Innovation has been a critical pillar of business growth that continues to be vital for virtual organizations. Many advantages characterize telecommuting, including flexibility on the part of an executive and employees; however, the lack of facilities of a traditional office could potentially give rise to ‘creative ruts.’
Luckily, a number of approaches can help remote organizations remain as competitive, vibrant, and creative as those that are local. Whether it is using collaborative tools like Slack to increase synergies or using Urban VPN to ensure all your employees are protected, there are many ways to elevate your remote business. These are the fail-safe methods for achieving successful creativity in a virtual workplace:
Connect with the Right Communication Technology
You have to ensure that you give your remote team members the right communication tools so that they don’t feel like lone rangers. Hence, consider email as one way to communicate and go for other forms of communication that make your employees feel like they are part of a team. These include IM services such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Workplace by Facebook, and video conferencing products like Skype for Business, Zoom, and Google Hangouts, among many others.
The first problem that arises in the case of scattered teams is that it becomes difficult to monitor joint work projects. Still, if implemented well, proper instruments may eliminate this barrier right away. These technologies create an atmosphere of comradeship within your organization, helping distant employees integrate into the corporate culture as well as enabling colleagues to become acquainted on a casual basis.
Build a Dynamic Company Culture
A successful business starts with a strong company culture, which is even more essential for remote teams. Building a feeling of home promotes working together, which will drive commitment and involvement despite the distance. Open communication is vital for motivating a remote team and avoiding stagnation.
Embed open communication in the company’s culture. Ensure that you frequently ask employees their opinions, whether physically or anonymously, through questionnaires. Effective communication leads to an increase in motivation among the employees, as it makes them feel more valuable. In turn, this raises their level of creativity, and eventually, their productivity will also improve.
The creation of a vibrant culture involves virtual team-building activities, company-wide meetings, and open communication channels. You can communicate business principles, recognize achievements, and provide room for constructive criticism in order to promote a supportive environment where all individuals feel important and connected to others.
Establish Goals and Clear Expectations
Many managers want to keep track of their staff’s progress, yet they don’t just do so by counting the hours. It is important to set definite goals so that it will be easy for everyone to work in one direction. Project tasks, milestones, and deadlines should be defined.
Give periodic updates, conduct reviews, and provide feedback on ongoing improvements. Show your support and make time to listen to those who may be seeking your guidance. Take note: offering employees independence makes them happy and increases their productivity.
Consider Automation for Expansion
Automating all possible activities of your team represents one of the most efficient options for optimizing a distant business. Doing this will be structuring your work, thus saving wasted time in meetings and roundabout talks.
Therefore, it is recommended to start with a little bit here and there instead of a bang for everything. The first thing is to pick those aspects of your organization that are suitable for automation and to decide in what manner to fit with it.
The most popular automation apps include Zapier and IFTTT. Zapier links the most common, open, and preset API’s between different apps. This is a simple automation tool called IFTTT which works according to the principle of “If This, Then That.” Compare both programs and decide on the most appropriate option suitable for your case.
Establish Policies and Procedures
It is equally vital to have set policies and regulations for everyone working within the remote business to be on the same page. That is how you come up with specific SOPs (standard operating procedures) for critical activities. However, the good news is that it is possible to keep and circulate these SOPs among your team members in a virtual setting.
Through file storage/management apps, e.g., Notion, Dropbox, and Confluence, you could establish a per-project learning repository for use by team members. Thereafter, one can give frequent training, taking them through the SOPs before airing out a platform for feedback and discussions.
You should ensure that there are no doubts about what everyone’s expectations, roles, and responsibilities are. Establish deadlines and deliverables, as well as other requirements, to ensure everyone is informed of them beforehand.
Enhance the Internal Network of Your Business
Provide your workforce with the possibility to access information on a remote basis; for example, through an extended version of the corporate intranet. A search engine is available for the new remote worker, who may have questions and inquiries even without communicating with other workers.
Essential process documentation and central documents should also be kept in a resource center. New users should be able to get access online to any kind of employee training related to issues like health, safety, anti-corruption, etc., immediately when provided with a password.
Reach Success!
Whether it’s short-term remote work for your organization or you’re considering permanent remote options, your business should remain flexible and change its approaches to work in order to be successful.
It is very important that businesses boom in any remote setting with streamlined operations and workflows.
Guest Writer
