How to coordinate successful actions with a remote team?
The question we heard most over the last year was how the agency can operate remotely, without losing productivity and even increasing its structure. It's time to reveal the secret! We've highlighted some points that were fundamental to our rapid adaptation to the pandemic, allowing us to maintain successful digital marketing actions even with the team separated.
Management Software
Probably the main tool for the harmonious functioning of remote teamwork is software capable of centralizing tasks and activities, allowing macro control over everything that is being carried out by the team.
We've been working with Basecamp for a few years now, so it didn't whatsapp number thailand require any major adjustments at the beginning of the pandemic. All it took was a little reinforcement about the importance of concentrating and recording everything in the software, so that the work flowed perfectly.
Project Manager (product owner)
We won't go into detail here, since we talked exclusively about this topic in another recent post (see here ). However, it's worth reinforcing how important it is to have a captain for the team.
The project manager is the one who will take on the responsibility of assigning all tasks to the team through the software, managing deliveries within deadlines and using his/her experience to anticipate threats and opportunities, guiding and directing people like a true maestro.
Online Meetings
Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, Whatsapp, or any of the other platforms that have popped up. Online meetings are a reality! The important thing to consider in this new dynamic is:
Assess the real need for the meeting
Without the need to travel, book a room and make several costs involved, holding meetings has become commonplace, since it only takes a few clicks to make them happen. So, before calling the entire team, or scheduling another meeting with the client, ask yourself: “Can this be resolved with an email?”
Meeting has an owner
Just as the manager monitors the progress of projects, every meeting also needs a person responsible for guiding what was discussed and filtering the actions that will actually be taken, from the ideas that will be left in the bank for the next opportunity. Even though it is a depressurized creative meeting, where everyone has a voice and minds fly free, organization remains fundamental.
Not everything is a meeting
As much as technology has offered a good solution, not everything we do via Zoom can be called a meeting. Meetings have an agenda, objective, scheduled time and other protocols. That quick call to a team member, just to ask a question or make a specific request, is not a meeting. This is the digital equivalent of getting up from your desk and going to your colleague to ask if they are busy. Oh! A coffee break can also be done via Zoom, but it goes without saying that it is not a meeting.
Integration Dynamics
Although it is not a meeting, the digital coffee break is a great example of an important tool for managing a remote team. Integration dynamics need to be encouraged and have the support of team leaders, as a way to prevent team members from becoming isolated and consequently losing productivity.
At Métrica, we hold a meeting every Monday where the team evaluates expectations for the week, in a frank conversation, with breathing exercises and proposed challenges. On the first Friday of every month, we have our “World Storytelling Contest”, a virtual happy hour where, in addition to guaranteed laughter, we also give the winner a book voucher.
Also develop your dynamics and keep the team's motivation high!
Trend digger
The pandemic hit hard and turned everything upside down. As a result, it required companies to be extremely agile and adaptable. A good way to develop the resilience needed to continue moving forward in this difficult time is to stay up to date with the latest developments. And once again, the watchword is responsibility .
It is very important to have someone with the mission of unearthing the next trends that have barely emerged in this more chaotic scenario and quickly adapting them to the agency's reality, carrying out tests on a small scale before applying the change globally, or discarding it due to incompatibility.