Research shows that 44% of companies worldwide allow remote work, and 16% have fully remote teams.
As remote work grows, businesses increasingly hire remotely or offer flexible work options. Managing remote teams offers clear advantages, such as access to a larger talent pool and improved productivity.
This guide outlines key strategies for effectively managing remote teams, equipping you with the tools to leverage a global workforce.
Remote Management: What Is It?
Remote management involves overseeing a team that works from different locations. Setting up the right technology, communication channels, and workflows requires ensuring the team functions smoothly.
While remote managers share many of the same traits as in-person managers, key differences exist in how they lead, support, and guide their teams from a distance.
The focus is on clear communication, strong tech tools, and effective systems that keep everyone aligned, regardless of their location.
What Great Remote Managers Do Differently
Managing a remote team involves clear communication, strong planning, and using the right tools to stay efficient.
Effective remote managers know how to keep teams productive, engaged, and focused on the company’s overall goals. Here are key strategies:
1. Set A Clear Expectations
Setting clear expectations means defining roles, creating transparency, and holding team members accountable.
Every remote worker should know their objectives, how their tasks contribute to the company’s goals, and have a clear path to success.
Best practices:
- Develop Detailed Role Descriptions: Outline specific tasks, expected outcomes, and available resources for each role. Share these during onboarding and update them regularly.
- Create a Shared Project Roadmap: Use tools like Asana or Trello to map out project timelines, milestones, and responsibilities. Ensure every team member understands how their work impacts the overall project.
- Set SMART Goals: Use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) framework to set clear goals. Review progress in 1:1 meetings or team calls and adjust as needed.
2. Create Regular Check-Ins
Regular check-ins are essential to maintain open communication and keep remote workers on track. These should go beyond routine updates—they’re opportunities for problem-solving, providing feedback, and strengthening relationships.
Use a 30-60-90-day Cadence for New Hires
For new team members, schedule check-ins at 30, 60, and 90 days. These meetings should focus on progress, addressing any issues, and setting long-term goals. Tailor them to help new hires integrate smoothly.
Structure Your 1:1s
Create an agenda for individual check-ins. Cover key areas like workload, personal development, challenges, and feedback. Leave room for casual conversation to build rapport and maintain a personal connection.
3. Organize Virtual Team-Building Activities
Building a strong team culture remotely requires intentional effort. Virtual team-building activities help create a sense of camaraderie and reduce isolation for remote workers.
- Create Recurring Social Events: Schedule monthly virtual events such as game nights, escape rooms, or trivia. Rotate the organizer’s role to keep things fresh and ensure everyone participates.
- Host Cross-Departmental Meetups: Encourage collaboration by setting up virtual meetups between different teams or departments. This promotes knowledge sharing and strengthens cross-functional relationships.
4. Celebrate Milestones
Celebrating milestones helps build a positive, motivating culture for remote teams by recognizing individual contributions.
Setting up an employee recognition program allows team members to acknowledge each other’s achievements, fostering a culture of appreciation.
Personalizing celebrations, like sending a thoughtful gift or mentioning personal milestones in meetings, ensures team members feel valued and engaged, even from a distance.
5. Unify Employee Data
For remote teams, managing scattered employee data across different systems can create inefficiencies and errors.
Unifying this data into one integrated system, such as Rippling, streamlines HR tasks like payroll, benefits management, and headcount planning.
By bringing all data into a single platform, managers can easily access real-time information, no matter where their team members are located, reducing manual work and improving accuracy.
6. Offer Professional Development
Offering professional development opportunities keeps remote teams engaged and growing.
Providing access to online courses and certifications helps team members enhance their skills, while regular check-ins ensure their progress is tracked and goals are updated.
Focusing on development helps retain talent and drives performance, ensuring teams stay productive and competitive on a global scale.
7. Encourage Work-Life Balance in Remote Teams
Remote teams need a healthy work-life balance to stay productive, creative and engaged.
Managers should foster an environment that supports mental and physical well-being. Since remote work can blur the lines between personal and professional time, it’s essential to set clear boundaries and lead by example.
Best Practices:
- Implement Flexible Working Hours: Allow team members to set their own schedules within a broad framework. This enables them to manage time effectively while meeting business needs. Ensure everyone updates their calendars with available hours so coworkers know when they’re online and when they aren’t.
- Promote PTO Use: Remind remote employees to take time off regularly. Set an example by taking breaks yourself. Consider scheduling company-wide “unplugged days” where everyone disconnects at the same time.
- Provide Wellness Resources: Offer access to wellness programs, like mindfulness apps, virtual fitness classes, or mental health counseling. Encourage participation and make wellness a core part of your team’s culture.
8. Choose the Right Tools for Success
Pick tools that support tasks, collaboration, and security. Regularly review and replace tools that don’t add value. Focus on seamless integrations, like syncing Slack with Asana for better communication and task management.
9. Set Clear Performance Goals
Use the OKR framework to establish measurable goals. Review them quarterly to stay on track with company priorities. Tools like Rippling can help track progress and ensure alignment with team objectives.
10. Streamline Device Management
Managing remote devices can be complex. Use tools like Rippling to monitor, update, and secure devices, ensuring compliance and security across all locations.
11. Take Advantage of Asynchronous Communication
Asynchronous communication boosts flexibility and prevents bottlenecks across time zones. Set clear guidelines for using tools like Loom for video updates or Confluence for documentation.
Encourage detailed updates so team members can access information when needed, reducing real-time meetings. Use tools like Google Docs or Notion to collaborate on documents asynchronously.
12. Prioritize Employee Well-Being
Support remote employees by offering flexible work arrangements and wellness benefits like mental health support and fitness programs. Create a culture that values well-being to keep employees engaged and productive.
13. Document Everything
Managing remote teams can quickly become complex. Important tasks often get missed when project activities shift from a physical setting to a virtual one.
To manage remote teams effectively, it’s essential to document workflows, roles, and processes clearly.
Simply keeping things in your head won’t work. The best way to improve team productivity is to document everything and make it easily accessible to all team members.
Create clear, detailed documents that outline:
- Checklists and templates for routine tasks
- Playbooks for project protocols and procedures
- Flow charts for actions in dynamic situations
- Forms to capture key information and instructions
Store these documents on a shared platform where remote team members can access them anytime. This approach minimizes bottlenecks and helps teams stay on track, boosting overall efficiency.
14. Set Clear Expectations
Clarity is key in remote teams. Around 34% of remote workers worldwide say transparency from leadership makes them feel more connected. To achieve this, set clear rules and expectations.
Define boundaries and make sure your team knows what’s expected of them.
For example, some employees might feel uncomfortable with surprise video calls if unprepared. Let them know how you’ll manage the team remotely.
Key areas to communicate include:
- Company values and behaviors
- Remote work procedures
- Project-specific guidelines
- Communication style
- Workload and availability expectations
Start by holding a kick-off meeting to introduce policies. Follow up regularly in weekly or monthly check-ins to keep everyone aligned.
15. Use the Right Communication Tools
Email has its place, but it isn’t always the best option for all communication needs. For remote teams, consider alternatives for things like:
- Status updates
- Shared resources
- Project schedules and deadlines
- Troubleshooting guides
Choose the right tools for different tasks. Instant messaging, virtual meetings, and cloud sharing can be more effective for quick exchanges or collaborative work.
To avoid random video calls, set clear guidelines on when and how video meetings should be used.
What Makes A Great Remote Manager
Managing remote teams requires specific skills that go beyond traditional in-person management.
Here are the key traits every remote manager should have:
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is essential for managing remote teams. Managers should openly share communication styles and avoid micromanaging.
Instead, set clear expectations and find what works for everyone. This builds trust and ensures smooth collaboration across global teams.
Empathy
Empathy is crucial for remote managers. Without body language, it’s important to check in with team members about their well-being and learning preferences.
Empathetic managers build stronger connections and reduce burnout, isolation, and anxiety.
Servant-Leadership
A servant-leader puts the team first, without ego. In remote settings, this is especially important. Managers should lead by example and understand that reports are still learning how they prefer to be managed.
Reinforcing that requests for help are welcome builds trust and confidence, ensuring a supportive remote work environment.
Detailed Communication
Great remote managers understand the value of clear, written communication. Rather than saving time by skipping full explanations, they dedicate time to documenting thoughts.
Building Trust
Building trust is essential for remote team leadership. A trustworthy leader consistently provides feedback, making team members feel included, valued, and respected.
Remote leaders must be adaptable, recognizing that some team members need more communication while others prefer independence. Asking about and adjusting to these preferences removes ambiguity, which is key to effective leadership.
Great remote managers build a supportive environment, balancing accountability with trust. Regular communication and transparency are critical to maintaining a safe, productive remote team.
Conclusion
Managing remote teams goes beyond tasks. It’s about supporting well-being and fostering strong communication.
Leadership matters. These strategies will push you to grow and improve your team’s performance.
Start using these practices today. A solid communication tool will also help bring the team together, no matter the distance.