Team management is a difficult task since it’s not something one ever truly master. Unlike with typing a line of code, closing a deal, or writing a blog post, it’s a skill that you need to practice and study to support the growth of your staff.
While most of the principles you learn over the course of your career will last, managing hybrid or remote teams means you must polish your communication and transparency to best support the workers whom you don’t meet with face-to-face.
Mistakes to avoid with virtual teams
A 2022 Cisco survey says that 82% of workers feel happier when they’re allowed to work from anywhere in the world. Being able to work remotely is must-have for many individuals these days, but the option isn’t enough to retain them for the long-term.
If you’re hoping to build productive and efficient remote teams, get better at team management, starting with knowing the common pitfalls that managers fall into and the proper solutions for them.
Choosing the wrong tool
When used correctly, workplace collaboration platforms boost the communication between your clients and your team. Selecting the wrong applications or using them incorrectly consumes your time thereby ruining your productivity. The problems you’re facing with collaboration may be because you’re not using the right tools.
Some of our suggestions for platforms include: Slack for workplace collaboration, Zoom for video conferencing, Trello for project management, and Teamwork for time management. With the right applications in place, ensure your team knows how to use them especially in maximising their functions and features.
Failing to trust your people
It’s normal to feel doubtful about your new hire remote staff in the Philippines since they’re basically strangers to you. It’s different when an employee has been with you for a few months but you don’t trust them to perform their assignments and meet deadlines.
A lack of trust usually leads to micromanagement, which adds pressure onto your direct reports and yourself. Since your team is constantly on edge about their actions, they tend to get less work done. Remember that giving some autonomy is part of working with remote teams.
Forgetting about time differences
With virtual teams, it’s likely that some of your workers are in a different time zone. You might have decided to hire a Filipino freelancer to partner with your Australian developers, for instance. To avoid alienating these employees, consider the time they are working in too.
Practice empathy and respect their work hours. Though it may be the middle of the day for you, it may be the dead of night for them and they’ve long logged off. Be realistic about your expectations when it comes to their attendance for meetings or even in submitting their output.
Skipping performance evaluations
Conversations with your team members one-on-one are more important than you think. They’re especially crucial when you have a new hire VA in the Philippines who is still getting used to your system, processes, and standards. It helps them to know which areas they need to improve in and which areas they are talented in.
Schedule weekly sessions where you provide them feedback regarding their work. It might be during the start of the week or the end of it. This is also useful for establishing trust and rapport with your workers since it shows that you see their progress and contributions to company goals.
Making up rules as you go
One of the biggest mistakes one makes as a manager is improvising rules. It works as a temporary fix for when you encounter corporate issues or scandals but ensure that you have inbuilt working practices and policies in place. Make sure your people are aware what are or aren’t allowed.
While you must be flexible and provide autonomy, see to it that you have a clear strategy as well. It may be that you need your new hire Filipino VA to message you before logging out or your software developer to include you in email threads, for example.
Focusing on the hours
Many people decide to work remotely due to the flexibility that comes with this arrangement. A few members of your team might login during the afternoon when they’re at their most productive. The problem is that many managers still focus on the number of hours worked.
Normal office working conditions dictate that people must log in and out at certain times. Avoid carrying this on when dealing with remote staffing, meaning allow your new hire virtual assistant in the Philippines to work when they’re at their best. See if it’s possible to focus on their output or deliverables instead of the time.
Having inconsistent communication
You’d be surprised to learn how many problems occur due to inconsistent communication amongst teams or with clients. Outside of using the wrong platform, another reason may be that there are incoherent policies regarding the methods or frequency of communication in place.
The smallest of issues become worse since team members are spread out across different locations and time zones. Hence, one of the first steps in hiring Filipino remote workers should be checking that your communication policies make sense for everyone involved.
Neglecting to connect with the team
As a remote manager, you must expend more time and effort to connect with your virtual staff. Interactions happen naturally in an office, such as meeting by the water cooler or vending machine, but this isn’t the case when you’re fully online. Engaging with VAs means scheduling it into your calendar.
Facilitate group interactions such as team coffee breaks where you talk about non-work related topics. You may also start a hobby group like one that plays online video games together during their days off. If you have the budget for it, send the people in the same city off on a team building exercise.
Overlooking members for levelling up
Check if you’re showing favouritism towards office workers versus remote staffing. Ask yourself if they’re being trained adequately for their roles and if they’re included in considerations for promotions. If they are being omitted from promotions and training, change your processes then.
There are many ways to conduct training remotely these days, including hopping on Zoom or Skype. If you’re worried about their capabilities to finish a greater workload since they’re virtual, evaluate their current performance and slowly ease the additional responsibilities into their schedules rather than dump them all in one go.
Conducting too many meetings
What works in a physical setting doesn’t always work in a remote one. For instance, many leaders believe that holding a meeting is going to resolve any and all kinds of concerns and conflicts. This doesn’t translate well with remote teams as it only causes meeting fatigue.
Meeting with your employees too often means they get interrupted in their work more frequently too. Plus, there are many issues that may be quickly resolved through chat or email. When you set out to hire a virtual assistant in the Philippines, decide and inform them how often you’ll meet virtually.
Being good only at talking
Nothing is worse than setting a bad example for your virtual assistants. It’s a sure way for them to feel disengaged and disappointed in their employer or your brand. They also begin to think that they’re allowed to do whatever you’re doing, be it submitting work late or skipping work to go out.
To have everyone on their best game, set a good example or walk your talk. If you say that nobody is allowed to file leaves during critical working days, you mustn’t be allowed to be absent during those days either. If you say they’re not on call, don’t send them messages outside of their office hours.
Lacking transparent expectations
Since you’re not all in the same office space, make sure that everything is laid out as explicitly as possible to avoid any confusion regarding deadlines, goals, and standards. Working in a fast-paced environment also makes you forget that the people around you can’t read your mind.
Establish ground rules on the quality you’re hoping to see in their deliverables and the time you want them to submit their output. Be transparent about why you chose to hire that freelancer in the Philippines, how you want them to format emails, and so on.
Why not hire a Filipino virtual assistant?
There are multiple factors to consider when setting up new virtual teams, so it’s easy to make missteps. We at Remote Workmate can help you manage risks better and ensure your remote workers are productive and efficient.
How is this possible, you ask? To start with, we screen each of our applicants according to your requirements then we orient them about your organisation. We also enable you to replace your virtual assistant when necessary.
So, click the button below to begin your remote staffing journey!
