It is a no-brainer to notice that Covid-19 has disrupted the work culture across the globe forever.
Gone is the time when the traditional silo-model teams worked optimum for any business process. Today, if you have to stay in business, the answer lies in remote work.
So, if you are one of those entrepreneurs who feel anxious about operating an entirely remote workforce, it’s time you get the hang of it. The future of the global workforce is remote.
Getting out of the comfort zone is one of the key entrepreneurial traits. Although, at first blush, this new way of work might seem daunting, but look closer. It is a boon in the disguise of a curse.
Here’s why.
Benefits Of Remote Business
Operating with a remote team is what a futuristic business looks like. It’s one of the most effective ways of accelerated growth for a business, especially at times like covid-19.
However, if you are still not convinced, here are a few immediate benefits that you cannot turn down:
- Productivity: Your remote team works from different time-zones. The present situation rewrites the outdated work model of 9-5 by work around the clock. Thus, better planning and prioritizing tasks during the intersected time ensures each team member contributes productively to the team.
- Quality Workforce: With access to the whole of the global workforce, now you can hire the best talents for your business without any physical constraints.
- Cost Efficiency: One of the most significant benefits companies reap from the remote workforce model is a colossal reduction in running costs. With workspaces being virtual, you do not need to pay hefty rents, utility bills, or set up office furniture.
- Time Efficiency: The often neglected but significant benefit of remote teams is time efficiency. With virtual teams, now you can daily save a minimum of two hours on commuting time.
Now when you know what a remote operating business model can do, let’s look at a few ways to help you grow your remote venture.
If you are thinking about Scaling Remote Business, here are 6 Ways To Stay On Top Your Game
1. Map Customer Pain Points And Set SMART Goals
Developing a product is expensive. It takes not only a distinct amount of capital but also human resources. Thus, there is no point in building a product that has no market.
Modern-day businesses thus start from understanding their target audience and pain points. But the phase of finding the product-market fit is quite tricky. The solution? Test your product.
Get your MVP in front of your audience via a soft-launch. There are oodles of usability testing methods available for you to validate your product.
You can embrace the traditional method of cold-emailing a few potential interested users and give them a live demo or free usage. Alternatively, with the pandemic on the rise, you can embrace remote usability testing.
Setting up clear and achievable goals from an early stage in a startup is essential for keeping track of your progress and success rate. Be as specific as possible while defining the purpose.
For instance, ‘grow my venture’ might have semantic value but is incredibly vague at the same time. However, ‘grow my venture in 3 months’ sounds somewhat constructive. But, ‘boost my sales by 30% in the next three months’ gives some hyper-specific goals.
Adapting the SMART goals methodology is one of the most efficient ways to do this. It is ensuring that your team members’ efforts are aligned with their individual objectives and ultimately lead them to accomplish their goals, resulting in a satisfying paycheck. SMART goals are specific, measurable, assignable, relevant, and time-based. Thus, it makes the completing process of these goals highly suitable, distributable, and scalable between your team members. To make it engaging, you can also make productive use of presentation tools to display goals and timelines visually.
2. Develop Your Core Toolkit
Communication is key to teamwork. It is the oil that keeps your business process rolling at all times. Without the right information at the right time, you can sabotage your whole startup.
Laying down set rules and tools for your business operations can lower the in-between friction in no time.
No matter what the event is about, a face-to-face chat, keeping your teammates accountable, project process tracking, or attending e-meetings saying ‘yes’ to one official tool makes the job dirt easy.
Here is a list of essential tools which you will make your life simpler:
- Communication tools like Slack, Yammer, and Workplace make a useful instant messaging app for your company stakeholders.
Both your in-house teams and vendors can harness the power of it.
- Conference tools like Zoom and GoToWebinar can be effective options for hosting internal meetings. For one-on-one sessions, Skype can also be a promising alternative.
- Project planning tools like Jira can make your whole process of product development a breeze. Its user-friendly user interface supports agile and fast development. What’s more? It is feature-heavy, which means it’s built to support scaling.
- Project management tools like Asana are a massive help for planning and distributing work. It focuses on clear and fast communication for teams collaborating on the cloud.
- Wiki Tools like Confluence can bundle up all the frequently asked questions in your business together. No matter if you are onboarding a new team member in your growing business or an existing team member faces trouble, they have an answer all the time.
- Project Organization Tools like Trello and Quire are a massive lifesaver for higher-level project organizations. It is ideal for small teams going for a common goal. From social media planning to smaller projects, these tools make management a breeze.
3. Build An Efficient Project Management System
Project management is one of the most critical business processes. A volume of unmanaged documents, unclear communication, and vague delivery targets can make the lives of your team a living hell readily.
All you need is an efficient project management system that can distribute tasks across the team with particular goals and deadlines.
In short, it makes the whole process simple, agile, and fast.
Your project management system is your manager always at work, making the whole production process seamless and efficient throughout the project lifecycle.
However, to achieve optimal results from a project management system, a project documentation tool comes in handy. A perfect project documentation example is the one that facilitates easy collaboration, document collection, and organization.
With the combined power of project management and documentation tool, you can ensure your project lifecycle faces the least possible friction.
4. Devise An Effective communication Plan
Working in a virtual office has its setbacks. One of the most acute is team communication. You do not get to talk in-person to your teammates like in traditional offices.
Here, devising an effective communication strategy becomes an essential prerequisite. No matter what business process you are applying it to, it speeds them up exponentially.
Set rules for prime communication methods and the tools which all of your team members stick to.
It is inconvenient to get on a Skype call or send an email to ask a simple question. In such a case, an efficient messaging tool can work seamlessly.
Pro Tip: Remember, the goal is to make every conversation clear, concise, and achievable with the least friction. So, choose your medium accordingly.
5. Build An Efficient Workforce
Your workforce is the life pumping organ of your business. Done right, it can grow your startup exponentially. On the contrary, managed wrong can bring your business to a breaking point.
But how do you build your dream team?
Today, with the global talent pool at your bay to choose from, you are not constrained physically.
Use some smart filters while interviewing your candidates.
- Are they driven?
- Are they detail-oriented?
- How do they like to spend their leisure time?
You can learn a lot about their mentality from their life trivia.
Another important aspect of keeping your workforce productive is focusing on how you engage them daily.
Do your team members feel motivated enough about your goals and work? Presentation tools come in very handy in such situations. With a visual representation of your ideas and plans, you can not only boost engagement but also add a little vigor to the otherwise monotonous everyday work drill.
Critical Points Of A Remote Team
Like every other business model, the remote business model, too, has its vulnerabilities. However, managing them properly and keeping high vigilance upon these factors can ensure your business does not reach that vulnerable stage.
- Technological Infrastructure: Technology hiccups are bound to happen from time to time. A sudden drop in the internet bandwidth when that heavy file is transferring. Or even worse. Your work system breaks abruptly. To avoid such issues, always have a backup. A wifi connection and a second system, fully synced, can save you a lot of pain.
- Irregular Health: Due to the sedentary nature of work from home, your team members might fall prey to bad health habits. Skipping lunch, workouts, or over-eating, none of these adds to your overall productivity. However, being proactively conscious of what they eat and do each day can make sure they stay on top of their game.
Final Thoughts
Adapting to an entirely new style of working may seem daunting at the onset. However, with the right tools and mindset, you can turn the ‘oh so frightening’ transition of your business into a pleasant encounter.
With your remote team at your bay, get ready to experience the growth roller coaster that mostly goes up.
