With the shift in work culture over the last few years, companies with some use of remote work are slowly becoming the norm.

To highlight their differences, remote teams rarely, sometimes never, meet in person. These teams still have a central office where they can go if needed. You might still want them in-office for a set amount of days per week, using a hybrid system.

Distributed teams are completely set up for working together in different geographical locations, with no HQ or office. As distributed teams never work from a centralized office, they rely on their online tools for 100 percent of their work.

Each system undoubtedly has its pros and cons. You might have found your killer marketing person operating inside Singapore, or a programmer in Switzerland who creates work of an unmatched quality. 

Yet the rise in remote workforces has presented new challenges. A recently surveyed group of employees rated their managers a meagre 7 out of 10 on their success in effectively managing their hybrid or remote team. Isolation, time-zone difficulties, internet regulations, there’s no end to the new difficulties. 

But we are here today to look at tips on how to get the most out of your teams! Let’s get into this.

1. Optimize your tools

So let’s start from the ground up. Take stock of your current communicational arsenal. Are your staff relying on slow and bloated email systems? Are they drowning in a sea of messaging apps? The best craftsman uses the best tools, so let’s take a look inside a well-equipped digital toolbox. 

Slack works like the Swiss army knife of communication, with file-sharing and direct messaging integrated with tools like Google Drive. Loom focuses on video files to get the message across with instantly shareable videos. Discord lets you create a dedicated server, so here you could split up groups, projects or topics.

You could even create an easy poll to ask staff which app they might already be comfortable with beforehand. Doodle polls are instant, shareable and visually appealing, and this would be a great way to begin your mission as a manager who listens and works with and for your teams. Start as you mean to go on!

2. Set up guidelines

Setting up guidelines is the most stern and formal step of setting up a remote team with great communication. Take a moment to consider what you think are the crucial rules of remote work engagement.

Consider potential technical difficulties. Technology and connectivity are not the same in every corner of the globe, which poses a unique virtual challenge. Help your team members with technical setups who are in areas that provide less stable internet connections.

If you want further peace of mind in having reliable communication, creating a point-to-point protocol (PPP) might be the best way to go. You might want to set this up with one single leader of a team, your key person. This does use high-speed broadband, but ensures the connection can be depended on.

Create a schedule for meetings that is considerate of time zones, links your chosen tools of communication and has ease-of-access for all team members.  By using your guidelines to show staff how you expect them to communicate with each other, you’re more likely to benefit from aligned, purposeful communication.

3. Keeping work visible

Let’s take a moment to think about the physical differences between your teams working in an office and working remotely. Teamwork often flourishes when members can simply see one another doing their thing. Plans can be pinned to corkboards, brainstorming can be creatively drawn on whiteboards. These effective tools are not lost when working remotely. 

So with just a few clicks and keystrokes, everyone’s on the same page, quite literally. There’s some really stunning work going into these online tools. The guys over at Think Board for example have developed products to convert worksurfaces into peel-and-stick whiteboards built for the digital age. Traditional whiteboards are being revamped and are now able to record those fleeting moments of genius. Check it out!

4. Encourage sub-groups

As a manager, you might already have experience managing virtual teams. You set up your room and have all your links pinned and readily available. But there are times when instead of being able to conduct your group like an orchestra, each instrument is going off in its own time. Timing is the critical key to many projects, and when everyone is chiming in at once, ideas are easily lost in the mist.

Then here is the time to encourage breakout rooms. Compare it to a traditional meeting you would usually hold in your work office. After briefing staff, you wouldn’t expect them to start their work in the same meeting room, would you? Almost all of the remote messaging tools mentioned have the function of breakout rooms, so let’s think of what they offer.

These rooms encourage teams to create deeper collaboration. They prevent the larger rooms from becoming cluttered and let teams carefully plan out their work before sharing with the group. Without the watchful eye of others, those initial stages of ideation can be given more care and creativity is nurtured. Try them out in your next virtual meeting.

5. Rotate a leader

When managing your remote teams, leaders of groups can and should be utilized. By setting a monthly, or even weekly team leader, staff are given the chance to feel recognize and shine like stars. This recognition is critical. In a survey by Great Places to Work, 37% of employees shared that personal recognition would encourage them to produce better work more often. In the virtual workplace, the principle remains the same.

Consider a popular remote tool like Slack. By simply creating a dedicated channel where the leader’s goal is to open the meeting with informal questions, we’re already creating a sense of recognition. 

By rotating the leader, this workload is distributed as often as you choose. This way, no one person feels singled out or feels the burden of leading all the time. You might even find emergent leaders start to stand out, especially for staff who are working in a location that makes them feel more relaxed and creative. 

6. Mirror real meetings

Here’s a real cornerstone for the traditional and well-established manager. Mirroring real meetings is the method of emulating the real workplace system of meetings in a dedicated virtual space. 

Have a quick rundown of your usual meetings at the office. Your standard system might lean towards more frequent note-taking or agenda-setting. Think of every way possible to bring this into your remote work culture. Perhaps you have your dedicated minute-taker working in a Google Doc. Maybe you’ve found your groove in showing analytics in Excel. Well, screen-sharing has that covered, even with audio. 

By mirroring the setup of real workplace meetings, you’re helping to bridge the physical gap between working from home and the office. Embrace the virtual reflection and let your remote teams thrive!

7. Embrace asynchronicity

In remote workplaces, asynchronous work is growing in popularity, so much so that Harvard Business Review thinks it’s going to completely reshape the future of work. 

Explained simply, asynchronous means employees work on their own time without the expectation of immediate response from others. It might come as a shock to people who have only worked in-office, but the truth is that there are major benefits in working this way. 

With the rise of online file-sharing and cloud storage, work can be securely submitted and stored indefinitely. There’s a sense of autonomy and agency in being able to submit work when it suits them. This might sound risky at first, but companies are starting to see that this helps to create a focus on measuring results, not hours. 

Workers are finding that they thrive more at one certain time of day. Creative juices flow better for some people first thing in the morning. For someone like this, they could finish their work, and submit it into cloud storage at dawn without interruptions, knowing their superiors will provide feedback when the time is right.

Embracing asynchronicity enhances communication and creates a culture of trust and autonomy, as well as providing the benefits of working flexibly.

8. Record meetings

Navigating the remote work landscape can be tough, so one of the most effective ways of making sure your teams’ greatest ideas are never forgotten is by recording meetings.

It fits into the understanding of time-zone differences. Imagine your global team embarking on a critical project with members scattered across different time-zones. Coordination can be a logistical puzzle, and making sure everyone is on the same page feels like an uphill battle.

Virtual messaging companies are providing (in paid accounts) services for recording your virtual meetings. In our scenario, recording virtual meetings provides a safety net for members with conflicting schedules.  You will also have a valuable resource for staff who need bringing up to speed with discussed points. Recordings can even apply to virtual corporate events like webinars and icebreaker sessions.

Missed details become no problem, just hit play and catch up on the day’s events.

9. Don’t forget kindness

In a more sensitive tone, it’s integral to remember some of the deeper and humanistic challenges in remote work. Genuine relationships and work friends matter. In fact, 50% of remote employees feel lonelier at work than before going hybrid or remote.

Loneliness in remote work is a genuine concern. In online chats with your teams, members might show a facade of doing well, but they could be struggling with this newfound isolation. Here it becomes critical to make sure you’re doing simple acts like regular check-ins with members, using a genuine and personable touch. Make sure you’re extending words of encouragement. You might even find more senior members would really benefit from informal virtual tea breaks.

The truth is that an act of kindness is more than making employees feel good. It’s also a strategic managerial skill. So remember to prioritize kindness when working remotely to make sure you’re creating loyal and motivated teams.

10. Cultural awareness

With an increase of remote staff from the four corners of the globe, it’s essential to have a deeper understanding of cultural differences that may arise. Globalized workforces carry diverse cultures that should be respected and by preparing in this area, you’re well equipped to find your next global superstar.

Let’s create an example scenario of a globalized team. You have members from the U.S., Japan and Brazil. A manager with good cultural awareness knows to expect that in the U.S., direct communication and assertiveness is respected, while in Japan, there’s a cultural emphasis on harmony and indirect communication. Brazilian staff may display that warmth and personal connections are valued more highly. 

It’s up to you as the manager to navigate these cultural differences. Hosting webinars to train staff on what to expect when working cross-culturally is a great place to begin. It’s a big wide world out there!

11. Games and remote team-building

Team building can become challenging when your staff are working remotely (We dread to think of what a trust-fall would look like over Zoom). Yet the distance between staff doesn’t need to stop you from using the trove of fantastic online activities and games remote teams can play together.

Whether an activity is just for fun or helps move your team forward, dedicating time to helping staff get to know each other is a powerful investment. You could keep it simple and ask your teams to do a fun messy desk photo contest. Or you could get more elaborate and use online quiz games like Blooket to create a fun trivia evening. Shared Spotify jam sessions ignite bonds over music. There are so many options!

‍Get the most out of your teams in a new location. Try out one of our team retreats!

Here at Surf Office, we know that managers can improve their teams remotely up to a point, but the power of a face-to-face team-building retreat is the best way to go about it. So why not consider a team retreat with us? Imagine the usual confines of your office settings melting away on a sandy beach or taking the time to appreciate nature on a countryside retreat. A quick change of environment can be as revitalising as a complete office overhaul. Your teams will be more motivated than ever on an annual retreat (bi-annual is even better, trust us!).

Like this idea but not sure how to put it all together? No problem, this is where Surf Office comes in.

We've had the pleasure of organizing over 700+ retreat experiences, including remote teams, for many different companies. Here’s how what we offer:

• Stress-free transfers? We got you! ✅
• Quality-assured accommodations? Check! ✅
• Engaging team-building activities? Our speciality ✅
• Restaurant reservations? That's on us! ✅
• Expert retreat planning assistance? Of course, we have this covered! ✅
• Onsite support, tailored to your needs? Absolutely ✅

‍

Not only this but we also have access to 150+ locations around Europe, APAC, the US and now Latin America, meaning the sky is your limit when it comes to choosing the right location for you and your team.

Use a team-building retreat to create outstanding teams that perform in harmony. Allow us to sort out the tricky logistics! Book now, spaces are limited!