What are the main challenges working in remote team?
Here are five major challenges working in a remote team:
1. Productivity
Due to the great career opportunities available in the remote workforce, most working-class employees have opted in for it. However, it has become a common challenge that they find it hard to be productive in their tasks remotely except through direct supervision and support. Most times, this is because they have become more used to working physically than with the new remote system. To prevent the challenge that comes with staying productive, here are various tips to consider:
To team members
- Be clear on your responsibilities: When you are clear on your duties in the team, it would be easier to work towards them.
- Set realistic goals: A goal that is not really would be difficult to achieve. By setting a goal according to your strengths, you would find yourself staying productive instead of trying to be productive.
To employer
- Share educational resources: This can be helpful to team members to make the best use of their time while working.
- Structure plans: Instruct team members to have weekly and monthly plans on how they plan to carry out their duties.
- Make use of automation: To save time while doing top priority tasks, let your remote team make use of automation tools. For instance, instead of an employee dropping a post on social media manually, he can make use of scheduling apps to improve efficiency. When the amount of repetitive tasks reduces due to automation, team members will feel more relieved and recharged for the next day.
- Track progress: Employers can make use of software to track the tasks of team members to ensure they meet up with the required goals.
2. Communication
In the remote workforce, it is difficult to communicate, as there are no face-to-face conversations. This can breed misunderstanding and miscommunication between team members. However, communication is important to ensure a productive and efficient remote work environment.
To team members
- Do not act based on only your understanding. Ask as many questions for more clarification.
- Let your writing be clear and concise: It is easier to miscommunicate when communicating physical contact. To prevent this, write simply and be direct when making a statement. Read your statements aloud before sending them to the receiver.
- Comport yourself: This is important, especially during video conferencing. Dress presentably and act properly.
- Make use of emoji’s: This may differ based on personality but adding an emoji after writing can give off a cheerful vibe. The saying "words have no intonation" emphasizes how difficult it can be to communicate with just words. Communicating without using emoji’s may show you as a less lovely or lively person.
- Organize your writings: You can let your writings breathe by leaving clean paragraphs in-between words. This will also make it easier for your team members to read and understand the information you are passing.
- Be aware: When you are responding to a message, you should be aware of the context around the conversation. A team member style and culture should be an important factor when bringing up a conversation. Get information on the required things you need to know beforehand.
- Request for feedback: This will help you know what you are doing right and what you need to do better. A video call requesting feedback is such a good idea as it would allow both parties express themselves more.
To employer
- Have a specific communication channel: Too many communication channels can cause overwhelm. One to three effective communication channels are enough to pass relevant and top priority information to employees.
- Set fixed days and times for regular communication. This will make communication easier between team members.
3. Expectations
A workplace, whether physically or on a remote basis, is made up of workers with different personalities. An employee may be aware of his responsibilities but may not know exactly how to perform them. This can cause disputes between employees and employers. To ensure a smoother workplace, employers and heads of work departments need to offer guidance to employees.
To team members
- Communicate properly: This will help your teammates know your strengths and weaknesses. You can also ask questions about your responsibilities to be certain of what you expect.
To employer
- State rules beforehand: Ensure that team members are aware of the rules in organization to the before they begin their duties. Ask yourself these questions and inform them about your decisions on it.
"How many hours do they need to work in a day?"
"How do team members inform each other when unavailable?"
"How is their performance measured?"
"What results are team members expected to achieve?
"How should we welcome new members to the team?"
"Do we make use of videos and voice during virtual meetings?"
"What is the deadline for achieving these results?"
Setting these expectations ensures balance, confidence, and motivation for everyone to do their best and make the work a success. While not all of these may be easy to implement, they would help govern an organization and emphasize the standards in a company.
4. Loneliness
Team members working remotely will hardly need human interaction. This can breed loneliness and affect their mental and physical health. They may also feel "out-of-place" in their remote organization. This can lead to more extreme cases like social anxiety, stress disorder, and depression. To curb loneliness while working in a remote team, here are some things to do.
To team members
- Network with people online: Connect with members in your remote workplace. Communicate with people of the same interests and foster your relationship by engaging often with them. You can also meet valuable people on social media platforms.
To employer
- Chat on "out-of-work" topics. : The popular saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” applies to this scenario. When the remote workforces have no time to communicate informally, they feel drained and de-motivated to work. One way to recharge them is by holding social gatherings that would ease their mind from the stress that comes with work.
- Increase Accountability: Having an accountability partner help foster relationships and prevent isolation from any person.
5. Technology
In a world where technology advances easily, it is sometimes hard to keep up with the trends. Here are basic technology tools a team member needs to learn to ensure a successful remote work experience:
- Google drive: This is a tool used to store files. It allows access to team members to drop their suggestions about the files. It is easy to use and makes engagement seamless.
- Zoom: This video conferencing tool lets you host virtual one-one sessions.
It is a great tool for meetings and addressing issues of concern. It has great features and ensures a good flow of information and responses while making use of it.
- Trello: This project management tool helps with task tracking and increases smooth workflow. With it, you can add files, record progress, and automate.
- Slack: This is a unified communication tool that helps team members communicate on their own. With it, you can bring up challenges you face within the organization and ask questions in the one-on-one chat box. To prevent Slack notifications from disturbing you, there is a "turn off" feature that can help you with that.
Conclusion
Several challenges occur when you find jobs in a remote team. However, taking a step to solve these challenges can bring you effective results. To work in a remote team with little or no hassle, you have to learn to communicate and adjust to the system of your workplace. Individuals who are teachable can learn how to adjust to the challenges in remote worke. This will make them successful in a remote team. By implementing, the tips stated above and consistently putting in the effort, your remote team can be as easygoing as you want it to be!
