Tag: Remote teams

Managing Remote Work challenges

Managing Remote Work challenges

Remote working is here to stay. Whilst most of us have been working from home for 2 years now, there are still plenty of challenges to tackle as we continue to adapt to remote work. Below we discuss five common challenges surrounding remote work & possible ways to manage them.

Communication

Communication is typically a big challenge to managing remote work. Remote teams have fewer opportunities to communicate. When they do communicate, they usually use multiple tools, such as Zoom, Skype, and WhatsApp. Multiple communication channels can lead to dispersed and disorganized messages which can lead to misunderstandings and wasted time.

Solutions

Start by setting expectations for team communication. Let team members know behaviour expectations, including how quickly they should respond to messages, whether they should be available for communication during certain times of the day, how to handle communication with team members that work in different time zones. Additionally, encourage team members to overcommunicate. This will help to avoid misunderstandings and uncertainty, as well as prevent team members from having to redo work.

Scheduling

Remote teams (especially those working internationally) can be spread across multiple time zones. In these teams, there might be team members who end work before other teammates start theirs. This can complicate scheduling meetings and make it harder to find a common time to meet and collaborate.

Solutions

Determine how much overlap you really need for your team to function. Managers tend to overemphasize real-time communication when an asynchronous approach is often more productive. Flexibility is one of the greatest strengths of remote work, but it can take some adjustments to your leadership style to get it right. Default to asynchronous communication by using tools such as WhatsApp. Only hold meetings if they’re absolutely necessary and keep them short and focused. If your meeting is necessary, only invite those people that absolutely need to be there.

Workload Management

It’s easy to see when someone is overwhelmed or underutilized when you’re working in the same office as they are. When people work remotely, it can be harder to understand how team members are doing and if they’re able to handle their workload. This can become a bigger issue if your team members aren’t proactive about discussing their workload and communicating the risk of missing deadlines. Workload issues can also cause extra stress in your team. When someone feels like they’re carrying a lot more weight than their teammates, they may experience burnout or feel like they’re being taken advantage of.

Solutions

Use project management tools like Trello or Notion to manage your remote team’s workload more easily. Review the number of tasks assigned to each person, pipeline work, and time it takes for each team member to finish tasks. Work with freelancers such as those on Jonusta as there will be times when your remote team won’t be able to handle all the work that needs to be done themselves. In these situations, use Jonusta to find experts to whom you can outsource tasks and projects. Set priorities and clearly communicate prioritized tasks so that your remote team can tackle the most important things first.

Trust

Developing trust takes time, focus, and a lot of work, even if you work in the same office as your teammates. With fewer opportunities for social interactions, it can be harder to build trust in a remote team. However, it’s crucial to build trust with your distributed team. Without it, you’ll struggle to build culture and keep your people engaged.

Solutions

Organize virtual team-building activities where folks can relax, have fun, and interact with each other in a casual setting. Some examples include virtual happy hour, trivia quizzes or just opportunities to chat. Trust comes from reliability and that means that you do what you say you will, you follow through when people ask for help, and you act in your team’s best interest all the time.

Work-life balance

When people work from home, the line b/w work and home life can become blurred. This can result in overworked teams and a lack of work-life balance. This habit increases the risk of burnout because it makes your team feel like they can never unplug and get away from work. Work addiction is a serious problem that can cause burnout, reduce productivity, and erode job satisfaction.

Solutions

Encourage team members to take time off especially if a lot of employee vacation time is unused. Offer flexible work hours. This will allow your team to plan their day in a way that works better for them. It will also enable them to work during those times when they’re the most productive. Set the example yourself. Don’t email during non-work hours or weekends. Instead, send on Monday morning or whenever that person is due at work.  Take time off and talk about the fun things you did with your vacation. Remember, you can work hard and still have a life outside of work.