The emergence of different businesses across the internet significantly increased the need for increasing every business’ existing manpower. Doubling a business’ manpower has become extremely instrumental in boosting productivity and resilience against a cutthroat competition. 

Some businesses are more than ready to hire additional in-house staff. For startups and small businesses, even a team of office-based personnel can be insufficient as customer and market demands increase. The inefficiency of depending solely on in-house employees led to the continuous rise in popularity of virtual teams and employees. 

Having a reliable virtual team at a business’ disposal can be a viable solution to extend a company’s operational capacities.

Employing a team of virtual manpower comes with benefits and challenges.

Virtual teams can work around as little restrictions as possible. They are agile, well-positioned individuals that can take care of certain tasks and projects that the employer assigns to them. That said, it is undeniable that they are a vital component for the success of most modern-day businesses. 

On the other hand, hiring a team of remote staff also comes with certain challenges. Virtual teams are a relatively new concept for most startups. In other words, there are still businesses who are skeptical about the processes and unique setups involved in remote employment. 

Some of the most common questions that startups and businesses have about hiring virtual teams are as follows:

• How can a remote team be managed effectively?
• What are viable ways to monitor the performance of each remote staff and guarantee that they are aligned with their respective duties and responsibilities?
• Are all remote staff work-focused?
• How can the company provide consistent motivation that will drive remote staff to work harder and deliver better output over time?
• How can the business establish a better and more stable connection with their respective remote teams?

As a business owner, you are very much aware of how important it is to gauge every opportunity that comes your way. Without receiving a concise answer to all the questions listed above, it is not surprising that employers would not be able to outgrow doubts they may have over the effectiveness of hiring a team of freelancers. Hiring a remote team to supplement your business’ manpower is practical and very much in-line with the continuous growth of the digital marketing scene. As such, it would be such a waste to pass up on an opportunity as big and timely as remote hiring.

Here are some surefire tips to effectively manage your virtual manpower team.

1. BE OPEN & CONDUCT REGULAR TEAM DISCUSSIONS

Working with remote manpower also means that it is your core responsibility as the employer to lead the team. One factor that can greatly increase the manageability of the entire team is to be more open with them.

Since they are working remotely, there are certain aspects that can affect the openness of the team. Time zone differences and distance are among them. Since time differences limit the frequency of communication between employers and remote staff, virtual workers tend to refrain from opening up or sharing their thoughts on a particular project or task.

In order to break these barriers, it is the employer’s job to conduct discussions where the team can share their opinions, thoughts, and suggestions with maximum transparency.

It is important to stay aligned with the entirety of the team. Get them involved in all the fundamental aspects of the business. Focus on creating and maintaining the best possible kind of company culture, where each and every team member is valued in terms of their skills and beliefs. Lastly,  allow your remote staff to resonate with the business’ objectives. 

Doing this on a regular basis not only improves team performance but also helps establish a more cohesive team of experts. This team of experts can collaborate with one another to complete tasks while finding time to build rapport with each other.

2. MAINTAIN AN ORGANIZED WORKFLOW

Apart from having open team discussions, it is important to have a systematic and organized work structure. This is one fundamental element that requires a significant amount of focus as it helps boost competence in the business.

Although virtual workers are usually flexible with varying work demands, managing them in terms of duties and shifts can still be difficult. The fact that they are working while based in a different state or country is one of the common reasons why several virtual teams fail to last.

That is also why business owners should always prepare a well-organized list of procedures and tasks categorized based on complexity or priority. Provide a clear and intricate guideline in order for your remote staff to gain a clearer idea of what your expectations are and how tasks are completed step-by-step in your company’s unique work environment.

Take note, this can be made a lot easier if tip number one is followed accordingly. Having an established rapport and complementing it with round-the-clock communication channels can help the team keep tabs on which areas of a project require urgent attention. It also helps team members determine which team member is in need of assistance.

3. FOSTER TRUST IN YOUR REMOTE TEAM

Sometimes, employers tend to raise suspicion over their remote employees. This is especially true if a business is fairly new to the world of employing virtual assistants. Suspicions create unnecessary assumptions on the productivity and time management skills of a remote staff. 

It is true that accountability becomes more difficult to track when working with a remote team.

Albeit a viable option, business owners should put micromanaging at the bottom of their list of solutions. Micromanaging is ineffective. It is one of the common factors behind employee demotivation and the lack of trust between businesses and remotely hired personnel.

In order to avoid this, it is essential for employers to remember that trust begins with them. As the one who hires the services offered by a remote staff, it is your responsibility to show that you are willing to give 100% of your trust. Trusting your remote staff should not be limited on their performance alone. You must also be confident enough that they are capable of dividing the workload in a manner that will not compromise set deadlines and goals for each project.

Foster a working environment free from doubts by involving each and every team member in internal communications. Maximize both your in-house and remote work settings. Make it a habit to communicate with your team as often as needed to provide them with support, help them devise solutions to work-related setbacks, or facilitate training and seminars that will improve the skills of your staff. Even a simple and quick chat will effectively eliminate any unexpressed apprehensions that you and your remote staff may have about one another.

Working with a remote team is indeed challenging. It requires a systematic way of connecting with them, staying organized within the workplace, and trusting them. There are several other ways to manage remote teams, but following the tips mentioned here can be considered as a starter pack for every business. The said tips are aimed to help startups and even bigger businesses achieve a loyal, motivated, productive and reputable group of individuals committed to help reach the number one objective of every business—sustainable and long-term success.