Freelancers are used to working from home. They can work from anywhere in the world with a decent Internet connection and a laptop. In 2020, many businesses faced the need to switch to a “work from home” model. It resulted in the posing of new questions to business. The majority of them had to do with retaining and improving their workers' productivity. Do you have a strategy for keeping your remote team productive?

Managing a remote team is a time-consuming task that necessitates the leader's time and effort. Remote workers’ productivity is influenced by factors other than their physical position. It is affected by routines, the availability of appropriate equipment, and well-being. So, efficiency can be improved. Read to learn how.

Top 10 Ways To Keep A Remote Team Productive

There are many destructive factors affecting the productivity of remote teams. By proper organization of the working environment, you can boost not only their efficiency but well-being as well.

Setting boundaries and proper organization of a workplace at home

Destruction is the primary enemy of productivity. It takes much time that could be spent on work. There are several effective ways to minimize its influence:

• Choose a quiet place to work (extra noise will spoil the effort);
• Set comfortable temperature (high temperatures lead to rapid fatigue);
• Turn on the light (cool shades of white light keep a person awake for a long time);
• Keep to a schedule (keeping to a schedule will help you avoid blurring of boundaries between work and family life);
• Set the “Do not disturb” mode on your social networks, messages from friends that take you off from your work;
• Decorate your workplace with flowers (Plants do not only increase creative potential but improve air quality);
• Consider the schedule of your colleagues (When working as a part of a remote team, one should note that there may be time difference. Therefore, it is important to deliver tasks on time).

Use Protocols

The use of a protocol allows a manager to review and analyze his team's work on a daily basis. From the protocol, he can learn who on the team works on the project and how long it takes them every day (start and end time of the working day, activity), understand the content of their job, see progress (or regress), measure the amount of work completed, etc.

Improve Well-Being

The physical condition also affects productivity. Make sure that your team members adhere to healthy habits during work. Select the time during the day for movement, for example, for a walk after lunch, or take part in a healthy competition to see who can do the most push-ups, squats or track more steps during the week.

Help the Remote Team Feel Like a Team

The feeling of being a part of a team is ensured through communication. It can be achieved using:

• Messengers;
• Skype;
• Emails;
• Video conferencing;
• Online collaboration tools.

Daily meetings, even if they last only 15 minutes long, act as additional support and “an island of stability” for a remote team.

Online Meetings

Hold weekly meetings. In this way, the teammates can demonstrate to each other their achievements of the past week, conduct a joint retrospective, and plan cases for the next week, etc. Such meetings allow the entire remote team to synchronize in terms of achievements, plans and quick discussion of issues.

• To make sure that the meeting has the maximum effect, it is necessary:
• To hold a meeting via videoconference tools;
• To determine the topic for a meeting – the reason why you are calling, the issue you want to solve, etc.;
• To choose the host who will form the summary: when the meeting took place, participants, issues that were raised, what decisions were made, etc.;

Weekly Scorecards

It is also important to monitor the weekly progress of each employee. You can send out the results using instant messengers so that each team member can see the ratio of their results and feel the significance of his work. To get help with writing such a document correctly, you can visit best writing services reviews to find the right custom writing service.

Loom Screencasts

Loom is one of the top sites, allowing users to record screencasts, video records of their desktops. In such a video, one can give 2-minute instructions to a colleague, record feedback on the work, point out things that should be corrected or require revision. Such videos are convenient to store and review at any time. To record screencasts, one can use the Loom application.

Use Doodle

Considering that the team members may be located in different places across the country or the world, it is important to provide comfort for all. Doodle is a helpful tool for meeting arrangement that allows you to pick up the most convenient time for all. Each member marks the time he considers suitable for him, based on which the team leader can pick up the best time for all team members.

Increase “transparency” of work

Every morning, start by communicating via video or audio: what I did yesterday, what I will do today, what questions there are. Such gliders set the right attitude for the whole working day, and you know what your colleagues are doing.

A shared calendar will allow you to see the colleagues’ workload in advance, schedule meetings and discussions. A common list of activities will help you record scheduled meetings and team discussions.

The general mode of a remote team operation

If you are working remotely, the team must have a common operating mode. For example, everyone should be in touch from 10:00 to 19:00. General mode means that you can call and write to any team member at the specified time and get an online response. It must be as convenient as in the office to approach a colleague and ask him something.

To keep his remote team productive, every leader should do everything to make its members feel not like individual workers but part of a team and company.

Melissa Mauro is a self-improvement author who is always interested in new projects. She wants to create her own writer brand, that’s why Melissa is looking for fresh platforms for the implementation of her ideas. Creativity and unique style make it possible to deliver valuable and engaging content to her ideal reader.