How to Keep Your Remote Team Engaged

 

The rapid increase in companies moving their teams to work-from-home arrangements due to COVID-19 now has many employers and employees the same questioning whether a return to the office makes sense.

Many will continue business remotely—especially as some employees have expressed they may change jobs to escape going back.

Your remote team is comprised of several employees. These employees work from home, or outside the corporate office's space due to the nature of their job.

When it comes to keeping your team engaged and motivated, you're going to need an approach that relies on communication channels as well as activities that drive true teamwork.

Below we've listed ways that you can bring these two aspects together into something engaging and motivating for your remote team.

1. Try both Synchronous and Asynchronous Communications

Employers of remote teams should think of various options for online communication to maximize engagement. This begins by understanding the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication.

Synchronous communication refers to real-time information exchange that models face-to-face interaction. It allows for instant responses and immediate answers to pings, such as a phone call or various online messenger tools.

Asynchronous communication, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same expectation of a quick-turnaround reply—for example, email.

When the team is working remotely most of the employees tends to chat tools often thus people might get a real-time and quick response, that is how asynchronous communication is also very important for remote work.

Keeping synchronous and asynchronous communication help you to balance the remote work culture very smoothly.

2. Focus on Results and Purpose

Engaging a team is equivalently related to the feeling of proprietorship and self-responsibility.

Encourage all members of the team to take turns being in charge for one day each week. This way, the entire team is a leader at some point in time.

Your goal should be to find different ways of stimulating teamwork when being "in charge."

This can entail: - Workshops on topics that interest the team - Fun activities like taking a team picture and sending it to each other via e-mail.

Activities that are easy such as video calls between members or chat room discussions.

Hold monthly or semi-monthly all-day retreats for the entire remote team. This would involve a mix of fun activities and planning sessions where you take turns setting up the agenda and running the meeting.

This is an honest approach. It's also one that will make a huge impact on your remote team because it will allow them to engage in communal activities.

Additionally, you should use this opportunity to find ways to encourage teamwork from all the employees as well as form your remote team into a virtual organization.

You need to adopt an approach that somehow motivates your remote employees to make the extra effort in each communication channel they use with you.

This means incorporating their online tone of voice into their emails or even their online profile photos of themselves at work.

There's no reason why your team members shouldn't adopt this same approach when communicating with members outside of your organization.

Encourage your remote employees to host and attend events in your organization. It's also important to structure these events in a way that keeps everyone engaged and motivated to create a sense of teamwork.

For instance, if you're planning an event where someone needs to speak at it, you should organize it so that other teams are encouraged to attend as well.

When working remotely, you need to find ways for your team members to remain engaged with one another while still becoming more involved with their work outside of the office.

3. Stay Connected

Staying connected with your team is more important than ever right now. And so is helping your employees stay engaged with their jobs and each other. Looking for more advice on keeping your remote team engaged?

Equip your team with a time tracking software like Time Champ which helps you to maintain productivity and know all the insights of your remote team.

Time Champ is a complete software solution for time tracking and employee productivity management. It’s used by every size company’s i.e. Large, Medium, and Small also by freelancers and business owners to boost employee productivity.

With Time Champ you can:

1. Adequately improve team productivity.

2. Reduce time spent on distractions.

3. Help improve business processes

4. View what applications and websites the VA visited while working

5. Analyse their productivity with accurate reports.

Want to know if your team is actually getting work done? Book a demo with Time Champ