To build a continuous sense of community amongst your team members, recognize their successes either by lauding it during public chats or giving them rewards. This will make team members have a sense of importance and equally give them a chance to know each other the more. When they know that their efforts are appreciated, they will be motivated to take it a notch higher and crush more goals.
In addition to these 7 tips for managing virtual teams, respect their boundaries. Work with the right tools and systems and you will see your team do better than you ever imagined. Make sure you to use a shared space where the schedule of your team members can be managed. Knowing when a team member is available can help in proper organization and delegation of tasks.
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