Can working with a distributed team be effective and efficient? In times when more and more people decide to work on assignments in home office mode or run a single business as a freelancer, the ability to manage a distributed team has become a standard requirement. Although organizing the work of many people who do not have direct contact with each other is a big challenge, there are tools and methods that can make this task much easier.
Benefits of working with a distributed team.
In the age of the Internet, the labor market has become global. There is nothing to prevent employing specialists from other cities, countries, and even continents. Expanding the range of employees has had a positive impact on the development of economic activity for many years, especially thanks to the establishment of many company branches in different places around the world. The most frequently cited example illustrating the need for efficient management of a distributed team is sales departments. Organizing the work of many points of sale, hundreds or even thousands of kilometers apart, has become a necessary phenomenon for maintaining the harmonious development of enterprises and their expansion. If it were not for remote management of people, today we could only dream of a Starbucks and McDonald’s on every other street corner! Working with a distributed team, although more difficult than having stationary employees, is sometimes a more economical option. Paying for individual orders (depending on the current needs of the company) is clearly less expensive than hiring a full-time employee, who must be provided with a stationary workplace. This also reduces the costs associated with renting premises for a large group of people.
Difficulties in managing a dispersed team.
It is no secret that having a “remote” team requires a lot of commitment to good work organization. When people involved in a given project do not have direct contact with each other and exchange information only virtually, it is good to know how to facilitate and systematize this work. The most important thing is efficient communication, and this is what you should focus on the most. The division of duties is no less important, and these must be supervised and subject to rigid time frames. Keeping deadlines is undoubtedly a key issue, especially in multi-stage projects.
What do you need to remember when working with a dispersed team? Solutions!
Integration meetings.
Start by introducing your team members to each other. Communication in a group of strangers is significantly different from the relationships that prevail in a group that can occasionally afford to talk in person. As the head of the company, you should bring your employees together once a month/quarter/semi-annually, provide them with the opportunity to spend time together, participate in workshops and hold joint debates. Strong bonds and affinities result in greater respect and trust between group members.
Communication tools.
Telephone and e-mail do their job quite well. Unfortunately, many activities require simultaneous debate between several people, and writing e-mails to many recipients significantly delays work. Effective time management therefore requires the introduction of many improvements that will enable immediate contact between many employees at the same time. You can use chats such as Google Talk or Slack, the program Skype for business (video conferencing) and many others. Most of these applications also allow you to share files, but weaving documents between conversations leads to chaos. It is therefore good to have at hand a system that allows you to coordinate the work of a distributed team. And this is the task fulfilled byCRM systems for companies!
CRM – what is it?
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a tool that allows for effective management of the team, tasks and customers. For companies involved in the sale of goods and services, having an organized list of contractors, a document database in the cloud, calendars and task schedules available anywhere in the world makes work much easier. Each CRM system may differ slightly in terms of the services offered, but the main principle of operation is the same – a remote employee gains access to all information resources with one click of the mouse.
Which CRM system for companies should you choose?
We offer you a modern and intuitive tool CHMIURO that will completely revolutionize the work of your team. The system has been equipped with all the necessary functionalities:
– transparent calendar (offers all the conveniences known from Google calendar and MS Outlook in one place)
– capacious database of documents and the ability to share them (eliminates the need to use additional data spaces in the cloud, i.e. online drives – all files are sorted and appropriately described, which makes navigation much easier)
– multiple system languages (this option is useful when you employ foreign-speaking people)
– client lists and company lists (provides access to all important data for each employee, creating notes and new business goals)
– tags (marking content with tags appropriately indexes the content and streamlines subsequent database searches)
– automatic generation of task and settlement reports (issuing invoices has never been so easy!)
– creating tasks and subtasks, assigning duties to specific employees, assigning start times and implementation (organizes the work of a distributed team and enables meeting deadlines)
– the ability to connect up to 100 co-users to one account!
Using CHMIURO allows you to combine many utility applications into one extremely intuitive business tool. Working with the CRM system, all your files, calendars, tasks, reports and invoices are in one place, and remote and stationary employees have full access to them, anytime and anywhere. No more time-consuming navigation between multiple applications and browser tabs – just CHMIURO!
Division of duties.
A clear definition of goals is important in any teamwork, and is particularly important in managing a distributed team. Since it is not possible to directly convene the team and discuss the progress of the current project, the only option left is toeffectively manage tasks via the Internet. If you want to maintain order, follow a few basic rules:
1. Present clear teamwork goals – your employees should know what their actions are aimed at, what tasks the final product should fulfill and what its final shape should be.
2. Divide the entire project into stages, so-called milestones, and set specific deadlines for their completion. A responsible person (coordinator) should be assigned to each stage.
3. Divide milestones into tasks, i.e. subtasks for specific specialists in the team. Also set deadlines for the tasks.
4. Prepare a calendar with a schedule, in which you will include all deadlines, tasks and subtasks, as well as the names of the people responsible for the individual components of the entire project – each employee should know what their responsibilities are and who they should direct their work to for further improvement.
5. Monitor and control all stages of the project on an ongoing basis – as the old Polish proverb says: “The Lord’s eye fattens the horse” – so do nothesitate to ensure that work is done carefully and that time limits are adhered to.
Employee motivation.
Employee motivation is a key answer to the question of how to manage a team well. There are many ways to awaken in people a great enthusiasm for work. One of them is a system of bonuses (cash or in kind), awarded for quick work, special accuracy, innovation, ingenuity. Statistics are clear – well-paid people give more of themselves, especially when they are guided by the vision of additional gratification. This can be very simply explained by the functioning of the brain’s “reward and punishment” system, but let’s leave biological issues to biologists, and let’s take care of business.
Not only material bonuses can fulfill their task. Recently, it has become very fashionable to use gamification techniques, i.e. introducing the rules of role-playing games in non-game situations. Gamification is particularly useful when the team is faced with exceptionally tedious, long-term and routine activities. In simple terms, it is subject to the same rules as MMORPG games:
– collecting virtual points for completed tasks
– achieving promotions that add prestige, raising the position in the ranking
– earning badges for achievements
– introducing group and individual competition
– building a network of common communication
Gamification can awaken in employees the desire for competition and self-improvement known from top games, and these, as we know, can absorb completely. Thanks to it, work becomes more enjoyable and gives much more fun, especially when team members add role-play elements to the fun and start to follow the rules of the “game” with special care. Although gamification in theory sounds a bit bizarre from an adult’s perspective, in practice it is one of the most effective team motivators. Why? The answer is child’s play – good fun is sometimes worth much more than gifts and money. That’s the whole secret!