Today, more and more companies are forming remote teams, and remote working is also becoming more common in companies with physical offices.

Working remotely has always made international teams more feasible and attractive. Whenever a team member logs into a shared collaboration platform, it doesn’t matter whether they are ten feet from another member of the team or ten thousand miles away.

Teleworking can be beneficial for both businesses and workers, but it also poses a number of unique challenges. Almost every industry has seen a surge in remote working lately and has quickly become the norm for international workers.

There are a few ways you can ensure that your employees are as productive as possible while teleworking. The following eight tips will help you manage your team and get the most out of your remote workers.

1. Set clear expectations

Scott Bales, Vice President at Replicon, said, “Providing guidelines, setting boundaries, and checking the basics are among the most important steps you need to take when starting your project.”

Clarifying the tasks and processes to be completed is critical to the productivity of your remote workers and the success of your entire team.

The employee knows what to do to be successful when setting expectations about working hours and meeting attendance requirements.

2. Establish clear communication guidelines

Those who work remotely tend to leave communication behind and allow their teams to act largely independently. However, this is not productive in the long run. Instead, you need to create a virtual team presence where everyone is comfortable.

The onboarding process should include communication guidelines for new hires that include:

• Ideal forms of communication for the team, i.e. phone calls, SMS, emails, social media or other platforms
• Preferred days for communication such as weekly meetings, daily updates, or quarterly reviews
• Expected turnaround time for assigned tasks.
• Information on relaxed Fridays or team events that take place all year round.
• Information about their location if this is not their permanent establishment.

3. Select Internationally Available Software

Make sure your remote team can collaborate with the team on remote platforms once they have internet access. It is easy for a national team located at a remote location to forget that not all software and web services are available internationally. If you have team members in different countries, look for universally available platforms. Manage an international team with Groove, Slack, Microsoft Teams, G Suite, World Time Buddy or Papaya.

Once you’ve built your software stack, you can determine what specifications your team will need to purchase the device before shipping, and even equip laptops with the software.

4. Create a virtual break room

Regular team meetings are a good idea for managing remote workers, but it’s not enough. Team members have to interact spontaneously and independently and get to know each other as individuals and not just as colleagues.

Also, encourage your team to talk about their personal life and share their experiences. The benefit of using video conferencing to brainstorm these ideas has the advantage that it naturally leads to more spontaneous, unplanned conversations that help foster creativity and bring out the best ideas from your team members.

5. Gather regular feedback

The first time you’re moving to a remote model, or even going through an ongoing process, collecting feedback is essential to make sure it works well for your team.

Getting feedback helps you identify weaknesses that should be adjusted or even things that don’t work. There are several ways to do this:

• One to one. Have one-on-one interviews with individual employees and take this opportunity to ask them if they think the current processes are working well.
• Survey. Anonymous polls, or polls, can help you gain critical information about business processes so that you can make informed decisions.
• Workshops. If you can do physical workshops, use them to build trust in your team and troubleshoot issues.

6. Offer emotional support

You already know that isolation can negatively affect the mental health of your team members. However, there are a few ways you can show support.

• You shouldn’t rely on others to tell you things. Ask questions, then listen actively. Ask a team member, “How are you?” at the end of a business conversation it doesn’t cost anything.
• Practice empathy. It is not enough to hear about problems. You have to understand them too.
• Focus on values. It is important to focus on the company values ​​even as you start to work differently. Use them to inspire and support your remote team members.
• Create support networks. If you have personal problems, it can be helpful to talk to and listen to your peers. Creating online meeting groups helps build communication within your team.

7. Be flexible

Leading an international remote team is not always easy. In addition, in some roles (e.g. contact center staff) it can be more difficult to exercise flexibility. However, that doesn’t mean you should micromanage your remote workers.

For example, allow your team to work at the hours that suit them. Set reasonable deadlines for tasks and ask your employees to meet the deadlines. Flexibility is essential not only for employees, but also for managers of remote teams!

8. Remember to listen

Most successful managers are good listeners. However, surveys are often an underutilized tool. In order to better understand the mood of the employees, a monthly or quarterly Net Promoter Score as well as one-on-one interviews are helpful.

Remember, listening skills enable a manager to understand their team’s intentions and feelings, an essential skill in team management. Your employees will be more motivated and open to feedback if they feel heard and try to do their best for the team.

You’ll become an expert in managing remote workers in no time.

You may be concerned about managing remote teams. But it doesn’t have to be. Given the productivity gains and the benefits of a remote facility, we can assume that the future of the workplace will be remote.

If your company is moving to remote or hybrid working, you can build an efficient and effective international remote team by following the tips above.