Managing remote employees across many locations may sometimes feel like herding cats. Asynchronous schedules, time zones, and at-home working environments contribute to the digital chaos. To keep remote teams working as efficiently and effectively as possible, managers have to rethink outdated strategies and embrace a more flexible approach.
The work is worth it. Some data shows managers are responsible for up to 70% of the variance in employee engagement, which affects their performance and work outcomes. This means that when managers hone their remote team management skills, they can boost employee productivity, encourage team collaboration, and improve job satisfaction.
Remote work is here to stay. According to the data, employees value flexible working options, with 90% planning to stick with remote work for the long haul. If organizations want to thrive as a remote workforce, managers must update their leadership playbook to keep up with this new work reality.
Remote Team Management: The Good and The Bad
To craft an effective remote team management framework, leaders must first understand the obstacles they face.
Challenges of Managing Remote Teams
Managing remote teams is far from straightforward, with unique challenges that require intentional strategies. One of the biggest hurdles is maintaining effective communication. While instant messaging platforms and video calls make it easier to connect, digital communication can still lead to misunderstandings. The impersonal nature of text, even with the occasional GIF or emoji to lighten the mood, often results in conversations getting lost in translation.
Another significant challenge is sustaining team-wide productivity. While some employees excel in the comfort of their home office, others struggle to stay focused with distractions like beds and gaming consoles nearby. Balancing these varying productivity levels can be tricky for managers.
Lastly, building a strong team culture remotely is no easy feat. Without the benefit of in-person meetings and bonding, managers must invest extra effort into creating a sense of camaraderie and cohesion. This becomes even more difficult with timezone differences and asynchronous work schedules, which add further complexity to team dynamics.
Benefits of Effective Remote Team Management
Understanding how to manage remote teams masterfully is a must-have skill in today’s modern workforce. Managers play a key role in driving employee retention and job satisfaction, but achieving these outcomes depends heavily on mutual trust between employers and employees. Without that trust, it’s difficult to maintain a productive and engaged team.
In fact, 61% of employees say a perceived lack of trust from their managers hinders their work performance. This lack of trust doesn’t just lower productivity—it pushes employees to look for opportunities elsewhere. Improving remote team management can change that. When managers build trust, employees feel more engaged, perform better, and are more likely to stay loyal, even in a virtual setting.
Beyond boosting engagement, strong remote management opens doors to a global talent pool. With the right practices in place, companies can collaborate seamlessly with developers in Argentina, designers in Amsterdam, and marketers in Australia, maximizing the potential of a diverse and distributed team.
Additionally, well-managed remote teams often see increased productivity. By working from home, employees can create personalized workspaces that help them stay focused—free from the distractions of a bustling office environment.
Establishing Clear Communication Channels
The heart of a great virtual team is clear, effective, and respectful communication (along with a side of some light inter-employee roasting via the team Slack channel). Successful leaders provide the necessary guidelines for the who, what, when, where, and why procedures of their workplace to all employees.
Choosing the Right Communication Tools
Choosing the right communication tools can make or break your team’s workflow. With so many options available, leaders need to be smart about selecting tools that improve communication, enhance collaboration, and fit the unique needs of their teams.
Popular choices like Zoom, Asana, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Suite come with some serious firepower. Need to hop on a video call and go over project details? Google Meet and Zoom have you covered, bringing remote teams together almost face-to-face. For those daily chats, Slack and Microsoft Teams let you create channels for everything from deep project discussions to casual banter—plus, they make it easy to send a quick DM when needed.
Project management tools like Asana, Jira, and Basecamp may not be built for chit-chat, but they’re essential for keeping teams organized. These platforms track progress, deadlines, and tasks while also letting managers keep an eye on workloads. And when you need to jump into a conversation, they make it easy to do so without leaving the app.
Of course, no two teams are alike. Managers need to choose tools that match their team’s workflow and preferences. Don’t forget to consider integration capabilities, ease of use, and whether these tools can grow with your team’s needs. After all, the right tools should make work easier, not harder.
Setting Expectations for Communication
In today’s fast-paced, always-connected work environment, communication can either be a team’s superpower or its kryptonite. That’s why managers must set clear expectations to keep things on track. Sure, memes and GIFs can add some fun to the workday, but it’s important to draw the line between playful banter and serious business. Setting these boundaries helps strike the perfect balance between keeping things light and getting work done.
Response time expectations are equally crucial. Instant messaging is great for quick questions, but without clear guidelines, it can feel like you’re in a never-ending ping-pong match of messages. And let’s be honest—no one wants to feel like they have to reply instantly, especially after hours. Managers should work with their teams to define when people are available, when they need focused time, and how meetings fit into the mix. So everyone stays on the same page without the stress of constant interruptions.
Transparency is the final piece of the puzzle. Open, honest communication builds trust and keeps the team humming along smoothly. When everyone provides regular updates and shares any obstacles they’re facing, it creates accountability and keeps things moving forward, avoiding those dreaded bottlenecks that slow down progress.
Encouraging Open and Transparent Communication
Everything people say about the importance of communication in teamwork is true. Healthy, open, and transparent communication practices are the cornerstone of thriving remote teams. Team members should always feel safe and welcome when sharing ideas or concerns with their teams and leaders. Feedback loops and regular check-ins assist with this and give shy employees a chance to speak up.
Beyond making every employee feel seen and heard, open communication also helps address the emotional challenges of remote work. Instead of letting feelings of isolation or disengagement go unnoticed, transparent communication allows managers to spot issues early and provide support. This atmosphere of collaboration and trust leads to stronger team bonds, better problem-solving, and a more engaged, connected team overall.
Virtual Trust Falls: Building Trust and Accountability in a Remote Team
Accountability is the backbone of trust in both workplace settings and everyday relationships. Cultivating a company culture of mutual respect between employers and employees starts with establishing clear objectives to set everyone up for success.
Establishing Clear Goals and Objectives
Some managers stumble when setting clear goals and objectives. For instance, some set expectations without providing the necessary tools, training, and information to achieve those goals. Others overemphasize output without considering the quality of the work, which could lead to a decline in work standards. A lack of feedback can also leave team members questioning their performances.
Many managers turn to the SMART framework—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound—to streamline this process. SMART provides a clear checklist for defining tasks and objectives, making them easier to understand and achieve.
Aligning individual goals with team and company objectives means setting clear milestones for each person. Like like players on a sports team, employees need to understand their roles and how their contributions help the team succeed. This ensures everyone knows what they’re accountable for and how their efforts tie into the company’s overall success.
Tracking Progress and Performance
Parents know just how powerful a sticker chart can be for motivating kids and tracking their progress. In the same way, software and applications act like digital sticker charts for leaders to track progress and inspire remote employees. Tools like Trello, Monday.com, Asana, and Jira offer features that make managing projects much easier for remote teams.
Constructive feedback is a key part of this tracking process. Regular one-on-one performance reviews allow managers to give feedback and celebrate employee achievements. These meetings also offer the chance to identify areas for improvement, highlight strengths, and set clear goals for the next review.
When combined with solid tracking methods, supportive feedback helps keep employees motivated and focused on delivering their best work. And hey, maybe actual stickers wouldn’t hurt either!
Fostering a Culture of Trust
Most of us can agree that trust isn’t automatic. It’s earned. In fully virtual teams, where face-to-face interactions and casual conversations are rare, building trust becomes more challenging. Remote team managers must work harder than in-office managers to build trust within their teams.
To overcome these virtual barriers, managers must fully embrace two-way accountability and transparency. For example, a manager might share not only the team’s recent project success but also an unexpected challenge, like missing a key deadline. By being upfront about what went wrong and how the team can improve, the manager sets a tone of openness. This encourages employees to share their own challenges without fear, knowing it’s a safe space for growth rather than blame.
When managers excel at remote team management, employees feel empowered to achieve their goals and manage their work independently. At the same time, employees should feel comfortable asking for help and bringing issues to their leaders and peers. Building a culture of trust takes time, but the long-term result is a more united, motivated, and confident team that thrives in remote environments.
Building Positive Team Culture from Afar
From coach and playbook maker to cheerleader and mentor, managers must fill many roles to create a positive remote team culture.
Defining Team Values and Mission
Just like a national flag, a clear mission and set of values give remote teams something to rally around. A shared mission statement inspires and guides the team toward common goals, while core values create a sense of accountability and belonging.
These shouldn’t just be tucked away in an employee handbook. Effective leaders regularly incorporate reminders of the team’s values and mission—whether in meetings, casual instant messaging chats, or team-wide emails. By revisiting and reinforcing these ideas, leaders can strengthen team cohesion, keep everyone aligned, and boost the overall team culture.
Encouraging Social Interaction and Team Bonding
Team-building activities may earn managers a few unenthusiastic eye rolls, but such events help build positive team cultures. Don’t worry, though. These activities don’t have to include matching shirts and cliche awards. Team building can be as simple as online gaming sessions, virtual book clubs, new skill workshops, or digital trivia nights.
Beyond organized events, informal communication channels also play a vital role in fostering social interaction. Private Slack and Microsoft channels allow remote employees to chat about things outside work to relax and connect personally. This could involve virtually celebrating a team member’s birthday or sharing personal accomplishments like running a marathon. These small but meaningful interactions strengthen relationships, which ultimately enhance collaboration and team performance.
Promoting Inclusivity and Diversity
Inclusivity and diversity are key factors in building a positive and vibrant culture among remote team members. Every team member—regardless of race, religion, or ability—should feel welcome, heard, and understood by both their peers and leaders. When everyone feels included and valued, teams not only reach their goals but also experience greater job satisfaction.
To create a diverse and inclusive team culture, leaders can encourage more open conversations to welcome different perspectives and give each employee a chance to shine. For example, hosting regular team discussions where employees can share how their cultural backgrounds influence their work or approach to problem-solving can create a space for learning and respect.
Additionally, subtle efforts like celebrating cultural differences and ensuring that team-building activities are accessible and well-timed for all members further promote a sense of inclusivity.
Mastering the Juggle: Managing Productivity and Work-Life Balance
For remote workers, there’s no physical office to leave behind at the end of the day. Instead, the work computer sits nearby, quietly reminding them of tomorrow’s tasks, today’s problems, and yesterday’s stressors. Mastering the balance between work life and real life requires intentional self-discipline, supported by encouragement from leadership.
Setting Boundaries and Expectations
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance starts with setting clear work hours and availability expectations for the team or company. These boundaries help prevent remote employees from overworking and ensure everyone knows when they are on “company time.” Just as employees are expected to respect work hours, managers should equally respect employees’ nonworking time.
To reduce the risk of burnout, managers can encourage regular breaks—such as stepping outside for a quick walk, stretching between tasks, or eating lunch away from the computer—and the use of time off. Leaders can model these behaviors themselves by taking their own breaks and vacations, demonstrating the importance of rest and recovery for long-term productivity and well-being.
Using Productivity Tools and Techniques
Sometimes, productivity management requires external tools and techniques instead of just relying on willpower. Project management programs like Trello and Notion help keep tasks organized with easy-to-use to-do lists or boards. Time management apps such as Time Doctor, HubStaff, Clockify, and RescueTime track how team members spend their hours, ensuring they maximize productive work time.
Pairing these tools with proven time management techniques kicks productivity into high gear. The Pomodoro method, for example, involves working in short, focused bursts followed by breaks to maintain effectiveness. Another popular technique is time blocking, where employees dedicate specific time slots on their calendars to particular tasks. Together, these strategies and tools help keep teams on track while supporting better work and stress management.
Monitoring and Improving Team Productivity
Technology makes it easy to track the productivity of remote teams without micromanaging. Project management software allows managers to track overall project progress and the work of each employee and set goals. On the other hand, these tools enable team members to manage their own time.
In addition to these tools, regular team meetings and one-on-one check-ins help leaders monitor productivity, adjust work strategies as needed, and leave room for open lines of communication.
Supporting Remote Team Members’ Growth and Development
Top leaders prioritize helping their team members achieve greatness in their current roles while helping them prepare for the future. Wearing the hat of a coach for the short term and a mentor (which sadly doesn’t come with a cool hat) for the long term sets employees up for success in their careers.
Offering Professional Development Opportunities
Providing professional development opportunities keeps employees engaged, helps them grow in their current roles, and fuels excitement about their future. Organizations can support this development by offering access to online courses and certifications through platforms like Udemy or Coursera.
Continuous learning boosts individual skill sets while simultaneously enhancing overall team performance. Investing in team members’ professional growth and development shows a leader’s support, which can boost long-term retention and increase job satisfaction.
Providing Regular Feedback and Coaching
Pairing constructive feedback with mentorship boosts individual employee growth and motivation.
Instead of making negative or discouraging comments, managers should ensure every feedback conversation feels supportive. One-on-one video calls are typically the most effective way to deliver feedback in a virtual environment. Managers should focus on providing specific, actionable insights and follow up with written summaries to reinforce clarity and understanding.
Encouraging Career Advancement and Growth
Growth often requires change, and once employees have learned all they can from their current roles, they may feel ready to take the next step in their careers. Managers can support this by clearly outlining career paths and promotion opportunities and providing guidance on how to advance. Encouraging career growth makes remote employees feel motivated, engaged, and valued.
Recognizing and rewarding high-performing employees through pay raises, new responsibilities, and promotions not only encourages individual growth but also motivates others to strive for excellence.
Adapting to Time Zones and Asynchronous Work
Managing virtual teams across varying time zones requires organization, determination, and great scheduling tools.
Scheduling and Time Management Strategies
Effective scheduling and time management across time zones is a critical challenge for asynchronous teams. Scheduling tools like Google Calendar and online time zone converters make coordinating meetings and deadlines more efficient for managers. Flexibility is the name of the game, though. Allowing for the adjustment of deadlines based on individual time zones and scheduling meetings at varying times helps dispersed team members avoid burnout. After all, no one wants to attend an all-hands meeting at 3 a.m.
Maximizing Asynchronous Communication
Mastering asynchronous communication is key to coordinating efforts in teams spread across various time zones. This refers to exchanging information without requiring participants to engage simultaneously. It allows international team members to contribute during their peak productivity times rather than struggling with inconvenient overnight schedules. By embracing this communication approach, teams can work more efficiently and minimize the need for real-time meetings.
To maximize these benefits, leaders should ensure clear documentation and require regular project updates to keep everyone informed. Tools like Google Workspace and Basecamp simplify this process by tracking progress and keeping communication organized.
Creating a Global Team Culture
Managing a culturally diverse, distributed team comes with unique challenges and opportunities, including varying cultural perspectives. To foster a global team culture and morale, managers can organize team-building activities that highlight different cultures’ traditions, languages, and holidays. For instance, arranging a virtual cultural exchange session where team members give short presentations about a significant festival or tradition from their country can create engaging and educational interactions.
When managers promote open communication and inclusivity, rather than treating cultural differences as taboo, they encourage employees to share their cultural experiences and ask questions about others’ backgrounds. This approach to inclusivity promotes mutual learning and understanding and strengthens team cohesion.
Wrapping Up the Remote Team Management Game Plan
Remote team management requires managers to think outside the cubicle and adopt innovative ways to motivate and lead teams. The added obstacle is that all teams are different, which demands that managers tailor their strategies based on their remote teammates’ strengths, weaknesses, and cultures.
Communication challenges are some of the biggest problems for successful remote management, as the risk of misunderstandings is high. Team-building also requires extra effort, as managers need to organize diverse digital events to foster team bonding. Additionally, establishing and maintaining trust takes considerable time and transparency from managers.
If organizations want to enhance their remote team’s effectiveness and morale, leaders should adapt strategies to fit a fully digital workforce. This might involve brainstorming fresh ideas for virtual team-building activities, developing a more streamlined project management system, or finding ways to prevent employees from feeling isolated during the workday. Small management changes can snowball into major positive effects for a remote team over time.
FAQ
How do I onboard new remote employees effectively?
Onboarding new remote employees requires a more structured approach than in-person jobs. Alongside training sessions and a thorough introduction to tools and workflows, remote-specific onboarding plans need to include scheduled virtual meet-and-greets and ice-breaking sessions.
Assigning new hires to a mentor or buddy may also help them acclimate to the digital culture faster, giving them a go-to reference point. The most effective remote employee onboarding tip is for leaders to ensure that the new hires feel supported from day one.
What are the most common challenges in managing remote teams?
The most common challenges in managing remote teams include:
- Communication. Without clear communication tools, expectations, and guidelines, remote teams miss deadlines, cause escalating misunderstandings, and reduce productivity.
- Trust and Accountability. A lack of trust and accountability in a virtual office causes friction between managers and employees, reducing the team’s overall effectiveness.
- Timing. Asynchronous communication across time zones leaves room for misunderstandings and extended timelines. Scheduling difficulties result in some employees being left out of events or requiring them to attend work meetings at inconvenient hours.
- Team Culture. Building a remote team culture in a virtual environment requires much more effort than building a fairly organic culture in a traditional office. This includes challenges like planning digital team-building activities and creating virtual spaces for bonding.
How can I improve communication in my remote team?
Improving communication in a remote team involves choosing the right communication tools and setting expectations. Some teams may need more video calls via Zoom, while others may thrive with text-based communication like Microsoft Teams. In addition to providing expectations for availability and response times, managers must strive to encourage open, transparent conversations to make these efforts more effective.
How do I handle conflicts in a remote team?
The lack of face-to-face interaction makes handling conflicts in remote teams tricky. Leaders should establish clear communication protocols to prevent problems before they happen, such as immediately acknowledging issues and creating an action plan. Mediation tools or a neutral third party can help de-escalate these situations if necessary. That said, clear communication policies help prevent many issues within remote teams.
What tools are essential for remote team management?
Although the exact tools depend on the requirements of the remote team, a few of the most popular team management tools include:
- Project management tools, like Jira, Basecamp, and Monday.com, make it easy to manage projects and track progress remotely.
- Clockify, RescueTime, and other time-tracking and productivity-monitoring tools balance monitoring productivity with respecting team members’ time and privacy.
- Communication and collaboration tools make digital communication more painless. This includes instant messaging apps, video calling platforms, and remote storage and collaboration tools.
How do I maintain productivity in a remote team?
To maintain productivity in a remote team, leaders should set boundaries and expectations for the workday, such as establishing clear working hours and encouraging breaks. Productivity tools, like Trello, and time management techniques help managers optimize work time and track progress. Plus, regular reviews let teams make adjustments to maintain productivity.
How can I build trust in a remote team?
Trust is something built with time and effort. Transparency and accountability are the two most important factors for both employers and employees. Regular performance reviews, constructive criticism, and feedback loops help improve trust in remote teams by facilitating employee accountability and employer transparency.
