Working from home for students and professionals became the norm when the world shut down in 2020. Of course, this involved people having to pivot accordingly via utilizing online tools. While some have done collaborations remotely before, many others had to do so having little to no experience and were unsure how to approach it.

If you currently relate to that, here are some tips on how you can manage and work with remote teams for school/jobs:

Determine The Best Platforms to Use For Your…

…Schooling

Say you’re a student doing a group project. You could communicate and stay up to date with your group members via widely used messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or Messenger.  If some exchanges are easier to carry out via a phone/video call, do so by all means.

Regarding the project itself, utilizing Google Workspace remains a great option. It’s free, provides useful tools, and all members can work on things at the same time.

…Job

An effective way that could help you decide is even asking the team what useful platforms they’d like (other than your standard work e-mail). Once the platforms are chosen, go from there. Slack remains a popular example amongst professionals as teams can create multiple chats, with each one having a different purpose. A suggestion would be using Slack for quick messages and Zoom, a video conferencing tool, for meetings.

It’s also important to gauge what’s necessary and what isn’t. To provide an example, if your schedule involves weekly meetings but believe that the information you want to convey for a certain week could just be e-mailed, then don’t hesitate to send an e-mail rather than conduct a meeting. If anyone has any questions about it, they could contact you directly. This would ultimately save everyone time and they can then put this time toward enhancing productivity.

What To Generally Keep in Mind When Managing/Working with Remote Teams

What’s very important when you’re managing and working with remote teams is being reliable. Since you’re unable to depend on the convenience of seeing people in-person, it’s crucial that you ask questions and/or initiate necessary discussions through your chosen platforms as soon as you can. Though this sometimes varies with factors including when your deadlines are and what you’re working on, everyone should expect prompt responses as well as updates from each other unless valid excuses are provided, e.g., family emergencies, health issues, etc.

Also, ensure that people are respectful toward one another. Everyone can have different opinions, but these should be expressed courteously. It’s helpful to remind your team that you all share goals and ideally will have conflict-free processes in achieving them. If a conflict does arise, this can be difficult when work is solely done online as people could not only have misunderstandings, but further send harmful messages. Of course, the right approach should be immediate action to try de-escalating these situations before they worsen. Overall, firmly establishing that respect is required remains crucial.

Though engaging in remote work with a team can be tricky, it definitely has the potential to turn out well for everyone involved. It’s beneficial to have a positive attitude when you approach these kinds of challenges as well as the determination to adapt. Whether this is for school or a job, if you stay reliable while focusing on what must be done, you’re on the right track toward successfully managing and working with a remote team.