Working online has become a norm in the 21st century, especially now that COVID-19 made a huge impact on our daily lives and forced us to avoid offices and other crowded places. Doing your job remotely is not such a big deal anymore, but it does pose certain challenges and requires a studious approach.

This is particularly important because remote teams tend to struggle with productivity and creativity. It’s a natural process since people loosen up and relax when there’s no one around to monitor their daily activities. In this post, we will focus on this issue and show you seven ways to encourage creativity and productivity within remote teams. Let’s take a look!

Make sure everyone has the right equipment

Do you know that 55% of businesses globally offer some capacity for remote work? It’s a huge number of workers who need reliable equipment in order to do their jobs properly. As a manager, you need to make sure that everybody in the team has the right equipment for continuous online work. That includes the following:

• Stable Internet connection
• A good computer
• Audio/video equipment for digital meetings
• All the programs necessary for uninterrupted online collaboration (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.)

Set SMART goals

Remote teams without precisely defined business plans probably won’t achieve any objectives. This is exactly why you need to use the so-called SMART formula and set goals that are both ambitious and easy to track. Here’s what SMART really means:

• Specific: Every objective has to be defined precisely. For instance, you want to sell 25 thousand units in the first quarter of the year.
• Measurable: Specific goals are easy to measure. This allows you to quantify the achievements of your remote team.
• Achievable: Make sure not to set impossible goals as it will kill the team’s creativity and productivity.
• Realistic: Be ambitious, but stay realistic.
• Time-bound: You have to determine when your remote team has to deliver results.

Prepare for brainstorming sessions

What is the single finest tool to drain great ideas out of your employees? It must be a brainstorming session because it allows people to speak their minds freely and without the fear of being wrong. Remote work doesn’t make brainstorming more difficult than usual – you can still gather a team online and let everyone shout their ideas in the microphone. Someone should be in charge of writing down ideas and there it is – a credible brainstorming session is done virtually.

Organize regular meetings

Regular meetings represent yet another way to boost creativity and productivity in remote teams. It is a quintessential tip because employees don’t like the notion of being isolated and alone. On the contrary, they want you to gather everyone and discuss the trendiest topics. You should organize three types of meetings:

• Standup meetings every morning to discuss daily tasks for up to 15 minutes
• Weekly meetings with the entire staff for up to an hour
• Biweekly one-on-one meetings to hear what each member of the team is dealing with

Leave your doors open

This tip may sound a little strange in the age of online businesses, but it still applies to remote teams as well. As a manager, you must have an “open door” policy because it encourages employees to address you and talk about the problems they would probably hide otherwise.

Recognize achievements

Every person wants to feel acknowledged and appreciated. The same goes for me, you, and your remote employees. In such circumstances, it is necessary to keep an eye on everyone and recognize workers’ achievements in real time.

The best way to do that is to praise elite employees publicly, but you should also consider a bigger reward when someone does a really good job. This will make people feel appreciated and more satisfied to be a part of your remote team.

Organize team-building events

Finally, don’t forget to organize team-building events. If possible, it would be best to do it traditionally and take employees somewhere nice. If not, you can still organize team-building events online. For example, you can play video game tournaments online, poker, family feud games, or any other social game. It will boost team spirit and make workers more productive and creative.

The Bottom Line

Working remotely sounds like a dream come true, but some employers don’t really see it that way because their teams are struggling to get the job done properly. Certain people lack inspiration when working alone, so you need to make them feel good and agile again.

In this article, we discussed seven ways to encourage creativity and productivity within remote teams. Do you think you can handle it like this? Share your thoughts in the comments section!