Remote workforces are becoming increasingly common in the modern economy, especially among creative agencies. This has led many managers to wonder how to manage remote teams, who are no longer in one location but often working all over the world. In this blog post, I’ll explain how best to manage remote teams by focusing on communication and collaboration tools.
How to Manage Remote Teams?
You’re a creative agency with many employees. Some are in-office, and some are remote. The trend is clear: more creative agencies are employing a mix of local and remote employees than ever before. This is good news for businesses that want to save money on real estate costs while increasing productivity and efficiency by hiring the best people for any given job–regardless of where they live.
But managing a team like this isn’t easy! You need tools that make collaboration easy while keeping everyone on task, even with deadlines looming overhead —and none more so than when managing teams across multiple time zones or continents (or both). For smoother staffing and resource allocation, especially in the tech domain, consider exploring IT staffing services to help you build and manage your IT teams effectively.
Managing Remote Workforces is not Rocket Science.
Managing remote teams is not rocket science. It’s more about managing people than managing technology, and you can learn to do it. The first thing you need to understand is that your employees are human beings with feelings, families, and lives outside of work—and those things will always come first for them before they do anything else (including working).
This means that if they have a problem at home or they don’t feel like coming into the office today because their dog died last night (true story), then they won’t just magically be able to get up out of bed and go into work anyway, just because “that’s what I’m paid for.”
It’s also important not only to respect their personal time but also to recognize when there might be an issue with yourself or other coworkers as well; maybe someone didn’t get along with another employee or maybe someone was being rude during lunch break yesterday – whatever it may be, try not to ignore these issues because ignoring them won’t make them go away! Instead, try talking things through with those involved so everyone can move forward in peace together once again 🙂
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Communication is Key When Managing Remote Teams
Communication is the key to managing remote teams. There are many solutions for remote work, including communication tools, but it’s important to choose the right ones for your team.
- Use group chat apps like Slack or HipChat to communicate with your entire team in real time.
- Set up video calls with clients and other team members so you can see each other face-to-face when needed.
- Have regular check-ins with each member of your remote team to ensure they’re getting sufficient support from you as their manager and to gauge how they feel about working remotely!
Using these tools will help you stay in touch with your team and ensure everyone is on the same page. It’ll also help you feel more connected to them, even if they’re not physically located in your office with you!
Managers need to Understand Their Own Limitations when it comes to Managing Remote Teams.
The first step in managing a remote team is to understand your own limitations. If you don’t know what they are, then how can you expect to manage? Managers must have an honest conversation with themselves about their strengths and weaknesses. In such cases, hiring an interim manager might greatly benefit your company by providing immediate expertise and strategic guidance.
For example, if I am not good at making decisions on my own and need other people’s input before making a choice, then I should know this about myself so I can ask for help when needed or find someone who can decide on my behalf, while keeping me informed of their reasoning.
Another example: If I’m uncomfortable speaking up in meetings because I hate public speaking but still want everyone else’s opinion on something important (like firing someone), then maybe having regular video calls would be beneficial so everyone can give their input without feeling pressured into doing it in person (and thus avoiding awkward silence).
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Focus on Providing the Tools for Successful Communication
To ensure your remote team is working effectively, focus on providing the tools they need. This means ensuring they have access to the right communication channels, collaboration tools, project management software, reporting tools, training materials, and so on. Among the most popular solutions are Jira with add-ons like Jira issue templates, Trello, and Asana. It is best to consider an all-in-one agency management software that includes every point on the list, so you won’t have to search for different tools and switch between them while working.
You may be able to get away with using email as the primary form of communication when all employees are in one location; however, this will not be practical when working with a remote team, because emails take too long to reach people outside their local area code (i.e., non-locals). Instead, invest in an instant messaging platform like Slack or HipChat (owned by Atlassian) so employees can communicate instantly among themselves and with other teams within the agency, if needed — and even connect with clients directly through chat rooms set up specifically for them!
A Creative Agency Software that Works With a Remote Team
To manage remote teams in a creative agency, you’ll need to use software that works with them. Creative agency software is a tool that helps you manage your team’s work and communicate with them effectively, even when you’re not in the same room.
There are many benefits of using such a system:
- It allows you to create tasks and assign them easily.
- It provides an overview of what everyone is working on at any given time, so nothing falls through the cracks or gets forgotten behind closed doors (or behind screens).
- It allows direct communication between coworkers — you can send messages directly from within your project management system, rather than having conversations over email or messaging apps like Slack or WhatsApp, which might not always be convenient for those working remotely.
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Conclusion
We believe the best way to manage remote teams is to ensure everyone is on the same page. This means communicating clearly about your expectations, goals, and priorities so that everyone knows what they need to do without being told. It also means being open about problems so you can work together as a team towards a solution, rather than bottling up frustrations until they reach a breaking point.