How to Have a Rock Star Remote Team

As a business coach, I have witnessed a lot of businesses that started to thrive once they went to a remote-only format, but I have also seen an equal number of business owners really struggle with the change — and the difference between the two almost always came down to their management styles and management mindset. So today, I want to share with you a few things you can do to have a rock star remote team and keep everyone engaged and working toward the same goals for your business.

Hire the Right People

The first step to having a rock star remote team has to do with your ability to hire the right people. And what’s important to note here is that the right person for the in-person position might not be the right fit for your remote team — in fact, they often aren’t. The perfect remote candidate has some experience working remotely and is able to work independently and troubleshoot with minimal handholding. Again, this can vary by person and position, but those that thrive in a remote environment are often more comfortable working under these conditions.

Change Your Focus

The second principle of doing remote extremely well is to focus not on the tasks that your team is doing but on the value it creates. Let’s say you hire a new team member and you have a job description that lays out in great detail all the tasks and responsibilities they are supposed to take on. You are setting yourself up for failure. Instead of having a list of all the things you want them to do, you need to focus on the results you want that person to achieve. As in, “Here’s what you’re on the payroll to actually accomplish. Here’s what you are being measured on for success.” If all you’re focused on is the job description, you’ll end up someone who is responsive but who gets lost in activity.  And that could be OK, depending on the person, but it’s not optimal. You want someone who will look at the bigger picture and focus on the things that generate the results you want.

Create Transparency

The last mindset change that I want to discuss has to do with creating transparency within your business. This starts with changing your focus to one of value, and continues with clarifying what everyone on the team is responsible for and how they fit into the bigger picture. Furthermore, you want to make sure that the action steps, project steps, and so forth, that each person needs to take to fulfill their role are very clear, so that everyone in your organization knows where you are. Project management tools are great for helping to create transparency and foster an easy way for people on your team to keep tabs and do regular updates. You want to move away from interactions between just two people and move it to where all of the relevant stakeholders can see the progress.