As an entrepreneur who travels regularly and runs a business with a group of remote employees, it’s important to make sure everyone is always on the same page and feeling part of a team. Not only will this help their motivation levels, but it will also ensure they’re working effectively and cohesively together when needed. Bringing together a group of remote workers may not be the easiest task, but there are ways to make sure they are enjoying their remote job and feeling connected with their fellow colleagues. With this in mind, here are six potential ways to ensure your team always feels cohesive and coordinated.
1. Encourage In-Person Team Building
Getting together in person at one point each year is extremely useful when it comes to team building. At some point it will be useful to meet everyone face to face, even if it’s just an annual event. There are a number of brilliant team building activities you can all embrace together, and they can be crafted to suit your needs and employee dynamic. If you haven’t got a regular date in the diary, let this be your signal to plan an in-person team building day altogether.
2. Keep Lines of Communication Open
Communication is key when you’re working with remote employees. You could all be traveling around different parts of the world at the same time, but often you’re also striving for the same goal too. Being approachable as a boss and keeping all lines of communication open will help your team to feel in the loop at all times.
3. Listen to Your Employees’ Opinions
As well as communicating your aims and objectives to them, you also need to be able to listen to your employees and value their opinions on certain subject matters. Being able to listen and learn from their experiences will make you a better boss, and it will help others on the team enhance their knowledge from them too.
4. Spend Time Together Online
Informal online hangouts and coffee breaks are where it’s at for remote workers who also want to build a solid relationship with each other. Even if everyone is scattered across different parts of the country, or even the world, you can still enjoy a virtual coffee together during regular online meet-ups as a team
5. Put Wellness First
When it comes to the wellbeing of your remote workers, it’s important to value their health, and put an emphasis on everything that encompasses their wellness. Whether you’re encouraging them to take screen breaks, find a good work life balance or you’re providing mental health support, this will create a positive culture in your workplace and help everyone in your team feel taken care of.
6. Include Everyone In Changes
If there are restructures, internal changes or business updates happening in your company, you need to communicate these to the entire team. Making sure everyone is on the same page can only be done if you lead by example, and include them in everything that goes on behind closed doors.
Hopefully, with all of these methods in place you can be sure that your remote employees feel like a well supported and cohesive team both now and in the future.