The transition to remote work is not easy. Being the head of a remote team comes with its own set of challenges. In this article, we lay out some recommendations to make it easier. We look at what nuances to consider when building a remote international team, how to simplify workflows using CRM and various accounting applications and what standard documents and work chats are for.
Benefits of an international remote team
Traditionally, when it comes to the merits of remote work, people mention savings – the employer saves money on office maintenance, and the employees save their time. But these are not all the advantages. By posting a job online, you get hundreds of responses and can quickly find the right employee. Moreover, with offline recruitment, you can hire someone who lives in the region of your activity. Hiring online opens the world to you, and you can hire an international employee from anywhere in the world. This means that participation in a team of people from different countries helps scale the business globally. Experts working in foreign markets will help you adapt your ideas to specific regions because you can quickly find any number of specialists from any country. In addition, when choosing a remote location, a person can choose a job with conditions that suit him. As a result, you get a satisfied employee focused on quality results.
Employee search recommendations
The mistake of successful hiring is to publish a vacancy on job search portals and wait for specialists to come themselves. Look for professionals on a targeted basis where they spend most of their time. You can find them on social networks, specialized resources, professional messenger chats, or thematic webinars and events. Take advantage of global EOR or PEO services to minimize costs when building an international team and recruiting new team members remotely. Keep in mind that most remote international employees of today are from a generation focused on brands. They identify with brands, but their connection to the brand is formed from that particular brand’s message. They evaluate the public image, mission, global goal, and central message. If their vision of the world does not coincide with your company’s values, they will not work for you. Therefore, when looking for ideal specialists, do not limit yourself to just talking about the level of salary and the list of responsibilities. Tell them how their work will make a difference, in addition to material benefits.
How to organize workflows?
Assembling a team of the best specialists is only half the battle. For collaboration to be productive, it is necessary to organize work processes and team interaction competently. Use tools for remote work. First, choose the essential minimum so as not to confuse the command and not get confused yourself. Then introduce new solutions as needed. Here are some essential tools and what to use them for:
- The agreement is often positioned as a tool to protect remote workers. But you need it just as much. Write down in it all the duties of the employee, the terms of cooperation, the responsibility of the parties, and other important nuances. The more detailed all significant details are recorded, the less the risk of conflicts.
- You need a non-disclosure agreement if you want to keep a trade secret.
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- Precisely defined performance metrics will help you measure employee performance. And the specialist, in turn, understands what he should strive for.
- A roadmap or graphical representation of project goals and objectives tied to a timeline. Simply put, this is a straightforward outline of the milestones. A publicly accessible Roadmap helps keep the team informed of current milestones and timely updates of plans.
- Task manager. Such as, Asana, Trello, or JIRA. These tools help you set and track tasks. With the help of a task manager, you can simplify project management. At any time, you can open the program and see at what stage a particular task is and who is doing it. For better management, you can seek for people who have a project management certification to have guaranteed results on the project.
- Corporate messenger. Skype, for example. You need to choose one communication working channel that will be convenient for the whole team. The selected option should support the creation of multiple chats, personal messages. So you can create group discussions within departments, team chats, private conversations, chats for out-of-office conversations.
- Cloud storage. Google Drive, for example. You can store all your documentation in the clouds for team-wide access from anywhere and on any device.
- CRM systems. If your job involves selling, collecting requests, and closing deals, you will need customer relationship management software. With the help of CRM, it is convenient to control, account for, and automate work processes.
Train the entire business team to record every action in the chosen system: the task manager, CRM, etc. Otherwise, you can “forget” individual tasks. It may happen that the employee worked for a week or a month, but his activity is not recorded anywhere.
Think about safety
With a remote work format, there is always a risk that an employee will leave and take valuable information with him or steal critical data. In the first case, saving data on general team resources saves. In the second, you are partially protected by NDAs and contracts. In addition, it is advisable to differentiate access to data depending on the level of the employee. For example, documents on Google Drive can be divided into different folders with different levels of secrecy. You can also differentiate access by competencies. For example, each department has access only to the data it needs to work.
Motivate your remote international team
The primary motivation for a remote team should not be limited to salaries. It is necessary to convey to employees that their joint activity is a chance to create a fantastic product, realize grandiose ideas, realize some mission, and change the world. Team members must understand that it is impossible to achieve results individually and only achieve success together. Each employee can be motivated by something different. For example, it is essential for some employees to constantly assert themselves by solving complex problems, mastering new tools, and developing professional growth. Others – it is important to broadcast their experience, and they do an excellent job of the role of mentors or company representatives at all kinds of conferences and events. The team leader needs to be actively involved in communication, collaborative discussions, and off-topic conversations and be aware of everything that is happening with the team. This will help overcome the classic bureaucracy so typical for offline teams.
Final Words
We hope this article helped you understand how effective remote teams are created. Remember that there are no uniform standards for success. Don’t be afraid to experiment, introduce something new, look for unusual solutions. Having a trusted partner like CXC to work with, will enable your program’s success and minimize the risk to your business.
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