5 Tips for Managing Remote Teams During Corona

With the recent shelter in place order issued by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, we had no choice but to require certain members of our team to work at home during this pandemic to ensure the health and safety of our workforce. Like most companies, shifting to a 100% remote workforce, comes with its fair set of challenges, but here are a few tips to get the most out of your day and your team:

1. Hold Regular Stand Up Meetings Every Morning. Our team meets everyday at 9am to go over our plans for the day, what we’re working on, any blockers and if we need support. These meetings not only increase accountability, but ensure we stay connected while we’re out of the office.

2. Have every employee submit a written summary of what they accomplished at the end of the day.  This again ensures we’re giving our all and getting the most done with our day given our resources.

3. Set Clear Priorities for the Day and the Week. Every Sunday night, me and the head of Marketing meet to go over each individuals priorities for the week. It helps ensure that we’re all clear on what is important and what success looks like for the upcoming week.

4. Invest in training – During this slow period, we’re encouraging our employees to invest in training and development. ProjectManager.com on You Tube has a great series of over 300 videos on things like running efficient meanings, project budgets. There are also great videos on Event Planning, Marketing Your Event, Reaching Your Event Goals, etc. that are directly relevant to our Marketing Team. This is a great time to sharpen the saw.  

5. Use video conferencing to stay connected. Whereas before, we would just make a regular phone call to a work colleague, now we’re strongly encouraging everyone who’s working remotely to use Zoom. Face to face interaction again helps with maintaining bonds and connections and ensuring the team still is invested in each other’s success.

** Bonus — When it comes to managing remote teams, set guidelines about what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable, so everyone is on the same page. Crying babies, barking dogs, etc. We all have a lot going on , but we need to still try our best to be professional and productive.

The key take away is that you can’t underestimate the importance of communicating as a team during a time like this. Working home can be a great time to get deep work done and focus, but connection and interaction is super important and should be prioritized as well, so here’s hoping these pointers help.

So, if you’re managing a work from home team, what are your tips for ensuring success? If you’re working from home, how dow you manage to get it all done?