What are the challenges of managing a remote team?

Questions that comes to my mind when it comes to managing people remotely🤷‍♀️ : How do I continue to do well? How do I create proximity in the absence of physical presence? How can I ensure high motivation, performance and productivity? ‍When it comes to challenges: 1. There is little face-to-face interaction. How we're dealing with it? We block out times during the day when we're available for short sessions with remote employees and share our calendars with them so they know when we're available. 2. Lack of social exchange. We plan remote interactions, start a fun chat channel, or "grab coffee" together — whatever helps maintain a sense of normalcy. 3. Virtual trust. Controlling and micromanaging are not the keys to a successful remote working relationship. It's all about trust. Teams work well together when they know the other person, trust them, and are confident in their reliability and performance. Increase trust among your team members. Encourage teams to take responsibility for their contributions to discussions and decision-making. This indirectly encourages them and prompts them to consider the quality of their work and process. 4. Information exchange. Managers who lead virtually have a variety of options to ensure that they and their staff members always have the same, most recent information and can, therefore, work and communicate with one another optimally. Create a remote communication policy that you all agree on. This can include mandatory weekly standup calls, task assignments that must be done within a project management tool, or that instant messaging should be mainly used during specific hours. Make sure everyone follows the rules and policies, and your communication should become less chaotic and more conducive to producing great remote work. 5. Management of workload and performance. One of the difficulties in managing remote employees is ensuring that everyone understands exactly what is expected of them. When delegating tasks, consider what other deadlines your teammate may have. This allows you to determine an appropriate timeframe for completing the work. Cheers! 😍😎

Managing people and making sure they are motivated to work and get a result has always been a challenge, and being a good manager is a talent IMHO. But still, it's possible and doable when proper digital tools are adopted. In my team, we use TMetric, an all-in-one solution for team and workflow management. It makes our work hours easier, more seamless, and more productive.