Table of Contents
Introduction
I’m a manager of remote workers, and I love it. The time that my team spends in the office is limited, but that means more time for them to work on their own, outside the office. It’s great for productivity, but it does require some extra work on my part to make sure they’re getting the support they need. Here are five ways technology has helped me improve the productivity of my remote teams:
Team challenges
- Team challenges
- Team building
- Team collaboration
- Communication, project management and team organization tools
- Diversity and inclusion (D&I)
This is a big one! If you’re going to have remote teams, it’s important that everyone feels included and respected. If your remote workers don’t feel like they’re part of the company culture, they won’t be as motivated to work hard or stay loyal. And there’s no better way to get them involved than by giving them opportunities for growth and leadership roles within their teams.
Employee feedback
When you’re monitoring the performance of your remote teams, it’s important to keep in mind that feedback is not only for improving employee performance. Feedback can also help improve employee wellbeing and engagement.
If you’re struggling with giving feedback as a remote manager, don’t worry: there are ways to make this more manageable for both parties involved. Acknowledging that feedback is a challenge for most managers makes it easier to find solutions and formulate strategies around how best to give timely, specific and actionable feedback that helps employees grow professionally and personally.
Coaching app to encourage wellbeing
A coaching app can be used to boost employee productivity and wellbeing.
Coaching is a form of support that helps employees improve in their roles, and it’s becoming more popular in the workplace. Many companies are starting to implement coaching programs, but employees also have access to third-party apps like Calibre that allow them to schedule appointments with a coach whenever they need it.
Many remote teams find themselves juggling multiple projects at once and struggling with their work-life balance; a well-designed coaching program can help solve these problems by encouraging employees to set goals for themselves and work towards meeting them together with a trained professional who understands what they’re going through every day at work (or from home).
Use of technology
There are numerous apps that can help you stay on top of your work while working remotely. One of my favorites is Slack, a real-time messaging app that allows you to communicate with your team members no matter where they are or what time zone they’re in. It also has a great search function so if you’re looking for something and can’t remember where it is, just type it into Slack and it’ll give you all the files associated with that query! Another helpful app is Trello, which can be used to organize projects, tasks and checklists in an easy-to-use format that resembles a board game.
Social connections
Social connections are important to well-being, so remote workers need to be encouraged to make them. They can do this through technology by using the tools they have at their disposal.
Remote workers can use coaching apps, such as [Coaching App](https://www.coachingapp.com) or [CoachMe](https://www.coachmeapp.com), which help them build relationships with each other and the organization’s leadership team by offering a safe space for providing feedback or sharing accomplishments in an open environment that encourages growth and development through collaboration and mutual respect for others’ perspectives and approaches.
Remote workers need the same encouragement and support as in-office workers.
As we’ve discussed, remote workers need the same encouragement and support as in-office coworkers. That starts with encouraging them to participate in team activities, like happy hours and brainstorming sessions. These events can be conducted virtually or in person—it doesn’t matter so much how they’re executed, but that they happen at all.
It’s also important that you encourage your remote employees to use technology when communicating with colleagues. This might include using video conferencing software like Skype or GoToMeeting for meetings with coworkers who don’t work remotely; using instant messaging platforms like Hipchat or Slack for quick questions during the workday; sending email attachments such as large presentations rather than attaching them directly into emails; saving files onto a file sharing site instead of attaching them directly into emails; etc.
Finally, it’s essential that you ensure your remote workers understand how to use coaching app features like social connections (introduced earlier), gamification features (coming up next), or other resources available within the app itself (like goal tracking).
Conclusion
If you are looking to improve your remote team’s productivity, there are many ways to do it. It all starts with your mindset, how you approach your remote workers and how they approach themselves. If you make the effort to get to know them and ask questions about their lives outside of work, they will feel more at ease talking with you about work issues as well. And if one person is having trouble getting started on a project or completing tasks on time because of an off-site meeting or family emergency? Don’t let this affect everyone else—help them out with some extra coaching sessions so that everyone can keep moving forward!
