How to work with a team remotely
You can’t leave. Where to draw the line?
Forced remote work – you would like to work from the office. You work well and productively. But life, covid, globalization dictate other rules, and you – adjust as best you can.
How to move from the office to “online”? Communication, reporting, work organisation, motivation? What tools to use to be effective?
The Vimmy team mostly works remotely. Let’s share our experience in organising the process.
01
Let's start with the good part
Remote or work online is popular in many companies around the world. This is not surprising, if there is no office, then there is no rent. Good for the budget.
A well-thought-out and well-organised structure of online work is convenient. It makes it possible to expand the geography of the search for suitable employees and specialists. Not in one city, but anywhere in the world.
Flexibility in working hours is also useful. It is not always convenient to come to the office at 5 am or stay until 2 am. Or take a break in the middle of the work day. Working remotely makes this possible.
02
Challenges
What pitfalls will surface with the transition to remote work?
Organizational issues; The lack of an office - where all can gather. There you can quickly meet up, solve the problem. Use the collective mind. The principle of synergy does not work well at a distance and the time zones are different.
At a distance, you are “torn out” of events and context. Minimum communication with the team, isolation. There is desynchronization with colleagues. There is no opportunity to discuss the news during lunch, no coffee breaks or going after work somewhere.
Employees do not know the names of colleagues, who does what. This happens if people come to the company and immediately start working remotely. People may not recognize each other in chats or during video calls. Even after a year of working together.
For new employees in the office there is an opportunity to observe the work of more experienced colleagues, to remember and learn from experience; It won't work remotely.
The start and end of the working day is different due to different time zones. For some tasks - not critical, for others - useful. Someone is looking after the campaigns. But also uncomfortable. Calls and negotiations need to be adjusted to one common time.
Getting up, going to the office and sitting at the computer to work there is not the same as getting up and starting work right from home. In slippers, pyjamas and a cup of coffee. Not everyone has such high self-discipline and motivation. The organisation of the workflow is very important. Without discipline, there is nothing to do at a remote work.
03
Organisation
How to control, what to report, how to communicate, what programs to use, how often to call up, how to structure the process, how to train new employees remotely? Lots of questions, let's get started.
04
Online office
A common gathering place is required. It used to be an office, but now we are looking for an online analogue. There are many options, in Vimmy we chose the Slack program. Simple interface, everything is convenient and clear, there are all the necessary functions. Read more about using Slack here.
You can choose any analogue. It just has to be convenient to communicate in the messenger. Create different chat rooms for different discussions so that there is no chaos. Transfer files quickly and easily. All in one place. You go into the application, and you are in the "office" with colleagues.
05
Setting goals
Setting goals/tasks verbally is a fiasco. Programs for setting goals and structuring them are a must have. At Vimmy we chose Asana, read more here.
It is always clearly visible at what stage the project or task is. And all participants can comment, post links, files and thoughts. Everything you need is stored in one place. No material confusion. It's easy to dig through history, find something old if you need to.
Jira, Asana, and its analogues make remote life easier. Open it up and see what you have to work on. Everything is before your eyes.
06
Reporting and calls
Reports are a waste of time. You can write one a week, add the results of the week's work and plans for the next one. Add questions, problems and suggestions, to resolve issues as soon as they arrive. Quickly consider interesting proposals, and improve work immediately.
A dozen calls will take all day, work - when?
If necessary, it is better to call up: contact, call, discuss.
Scheduled weekly calls are needed if there is a reason. Otherwise it's a waste of time.
When introducing a new employee, you need to make sure that they understand what to do, where to start, who to contact, etc.
Something requires constant monitoring, attention, inclusion and phone calls, but some tasks or people do not need it. Be flexible and adapt to the situation.
07
Knowledge base
Manuals, access to programs and accounts - all in one place, where it is easy to enter, find, use even for new employees.
Ideally, that's it. But it doesn't always work out like that.
Affiliate marketing is a sphere where everything is changing rapidly. And it can be unrealistic to keep the same operation manuals up to date.
Take the time to structure and write FAQs, that will be great. But if not, then don't worry.
08
Synchronisation
Motivation is either there or it is not, working under duress - the result is predictable.
At a distance, the team is stratified. Time is out of sync. Therefore, general gatherings, even online, will be useful.
Perhaps employees between departments do not communicate because their work tasks do not overlap. The overall picture of what is happening - has only the leader. A general gathering, discussion of common tasks, work done - this is necessary. These conversations and common plans unite. The community of the team is strengthened.
A kind word is also nice to hear, remember about feedback. If in the office it’s just “great job, well done”, then remotely it’s not so easy. Do not be too lazy to type the same thing in the chat, say it during the call. Ask if everything is fine, if there are any questions, thoughts, suggestions.
Everyone is different, someone has incredible self-discipline and personal motivation. Others may need a little more control. Just take it into account.
09
Conclusion
Remote work is another working format. It has its pros and cons. Especially when “everyday” issues are resolved and automated.
If you start to figure it out and do what needs to be done, then slowly everything will work out. Who, if not an affiliate marketer, does not know this.
Do you work in an office or remotely? Which format do you like best?
