Office environments are designed to cut out distractions but as the number of us forced into working from home increases, how do we as projects managers keep our team focused. Our challenge in today’s environment is to ensure that no matter where our team works they do so as effectively as possible.  Doing so requires a project manager to communicate effectively using remote technologies, focus on job completion and retain connections remotely. Sounds simple when it is put like that, sometimes it can be far from that! These tips will help you manage your team efficiently wherever they are based.

OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION

Communication with a remote team is a different process, particularly if your team traditionally worked together in one space. One poorly worded email can confuse your team and affect productivity. Create a communication system that is open and encourages face to face interaction. Chat and videos tools are a project manager’s best friends living through Covid-19. Ensure your team regularly get’s together on some platform to engage in a conversation about the project progress. Finally, let them know they can contact you with any issues or questions that they may have.

ENSURE TRANSPARENCY

37% of remote workers believe that working from home results in less visibility of the work they undertake. So, it is important to ensure transparency in regards to the progress of the project and the efforts of your team to help elevate this. In a Pre-Covid world, managers may have been able to keep an eye on the progress of a project in a place of work. When employees are working from their homes, this is a luxury that project managers do not have nowadays. That is why it’s important to ensure you undertake up-to-date reporting when undertaking a project. Allowing you to stay ahead of deadlines, add a level of accountability, and facilitate the delegation of tasks. 1Time offers valuable reporting features for project managers.

GOAL ALIGNMENT

We’ve previously discussed the importance of goal setting for time management. Now more than ever the whole team must be on the same page when it comes to the goals they are working towards. Where you may have previously posted your goals somewhere within the workplace working remotely requires different techniques. Use collaborative methods to develop and align each team member’s goals and communicate to clarify and confirm they understand them.

BALANCE WORKLOAD

Balancing the workload of a team working remotely can be challenging, particularly if it is only a new way of working for your team but it is a vital part of ensuring you generate good ROI and keep a team free from burnout. Monitoring each member’s workload and ensuring they are spending enough time on each task can be difficult but 1Time helps you manage time effectively.  By keeping track of how your team spends their time you can ensure you have delegated the work fairly which allows you to spot if any one individual has been overburdened or underutilised.

That is all for today, hopefully, you’ve taken something from this blog and it will help you manage your team more effectively even if you’ve been forced to work remotely. We have got some other tips for making the most of your time when working from home on one of our previous blogs. If you’d like to see how 1time can help you and your team be more productive by effectively managing your time then you can avail of our 30day free trial by following the link.