How to Maintain Quality with a Remote Workforce
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This is a very valid concern, one that’s shared by more and more managers these days as they try to wrangle their employees working from home. But the truth is that being a manager means having confidence in your team’s abilities. No manager wants to micromanage their employees 24/7 just to make sure they’re getting their work done. Moreover, no manager should have to! Instead, it’s about fostering a balanced culture of both independence and teamwork.
Cultivating Quality in Remote Teams
So how can you create that culture for your remote workforce? Well, it’s all about the three C’s: communication, collaboration, and culture.
1. Communication
Communication is the key to any relationship, whether personal or professional. It’s all about making your methods and expectations known to get your needs met. But communication, of course, is a two-way street—as is business. Communication should be clear, consistent, and enable good processes and planning. If your team isn’t communicating well, it’s almost guaranteed that your project will suffer.
All members of your team should be updated daily about tasks, updates, questions, and feedback. That means everyone, no matter where they are or what part of the project they’re working on, should be able to access information about the overall goals and success of the project. The more frequent, detailed, and well-organized the updates are, the better your team will be able to tackle the project collectively and uniformly. Otherwise, you may end up playing a frustrating game of Broken Telephone.
2. Collaboration
Good collaboration is easily the most critical ingredient for successful teamwork. Collaboration allows your remote workforce to handle tasks efficiently and effectively and highlights the strengths of each individual member. While your team should be operating as a unit, that doesn’t mean that everyone will offer the same skills and insights. In business, it’s all about playing to your team’s strengths and playing smart, not hard.
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3. Culture
Workplace culture shouldn’t be left by the wayside. It’s as vital in a remote workforce as it is in a brick-and-mortar office, perhaps even more so. Having a clearly established vision, mission statement, and code of conduct is a necessary part of the business model. They allow you to set expectations in the workplace, create prosperous connections, and manage your brand’s image. Working remotely sometimes makes it challenging to cultivate a strong, consistent culture, but having that groundwork helps all team members embrace a cohesive approach to the work.
Getting it Right
So how can you accomplish the three Cs and set your organization up for success?
Start by building a rock-solid foundation with a remote working infrastructure. When you join forces with a remote work partner like LDX Lab, you enter a network of accountability, cooperation, and mutual understanding. Having an integrated remote hub enables you to work collaboratively in real-time with your remote business partners and ensures that everyone is on the same page.
What are your outsourcing needs? Reach out to LDX Lab today. We’d love to show you how we can help.
