Patrick Dillon is CEO of WISE Digital Partners. He covers topics related to small and mid-sized business strategy and digital marketing.
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Remote work is no longer a novelty afforded to a choice few employees. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s now an integral part of many business operations.
According to a survey of U.S. adults conducted by the Pew Research Center, before the coronavirus outbreak, just 20% of those with jobs that can mostly be done from home were working remotely. For many, working in an office was the norm, even if they could realistically do their work from home.
But as of October 2020, that percentage of people working remotely had jumped to 71%, according to Pew, and 54% said they would like to keep working remotely after the pandemic. It’s completely flipped. And for some businesses, migrating to a remote workforce has been quite a challenge.
Drawing on my experience as CEO of a company that has operated 100% remote since day one (which was several years prior to the pandemic), here’s my advice for ensuring smooth operations.
Connect With Your Employees
• Listen and be available. Working remotely doesn't come naturally to everyone, and there may be some challenges. You’ll likely have some employees who have a difficult time making it work. Some may have trouble managing their time, others may struggle with technology and some may feel lonely without the in-person connection to co-workers. As a leader, I feel it is vital to commit to listening to employees and being available to them. I advise managers to have one-on-one meetings with their team members at least once a week. And business owners should meet with managers weekly.
• Cultivate your company culture. Two of the most important things you can do as a leader are celebrate wins and talk about losses — at both a team and company level. Celebrating successes can be a strong motivator for the team to push forward to the next series of achievements. Discussing losses can help the team think of how to make improvements the next time around. Regular check-ins with your remote employees are also a good way to keep everyone connected. At my company, we’ve structured our check-ins in this fashion: We have companywide check-ins three times a week via Zoom. Individual teams have check-ins once or twice a week via Zoom. We hold face-to-face meetings approximately every other week. We gather in person over lunch (of course, this only works if your team is local).
Nail Down Your Operations
It’s essential to have processes in place so everyone on your remote team knows how to work together and communicate. Here are my top tips:
• Invest in project management software. All companies have projects, and project management software can help you manage and track progress in real time.
• Set up a customer relationship management solution, and be diligent about maintaining it. A robust CRM tool can ensure that your customer interactions are well-organized and focused.
• Use a real-time messaging platform. Instant messaging can help your team operate more efficiently. Your remote employees will be able to get answers to questions quickly, and it can increase camaraderie. The overarching goal is to reduce the amount of email, which can bog your company down. Save email for clients and outside partners.
• Set clear expectations and guidelines about the workday. Define what is acceptable and appropriate.
• Avoid micromanaging. Trust your team. You can use regularly scheduled check-ins to monitor the progress of projects, tasks and goals.
Nurture Your Sales Teams
Sales is one of the most important aspects of your business, and it’s crucial that you nurture your team. That includes ensuring that you have good tools for your team to work with, tracking progress and activity, and effectively managing your salespeople. Here are some other tips:
• Make sure salespeople know how to use your CRM tool. Provide anyone involved in using it with the training they need to operate effectively.
• Develop a method for tracking daily sales activity. Salespeople don’t have projects like most of the others on your team, and we’re all experiencing changes in the landscape that have affected sales results. Make sure you develop a method for tracking activity and keeping individuals and managers accountable.
• Find a balance for how to manage each salesperson on your team. For some, you may only need to give them a bit of direction, and they’re off and running. Others, especially new salespeople, may need more hand-holding.
Invest In Training And Continuing Education
Make it a priority to invest in training and continuing education. Here’s how you can get started:
• Talk to your employees about their career interests and the types of skills they need to benefit the company. Give them the tools they need and a reasonable budget to pay for them.
• Determine how you will train your employees. Do you envision internal individual or group sessions, online learning or local workshops, for example?
• Create a training schedule, along with a way to track results. Outline the training goals in a document, schedule them on a calendar and make steps actionable. Then, put a system in place that will allow you to circle back and evaluate the effectiveness of the training.
Final Thoughts
Cultivating a strong remote workforce can have many benefits for both your business and your employees. On the business side, for example, you may notice increased productivity, a lower turnover rate and savings from not having to pay for a workspace. You’ll also be able to attract top talent who are interested in a remote work lifestyle.
Your employees may experience improved work-life balance, more autonomy and flexibility, and less stress. It can be a win-win for both sides.
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