The Best Tools To Manage Remote Teams
Remote teams are becoming an increasingly popular feature of the modern workplace, and this is only possible because of advances in technology and software.
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Whilst remote working can bring about a number of benefits – such as flexibility, productivity, efficiency and reduced stress levels – it can also present some challenges that you don’t experience in an office environment.
We’ve rounded up some of the best tools out there to help your team stay on track, remain connected and organise their time.
Meetings.
A fundamental part of the working day for most businesses is regular meetings to discuss and work on projects.
However, when your team is here, there and everywhere, it can be difficult and frustrating to try and select a time that suits everyone.
Shared cloud-based calendars are fast-becoming a common way for individuals and groups to manage their time effectively.
Both Google Calendar and Outlook sync up to any device and link up with your email account too. From here, you can not only manage your own daily tasks but also arrange meetings and add in details like time, location and agenda. They’ll also connect to video-calling software.
Meanwhile, if you’re sick of telling people your availability – or just don’t know it off by heart – Calendly is the perfect companion. Integrating with your online calendar, the nifty application allows people to book in a time that both of you can make. You can also see your entire department’s availability on one convenient page.
If it’s group meetings you particularly struggle with (who else hates long back-and-forth email threads?), Doodle is the answer.
Again, it automatically syncs with your diary, but the difference is your group can create and participate in polls to decide when is best to meet. Take it a step further and you can vote on other things, such as the best place to meet and dietary requirements.
Time management.
When you’re all working towards one goal, it can be tricky to bounce ideas off or just catch up with your colleagues when you’re working from home. It’s not just a case of turning around to the person sitting next to you.
Trello allows you to manage your time and projects through a range of boards, lists and cards that can be neatly arranged and prioritised. The productivity platform enables you to design powerful workflows to ensure everyone knows what they should be doing and when.
Likewise, Asana is a great project management tool. You can set tasks for your teammates and vice versa. It also provides you with the capability of creating timelines, setting deadlines and delegating tasks.
Meanwhile, shared cloud-based drives, such as Google Drive, OneDrive and DropBox can help you to collaborate on documents, fill out spreadsheets and edit and review each other’s work in real-time.
The beauty of the cloud is that you can easily access any file you upload from anywhere with a WiFi connection.
On top of this, if you use Google Drive and Google Calendar together – or alternatively Outlook and OneDrive – you can make sure everything is in one place, ready to be accessed from your mobile phone, laptop or tablet.
Communications.
The key to success when it comes to remote teams is communication, and sometimes email doesn’t quite cut it.
Luckily, there are so many apps and tools out there to quickly connect you to your coworkers.
Microsoft Teams is a chat and online meeting software that lets you host audio, video and web conferences – as well as instant messaging – with anyone inside or outside of your organisation.
It comes as part of the Office 365 subscription and Microsoft has just released a free, small team-friendly version that supports companies of up to 300 people.
We also like their competitors, Slack, for communicating with clients and colleagues. With this app, you can set up your own workspace, where you can create chat channels and direct message your workmates.
In the meantime, Zoom is quickly growing in notoriety for being an enterprise-level video communications platform. With this cloud-based application, you can arrange video and audio conferencing, as well as mobile-friendly webinars.
If you would like to chat more about how to successfully manage a remote team, please get in touch with us today.