Remote work has inspired businesses to be more flexible with hours. As the number of employees working from home grows, you have to ensure that your team is productive and can get things done. There are a lot of benefits to this setup, but it also faces many challenges. Learn about the most common challenges faced by virtual teams today.
1. Poor Communication
One of the biggest challenges of virtual teams is how people communicate or interact with others without being in the same room. Effective communication matters in any company. It has a huge impact on business productivity. Your team can get work done when they know how to communicate effectively, without waiting hours for responses.
How to address
Use the right tools. Keeping all the messaging in one place is much more efficient than sending a series of emails. With tools like slack or discord, you can manage and talk to your team in different channels yet in one place. You can organize conversations with everyone faster and stay in sync, wherever they are. You can also use project management tools to track your team and monitor their progress.
2. Holding Teams Accountable
Accountability plays an important role to have an effective virtual team. It is not just being responsible or taking the blame when something goes wrong, it is taking responsibility for the overall work of the organization.
How to address
Maintain open communication so that the person knows you are there to help and support them without taking away their authority to make decisions. Ask questions about what’s happening not just at work but also in their lives– but don’t forget to respect their privacy. They may be experiencing some challenges outside work that affect their performance at work. This may help deepen the connections and can build trust. As a result, performance issues can be addressed immediately.
3. Sense of Belonging
Everyone needs to feel connected. When a person feels that their company and his team care about him, he will feel more committed to his work and choose to serve in the longer run. Fostering belonging in the workplace means that people of all backgrounds get a seat at the table and feel heard, seen, and recognized for their contributions.
How to address
Always ask how they are doing, what are their challenges in work, their opinions, and their insights. Make them feel that their team is like their second family, where they can feel accepted and appreciated. This may create employees who are confident and persistent, ultimately leading to better performance.
4. Maintaining Productivity Level
Productive employees are what makes a company successful. However, when managing a virtual team, some employees can be easily distracted from their work. Their attention is directed elsewhere which may result in not accomplishing their tasks promptly. The most common distractions are social media and internet browsing unrelated to work. For some, employees may feel bored and stagnant if their workloads don’t challenge them anymore. They become unproductive if their skill is not utilized utmost. Less productive employees result in less profit for the company.
How to address
One strategy to increase and maintain employee productivity is by providing them with learning opportunities for their continual growth. Support them by giving free training and mentorship programs. You can also give raises and promotions to those who perform well. Recognize and reward them with incentives to motivate them to achieve their aims.
What are the challenges you experience in your team? Are you empowering your team to solve these problems? What are your solutions? Be sure to address remote team issues as soon as possible. Soon enough, you will have a motivated and happy workforce, which knows how to communicate effectively and utilize the necessary resources to succeed.
Team OM @ Outsource Mondays