Remote work has become the new norm, and companies worldwide have embraced it as a long-term solution. As a result, many organizations are rethinking their approach to work, and remote work is likely to stay for the foreseeable future.

Building a productive and collaborative remote team can be a daunting task, especially for those who are new to the concept. However, with the right tools and strategies, it can be done successfully. In this blog post, we will discuss some tips on how to build a productive and collaborative remote team.

Communication

One of the most crucial elements of building a productive and collaborative remote team is communication. Communication is the foundation of any successful team, and remote teams are no exception. Effective communication ensures that everyone is on the same page and helps to build trust and camaraderie among team members.

In a remote work environment, it is essential to have clear communication channels in place, such as video conferencing tools, instant messaging platforms, and project management software. Setting clear expectations regarding communication can also help to avoid misunderstandings and ensure that everyone is aware of the communication protocols.

Establish Trust

Building trust is another essential component of a successful remote team. Trust allows team members to feel comfortable sharing their ideas, asking for help, and taking risks. To establish trust, team leaders should focus on creating a culture of transparency and openness.

Providing regular feedback, recognizing achievements, and being available to answer questions are all excellent ways to establish trust among team members. Additionally, creating opportunities for team members to collaborate and share ideas can also help to foster a sense of trust and collaboration.

Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Clear goals and expectations are essential for any successful team. When working remotely, it is essential to set clear expectations regarding work hours, deadlines, and deliverables. Setting clear goals and expectations can help to ensure that everyone is working towards the same objectives and can help to avoid misunderstandings.

It is also essential to establish clear communication channels for feedback and progress updates. This can help team members to stay on track and ensure that everyone is aware of the team’s progress.

Create a work schedule that works for everyone

Assuming you have a team of remote workers, there are a few key things to keep in mind when creating a work schedule. The first is to be aware of time zone differences. If you have team members in different time zones, be mindful of when they will be available and plan accordingly.

Another important thing to consider is each person’s individual work style. Some people are more productive in the morning, while others work better at night. There may also be people on your team with young children or other obligations that require a flexible schedule. Talk to your team members about their preferences and see if there is a way to accommodate everyone.

Invest in the right tools and resources

When it comes to building a productive and collaborative remote team, investing in the right tools and resources is essential.

Here are a few tips on investing in the right tools and resources for your remote team:

1. Make sure everyone has access to the same communication tools.
2. Invest in collaboration-focused tools.
3. Provide adequate training and support.

Encourage social interaction

When you work remotely, you can easily become isolated from your colleagues. To help prevent this, encourage social interaction among your team members. Establish a virtual water cooler where employees can chat about non-work topics. Or, host regular video happy hours where everyone catches up.

Celebrate successes and learn from failures

When it comes to building a productive and collaborative remote team, it’s important to celebrate successes and learn from failures. Here are some tips on how to do just that:

1. Celebrate successes together: Remote teams can often feel disconnected from one another, so it’s important to take the time to celebrate successes together. This can be done in a number of ways, such as holding virtual happy hours or sending e-cards to congratulate team members on a job well done.

2. Learn from failures: It’s inevitable that there will be times when things don’t go according to plan. When this happens, it’s important to take the time to debrief as a team and learn from what went wrong. This way, you can avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

3. Encourage open communication: In order for celebrations and learning moments to be effective, there needs to be open communication among team members. Encourage your team to share both their successes and failures openly so that everyone can benefit from them.

Conclusion

Building a successful remote team requires commitment and dedication from both the manager and their team members. With proper planning, communication, trust building, and goal setting in place, you can create an effective remote working environment where everyone can collaborate efficiently to get great results. Following these tips on how to build a productive and collaborative remote team will ensure that your teams stay motivated, focused and engaged no matter where they are located. Want to know more about our team at GoodWorks? Check us out at our social media channels!

“We are embedding health and well-being at the heart of our business strategy because our people are our greatest asset, and we recognize that a healthy, happy and committed workforce is vital to our business success.” — Alex Gourlay, MD, Boots UK

With the pandemic and work-from-home taking over the existing working model, organizations noticed the impact of Employee Wellness, the latest buzzword in the professional industries. Many organizations lacked the necessary work boundaries, time check, etc. which led to decreased employees’ satisfactions and motivations. Initially, firms used to focus on providing physical health benefits but now, employee wellness is so much more than just physical fitness. 

So what is Employee Wellness?

It is all about optimizing the overall well-being of the employees — primarily physical, mental, emotional and financial well-being. A healthy workforce is a productive workforce, as good health and wellness leads to increased productivity and employee focus, and reduced company healthcare costs. Going into the depth of the importance of employee wellness and simple ways to monitor it. 

• Employee Engagement

Enhanced and engaging conversations amongst employees is a great way to build employee wellness. Many HR departments try to incorporate programs which involve team-building activities. As per Semos Cloud, research says that 85% of companies have benefited from wellness programs that support employee engagement. Other than far-reaching programs, giving positive feedback, one-on-one sessions, and employee recognition are some simple ways to engage employees on a personal level with the firm.

• Enhanced Employee Productivity
  

Employee Wellness checks on a timely basis helps identify the concern areas and gives employers enough data to connect with specific employees and communicate the solutions. For example, sending out feedback surveys, tracking the working hours (Is it frequent over-time?), tracking sick leaves, etc. can help employers get a fair idea of all the employees and have a transparent conversation.

• Talent Attraction & Retention

Adapting to Employee Wellness programs help employers build a better company portfolio which, in turn, helps attract the right talent. Prospective employees are increasingly value-driven and equally aware with access to vast knowledge. To maintain employee loyalty and retain talent, such values need to be seen in action. Exit interviews are also a simple way to understand the underlying concerns of the employees’ in general and the management.

Conclusion

Employee wellness is a combined effort of the employers, employees and the society as a whole. For starters, employers can invest in organizing activities like mediation, yoga sessions, marathons, etc. as group activities. They can also provide gym memberships, counseling sessions, subscription to wellness apps, etc. for keeping track of emotional wellness. For financial wellness, firms can help organize talks around finance topics with industry experts. For introverted employees, one-on-one sessions with the manager or the direct leadership can help to keep the conversation going.

As a leading company in India that provides high-end digital platform strategy and services, GoodWorkLabs makes sure to support the overall well-being of our employees and the workspace as a whole and our actions always reflect our policies.

To learn more, head over to our homepage at: https://www.goodworklabs.com/

 

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,
do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams

In today’s fast-paced times, there are endless challenges at every step. At times like these, every firm setup needs leadership that adapts, motivates, and devises strategic solutions, while honoring the needs of every employee. Good leadership skills are capable of changing the course of where a firm is headed.

So what exactly is the role of the team leader? And how do we, at GoodWorkLabs, train our employees for bigger challenges? At GoodWorkLabs, with the employment of various techniques and practices, we make sure all our employees are not only getting equal opportunities to grow and expand themselves but also, prepare them for a bigger, brighter future.

Importance of a Good Leader

A team leader is someone who establishes a set of expectations, monitors progress, motivates, and provides guidance and support to the team members so that the tasks at hand can be completed successfully. The role of the leader is to be a communicator, problem-solver, and resource-provider for teams to reach set goals.

At the start of every project, the team leader does the initial hand-holding during the inception of the process. The leader must make sure the project’s health is good and to proactively address red flags and escalation if any. To avoid loss of communication in translations, we make sure to use innovative tools like JIRA, Confluence, Slack, GIT, GITLAB, Zeplin, and Invision to ensure continuous communication and collaboration across teams.

Opportunities And Learnings For Entry-Level Employees For Leadership Positions

At GoodWorkLabs, we believe that every small step matters. And every learning (big or small) can make a huge difference in your career graph and that’s why we provide several opportunities for our employees to learn leadership skills and make the best of their departments.

GoodWorkLabs believes in the Continuous Development of our employees. This is made possible through several ways – upskill/reskill. There are many comprehensive programs to groom resources such as on-the-job training, in-house talent identification programs so that they can be identified and trained methodically, and competency assessment programs to assess employee competencies, their strengths, and weaknesses, so that customized programs can be developed for these young leaders.

The hiring philosophy involves hiring problem solvers mainly and people who are passionate about technology and are well-acquainted with high scalability experience. 

Employees can also subscribe to several online courses such as Udemy, Upgrad, etc. for training on upcoming skills and technologies. 

Since GoodWorkLabs is a Google-certified agency, it is equally important for our developers to be trained by Google directly on the latest Google tech. There’s also client-specific training such as DevOps, Scrum, etc. so that we can discuss at length with our prospective clients their needs and requirements.

Conclusion

We’re always on the lookout for building, enhancing, and celebrating the huge powerhouse of talent at GoodWorkLabs. Our Talent Hunt Show held in December 2021 was also one of the many events that were organized to find the other hidden talents in our employees, other than being super awesome at developing, coding, etc.

As a leading company in India and globally that provides high-end digital platform strategy and services, it is our duty to give the equal best to our employees and our actions always reflect our policies. To learn more, head over to our homepage at: https://www.goodworklabs.com/