With many companies transitioning their teams to working remotely, it is important to know how to do this successfully so that both the company and its workers can stay on track and be productive. You need to consider details such as what tools you will use to communicate with your team and to manage information, and how productivity will be tracked. In this article, we cover information on how to transition a team to working remotely so that your business can run smoothly.

Meeting with Your Team

There are now many tools available for managing online teams and productivity. To communicate with your team, you can use tools such as Zoom, Skype, and Slack. These tools provide the option for doing live video meetings so that team members can see each other, which helps everyone to stay connected. Create a schedule for when you will communicate with your team so that any concerns and ideas can be voiced and addressed.

Sharing Documents with Your Team

In addition to having a tool for meeting with your team, you will also need a way to share documents and work on projects together. Tools such as Basecamp allow you to assign tasks to the members of your team, and they can be checked off as they are completed. Your team members can also add comments to tasks.

Trello is another popular platform for managing projects. It lets you create boards with tasks that can be checked off as they are completed. For sharing and working on files as a team, Google Drive and Dropbox are great options.

Tracking Productivity

Decide how you will track the productivity of your team members. Depending on the type of worker, you can track progress according to work completed on an hourly basis, project basis, or results basis. To track how long tasks take to do or to monitor hourly workers, you can use tools such as Toggl.

Be Mindful of Security

With your team members working remotely, it’s important to ensure that information, especially passwords, are kept secure. Set up security rules and share them with your team. Use platforms that are in the cloud to help ensure the security of your data. Platforms such as LastPass can help you to keep your passwords secure.

Preparing Your Team for the Transition

Help your team members to create a daily schedule to follow so that they can stay on track and remain productive. Schedule trainings for your team to teach them about new tools, rules, and procedures that will be used in the remote work environment. You can also create videos for instructing workers.

Let your team members know that they can reach out to get support in case they have any questions or need help. At the beginning of the remote work transition, you may need to check in with workers on a daily basis. But as they adjust to their new work routine, they will become more independent. As with in-person teams, find ways to keep your workers motivated and reward them for accomplishments.

A coach can help you to transition your team to a virtual workforce. Get in touch today!