Your location doesn’t define your work opportunities.
Household names like Apple, Xerox, and Amazon now offer flex-time and virtual positions in diverse roles from tech support and customer service to software development and management.
Distributed teams aren’t the exception anymore. The 2016 Global Workplace Analytics report found that approximately 20–25% of employees in the US work remotely on a pretty regular basis. And, as more millennials enter and influence the workplace that number is set to grow.
Some companies, like Automattic and Basecamp, have no central offices. Others, like Trello, Etsy and Skore, embrace the best of both worlds- they have physical offices and a distributed workforce.
The advantages (and challenges) of remote work
The ability to tap into a global talent pool has a lot of benefits. You can find and hire the best people for your team without going through the expensive (and often difficult) relocation process.
A survey by TinyPulse found that remote workers were happier, more productive and more likely to stay in their current position than traditional workers.
Advances in communication have made it easier than ever to stay in touch and collaborate across time zones.
For a lot of people, this arrangement adds much needed flexibility and a higher quality of life. It opens up lucrative jobs to people who want to live outside major tech centers.
But, remote work comes with its own unique set of challenges.
Less time together in the same place means that executives and managers need to place an emphasis on team cohesion.
Spontaneous chats by the water cooler or bonding over a subpar cup of coffee play a key role in team building. Remote teams need to find a way to make these human moments a part of their workflow.
At Skore, we embrace remote work. Our headquarters are in Sao Paulo but our team is spread out around the world. We want to hire the best people regardless of geography while creating a shared culture.
We recognize the challenges and designed some processes to meet them.
You have to keep on talking (and listening)
Communication is key. If you can’t talk to each other this arrangement won’t last.
Just like any other relationship, your working one has to be built around mutual trust, openness, sharing and transparency. This is especially critical for distributed teams.
Everyone has to trust everyone else to do what they’ve committed to.
Because, you’ve got no real way to know what everyone else is working on. You can’t just walk over to your colleague’s computer and have a chat. That’s why it’s crucial that everyone shares information all the time. Share, and then share again.
To encourage clear, open communication you need to set some ground rules and add high performing tools.
1. Decide how you’ll communicate
There are a lot of great ways to reach someone. Email. Facebook messenger. Slack. Twitter. Text message. Snapchat. Skype. WhatsApp. Through your project management tool.
With so many options, it’s easy for an important message to get lost in the crowd.
Simplify your process. Pick a tool you are going to use for all your team communication and stick to it. That way, when you log in to check messages everything will be in the same place.
We use Slack. It’s where the work and the fun happens.
The different Slack channels make it easy to keep specific conversations all anchored in the same place.
And, to keep it light and friendly, we’ve got the cafeteria channel. It’s the remote team’s equivalent of a water cooler and reminds us we are in this together.
2. Become remote by default
Github and Trello have both embraced the remote by default practice. This is a great idea on a few different levels.
It standardizes the meeting format regardless of where different people are, makes it easy to record it and capture tacit knowledge, and eliminates any guilt or stigma for not being there in person.
Remote meetings also make it easier to stick to an agenda and don’t tend to have the pre and post meeting shuffle that eats up a lot of valuable time.
But there’s more to it than just meetings. It’s hard to remember what it’s like to work remotely when you spend most of your time at the office. That’s why everyone in our Sao Paulo team makes arrangements to work from home at least two days a week.
That way, we are all on the same page!
But, being remote by default goes beyond spending time outside the office and attending virtual meetings.
We need to set and define strategies and tactics that compliment this new type of work environment.
We need to be able to clearly communicate around goals and strategies and go beyond who’s doing what. We need to talk about, and track, key metrics.
It’s easy for data and vital information to slip through the cracks.
That’s why we use Skore to store documents, meeting recordings and vital information on the cloud where it can be accessed from anywhere, by any team member.
3. Make all data accessible
Make sure everyone has access to the materials and data they need to do their jobs well.
You can use a knowledge flow tool like Skore to store all types of files from video all the way to Google docs.
Whatever you use, it needs to be easy to access and search. Make sure you have some gating capabilities so that sensitive information is safe and can only be accessed on an “as needed” basis.
Foster trust and transparency
For a distributed arrangement to work, you have to be able to trust every single member of your team to do their work to the best of their abilities.
1. It all starts with the hiring
If you want to build a distributed team, who you hire matters.
Not everyone benefits from a fully remote environment. Remote teams have minimum supervision on a day to day basis so you need to hire self starters who take initiative and will get the work done on their own.
We can’t overstate the importance of strong communication skills. Hire team members who can write well. Better to have someone who over-communicates than the other way around!
As Zapier CEO Wade Foster puts it:
“In a remote situation, everything is shared via written communication. Communication is one of the most important parts of a remote team. Therefore, good writers are valuable.”
And, don’t underestimate the importance of culture. Hire people who believe in your company and your vision. This will help everyone stay motivated during the tough times.
2. Meet regularly
A remote team is still a team and they need to know what’s going on.
To make sure everyone is up to date and knows each other, we have a one-hour weekly call every Friday.
Why Friday? It’s our debrief and a great way to make sure people aren’t caught up in projects that would drag over the weekend. Plus, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what worked, what didn’t and how we can do better next week.
Everyone participates. We take the time to introduce new hires, voice concerns, ask questions and share big announcements.
The (digital) floor is open to anyone.
These meetings are incredibly valuable. They are a chance to connect, bring ideas to the table and make sure every voice is heard.
We record each session and upload it to Skore- both for people who couldn’t attend and for future reference.
Different teams schedule and hold their own weekly meetings to set goals, track metrics and make sure everyone is on the same page.
3. Get to know each other
Meetings are great, but they are strictly business.
It’s important to create other opportunities for interaction between team members.
To do this, Zapier uses a buddy system. Every week they connect team members at random. When you get your buddy you arrange a 10–15 call and get to know them better. Trello calls their equivalent Mr. Rogers.
These little interactions strengthen your team and help people get to know (and like) each other on a more personal level.
4. Get together in person
While remote is great, you need to keep the team spirit alive! At Skore, we hold a team week every quarter where everyone gets together.
We use that time to discuss future strategies and developments, go through product road maps, and bond.
There’s something very special about getting together for a full week. It reminds us why we do this. A company is only as great as its people and a week spent with smart, driven people is always a rewarding experience.
An effort that pays off
Remote work isn’t all pijama days or working from a gorgeous beach somewhere. There are real challenges.
Team cohesion can suffer if not handled properly. Crucial information can get lost in digital translation. Team members may push boundaries.
But, it is possible to create a great culture of remote work and tap into top talent from around the world if you work hard to build a process that works for your team and company.
Automattic. Basecamp. HelpScout. Buffer. Zapier. AgileBits. GitHub. Trello. Skore.
All these companies are thriving with either a fully remote or mostly remote workforce. And with the right systems, your team can too.
Are you ready to take the plunge?
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