By: Badri Rajasekar

The trend towards remote work continues to gain steam during the pandemic. Both leaders and employees may still be in an unfamiliar position: facing each other on-screen versus across a conference room table. The new paradigm has businesses trying to figure out their new best practices. How can they assure work is done, clients are serviced, and the team culture stays healthy?

As the leader of a fully remote and distributed team, I found the best way forward involves throwing out the traditional "onsite office rules." This approach gave our team the freedom to create our own guidelines, and what we found sometimes surprised us. In this ever-evolving environment, here is what’s worked for our team in hopes that these tips will help you recalibrate your mindset while adapting to remote work efficiently, whether that’s short- or long-term.

Allow Sporadic Workflows

Many leaders have a hard time giving up the oversight they once had in the office. However, employees often find that they thrive without this same oversight. Executives might feel the need to establish systems that replicate onsite supervision for remote employees, but that could easily turn into micromanagement.

A key benefit to remote work is that it gives employees the ability to work flexible hours. They should have more time to address personal obligations including exercise, family care, hobbies and more, and they may find they are more productive at times that do not always align with the typical 9-5 schedule. While working remotely inherently cuts down on office-centric distractions, like loud talkers or nosey coworkers, other necessities like childcare or grocery shopping replace them. Interruptions must be accommodated, not eliminated.

Remote work lets people focus on getting stuff done rather than “looking like getting stuff done.” Unless employees are missing deadlines, client calls or team meetings, give them the latitude to complete their work on their own time. This builds a culture of trust and transparency.

Encourage Self-Management

Remote workers manage themselves in many ways. Because executives and employees are not in the same physical place anymore, remote work inherently provides employees with a sense of independence, accountability, and ownership over their decisions. However, it’s also important to balance this self-management with keeping leadership in-the-know.

Remote and distributed workflows necessitate that teams build greater trust and mutual dependence. Not only is this advantageous in driving teams to be more productive, but it also increases workplace satisfaction. To achieve this, leaders must define realistic goals and track them with clear metrics. Remote employees should be encouraged to communicate roadblocks early and without the threat of reprisal. While this may sound similar to on-site procedures, remote work timelines are not exactly the same. Maybe it takes longer to navigate the review process, or it’s more difficult to brainstorm new ideas. These differences and time lags must be accounted for when setting goals and shepherding team projects to the finish line.

On the flip side, it’s equally important that your team knows what you’re doing and when. Clearly communicate your availability and status changes immediately. Find ways to establish an effective cadence to relevant updates. Maybe it’s a quick end of day update email or a weekly kickoff video call - whatever works best for both executives and employees. Don’t turn this into busy work!

Rely on Both Live and Asynchronous Communication

Because the Jamm team is distributed across four cities and three countries, we have experience coordinating projects both synchronously and asynchronously. In fact, it’s exactly why we built the app. However, it’s very important to know when and why to use each approach.

Utilizing both techniques can do wonders to streamline workflow. For example, live video is preferred for brainstorming, collaboration, checking in with employees, conducting all-hands meetings, and more. It relays nuance and detail in a way that text simply cannot.

But what if you’re working on something after-hours and don’t want to bother a coworker? This is where asynchronous communication comes in. While sending an email or a Slack message may work for simple requests, we’ve found that recording and sharing a video has advantages beyond the strengths of text. When challenges arise, a quick video recording communicates creative ideas or problems while they are still fresh in employees’ minds. In the tech world, a recorded video can clearly show a bug reproduction step, commentary on visual assets, or user feedback more effectively than sending bulky emails or a couple of Slack messages. Overall, recorded videos are an efficient method for teams to relay information while simultaneously building alignment and shared vision.

Throwing out the rules you used in the office to manage teams can be challenging. However, we’ve found time and again that remote employees are up to the challenge. By giving them the tools and latitude to work in their own personal way, you create a culture of respect and productivity within your organization.

Badri is co-founder and CEO of Jamm, a lightweight spontaneous voice and video collaboration tool for remote and distributed teams.