Remote work and remote project management – these two terms have become progressively popular around the world over the past few years and with the coronavirus changing the ways of working around the world, several organizations have switched to working remotely.
Remote work has innumerable upsides both for the organizations and individuals. It gives employees room to breathe, allows them to optimize their performance, and give their productive best. As per reports, over 99% of remote workers say they would like to continue working from home indefinitely.
Naturally, with remote work comes remote project management, which is essential to keep projects afloat and streamline work thereby eliminating the hassle that comes with working from home. Managers need to maintain a systematic method of sourcing work from employees and ensuring everyone performs to the best of their ability even when working remotely.
What Is Remote Project Management?
To understand what is remote project management, readers first need to understand what are remote project teams.
A remote project team is a group of professionals working cohesively as a unit from different geographical locations and time zones. Even though it may sound complex, remote teamwork has generated brilliant results for several organizations and has been a breather for professionals as well.
A study conducted by Global Workplace Analytics shows that organizations lose up to $600 billion a year owing to workplace distractions and telecommuters are over 35-40% more productive than their office-going counterparts. All these statistics speak largely in favor of remote work and its positive aspects.
As remote work becomes more and more popular, it becomes increasingly vital for managers to effectively govern remote working teams and ensure employees are at their productive best. So far, working remotely has been a profitable bid for organizations and that is precisely why they plan to continue with it in the future too.
Types Of Remote Teams In A Project
There are several types of remote teams, categorized based on different criteria. The major types of remote teams are:
- Fully remote teams: The name is self-explanatory, as these teams wholly operate from remote locations with all members working from different geographical locations.
- Hybrid teams: Hybrid teams consist of a distributed workforce where some team members work from a centralized location such as an office while others work from remote locations. Professionals have the opportunity to choose between working from home or designated office space or shuffle between the two.
- Flex teams: Flex teams are flexible working whether it means working remotely or from co-located spaces. Such teams create room for innovation and tap into the existing skill set of the members.
Advantages Of Working As A Remote Project Team
Remote teams have been amply successful in delivering high-quality results thereby becoming a preferred choice for various organizations across the globe. With various ways and means to ensure effective remote project management, many organizations plan to continue with the same indefinitely.
There are many advantages to working in a remote project team and we have tried to comprehensively list a few of them below:
- Increased Productivity
As per remote work statistics by Coso Cloud, over 77% of remote working professionals say they are at their productive best when working from home. Various other reports and studies have conclusively proven that the productivity level of employees has skyrocketed ever since they began working remotely. Furthermore, the number of leaves and workplace distractions is also limited making working remotely an ideal working proposition for individuals. Flexibility, minimum intrusion, and a comfortable working environment are a few reasons why working remotely is preferred by several working professionals.
Remote project management includes ensuring efficient collaboration and communication between all members of the team and it is the responsibility of managers to make this happen. Remote work is a great option for organizations as well as employees, especially if the skillset is harnessed constructively.
- Improved Mental Wellness
A recent survey by Flexjobs showed that 77% of individuals feel that working remotely has allowed them to focus on their mental health and consequently perform better at work. Stress is a byproduct of working every day and feeling pressured to deliver your best. However, distraught mental health can directly affect an individual’s performance at work. Therefore, managers must concentrate on managing their teams in a way where their mental balance is maintained perfectly.
From reduced commuting hours to flexible timings and quality time with family, remote work has been a blessing for employees who spent their life in a cubicle for hours.
However, one must remember that making remote work easy or hard greatly depends on remote project management and how managers superintend their teams.
- Minimum Expenditure
Another upside of working with a remote project team is that one can cut down on expenses and concentrate on saving as much money as they can. Furthermore, working remotely is a great bargain for organizations as well as they can save on electricity, rent, management, and much more.
The only additional costs that companies have to bear is that of investing in a great collaboration and management tool that sorts everything out for them and helps in cost-cutting on various levels. Tools like ProofHub, Jira, Asana, and many more have proven to be indispensable in terms of remote project management and helped teams collaborate easily.
In a nutshell, working remotely is a great way for individuals and organizations to save on expenditures of everyday life and invest in something more concrete and yielding.
- Access To Global Talent
Another very cool aspect of remote project management is that managers get access to a vast reserve of talent pool irrespective of geographical or physical boundaries. Since employees have to work remotely, real-time location is no bar and hence, individuals sitting in different timezones can work seamlessly.
Talent acquisition and recruitment have become easy and accessible due to remote work as recruiters are not bound by area and a specific candidate database. Tapping into the global talent pool is one of the biggest upsides of remote project management and if done right it can lead to exponential growth in the overall productivity of an organization.
Challenges Of Working As A Remote Project Team
Remote work might sound all fun and comfortable but some challenges accompany managing a remote project team. Collaboration and communication are quintessential when working in remote teams and any compromises in the same can cause a team to collapse.
Even though effective management makes all these challenges manageable it can still be exigent and can cause work to go haywire.
To educate our readers about the challenges that come with managing a remote team, here are a few pointers:
- Communication
Not being physically present with your teammates and discussing work can be a problem when working remotely. It can create a wedge between colleagues and limit the exchange of ideas thereby stunting their overall performance.
However, a great solution to this challenge is using the right collaboration and communication tools such as ProofHub which have abundant features that make communicating within the team accessible. These tools are beneficial in conveying team ideas and vision and communicating daily.
Communication makes or breaks a team, therefore, frequent video conferencing, group and one on one chats, virtual team-building exercises, events, and celebrations are a great way of ensuring team communication and interaction. Managers need to make sure communication within the team is streamlined and frequent.
- Work-life balance
Another major problem faced by remote workers is the elimination of a definite work-life balance. Working remotely diminishes the difference between personal and professional space and many remote workers often end up compromising with their private lives.
Statistics say that over 68% of employees believe that poor work-life balance negatively impacts their energy and motivation at work.
An organization’s management plays a pivotal role in helping employees strike a balance in life and many times this comes as a challenge to them. Overworked employees often underperform due to burning out and pressure which is detrimental for the organization. Hence, managers must make sure employees are at their physical and mental prime to deliver the best results.
- Lack of accountability and trust
Another predicament that remote working individuals face is cohesion and accountability within the team. Since employees are not together physically even with flawless tools developing a rapport of mutual trust and respect can be challenging.
Accountability within a team is of paramount importance, and thus, the manager must encourage team members to make decisions on their own, consult each other, and work in unison. A great way to promote accountability between teams and managers is by using the right tool that streamlines work, displays progress, and promotes transparency.
- Dealing with conflicts
Another major challenge faced during remote project management is resolving conflicts and addressing employee issues. Conflicts and disagreements are commonplace when working in a team but what matters is recognizing and solving conflicts when working in a group.
The project manager must keep employee relationships in check and make sure all their concerns related to the organization and each other are settled. This ensures employee satisfaction and smooth functioning of all verticals in the organization.
Tips To Manage Remote Teams
Remote teams, as I mentioned above, can be a little hard to manage, you may feel like things are falling out of control since you can neither see anything nor can you manage them hands-on.
It’s the lack of this control that can make you feel like remote team management might not be the most doable thing in the world. However, with the right tips and tricks, you can certainly be a leader equipped enough to manage your remote team effectively.
When it comes to managing a team that is not completely under our umbrella of control, I like to stick to the following principles:
- Use The Right Tools
Project management and communication tools are designed to make handling a team easy, and accessible, which is why they are a boon for managers. Such tools enable managers to quantify, sort, delegate, and complete tasks based on priority and preference and help remote workers connect regularly with each other. These tools enable teams to stay on top of deadlines, stay organized, and impart clarity to the team as a whole.
Using the right tools is essential for organizations especially for teams that are based remotely. There are countless collaboration and management software available on the internet, managers just need to zero down on a tool based on their requirements.
There are a variety of tools available on the market as per the needs and requirements of teams. These tools are:
- Communication and collaboration tools
- Project Management Tools
- Resource Management Tools
- Customer Resource Management (CRM)
- Video Conferencing Tools
- Time Management Tools
In a nutshell, the best part of online tools is that they help track all the developments in a project from its inception to its successful completion. They help teams collaborate, communicate, and work cohesively whether it is remote work or working out of an office.
- Stay Organized
Remote work relies greatly on organization and cohesion for without these teams are scattered and their foundations are compromised. From cascading the right set of information to streamlining daily work and communicating often, the organization is a key requirement for remote teams.
As managers, individuals must define roles clearly and must be aware of what each member is up to. Quite often remote teams suffer because of a lack of coordination and proper management.
Good organization also includes formulating a concrete plan, checking in with team members regularly, and staying on top of deadlines. The crux is proper planning and organization are essential for remote project management.
- Set Achievable Goals
Working remotely can often take a toll on your physical and mental health and can leave you disoriented. Therefore, it is quintessential for managers to set achievable goals and push their team to do better without adding any external pressure. As a leader, you must never let your team members feel disillusioned or undervalued.
Setting ambitious yet achievable goals gives your team a chance to challenge themselves and achieve This way a team stays motivated and moves forward with certainty, not to forget that these goals are great for the overall productivity of a team as well as individuals.
Moreover, these goals serve as a source of motivation and encouragement for teams and help them perform better at work.
- Virtual Hangouts
Virtual connectivity tools have made remote connectivity super accessible and easy. Online connectivity platforms such as Zoom, Google-Meet, Microsoft Teams, and many more such tools have made communication and collaboration among remote teams smooth and effective.
As per a study by Remote. co over 87% of remote working individuals like connecting over video conference calls better than other modes of communication. To improve communication and keep virtual teams connected managers must organize virtual team-building sessions and interactive exercises. Virtual team-building exercises are a great way to bond with a team and build a rapport with each other. Such exercises help build accountability and trust within the team and make employees feel worthy in an organization.
Virtual events and celebrations like Halloween, Diwali, Christmas, Birthdays, and many more also help add a personalized touch to everyday work and give employees forge bonds beyond work.
Wrapping it up
Remote work has become the new normal and organizations of all sizes, big and small have embraced it with open arms. Initially, managing a remotely functioning team can be a challenging task but as time passes, with the right tools and guidance, it can be done easily.
Managers need to come up with robust strategies to make remote work productive and interesting while keeping employee satisfaction in mind. Remote project management can be easily managed with the right plan and proper execution of the same.
I hope this write-up helps readers understand the basics and importance of project management and helps managers work more efficiently.
Questions:
What is remote project management?
Remote project management is the act of planning and managing your projects and teams remotely with the help of remote project management tools like ProofHub.
How to manage teams in different locations
The best way to manage teams in different locations is by using an all-in-one project management tool like ProofHub that allows you to stay in ultimate control of everything.
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