Managing remote teams has quickly become an essential requirement for leaders. And while there may not be a handbook, there are plenty of tools available to simplify the process. Below are five of the best – enabling you to manage remote workers while keeping them productive and helping your business to grow.
1. Best for… project management
Join companies including Uber, AirBnB, and Pinterest, who all use Asana to plot and track their projects. This work management platform helps your team to stay focused on their goals, projects, and tasks in a clean, uncluttered digital environment. Managers can set priorities and deadlines as well as sharing details and assigning tasks, all in one place. It’s easy to follow projects and tasks through every stage and keep team members aligned on goals. The platform’s automation feature allows you to minimise time spent on tedious manual tasks. An algorithm suggests ways to simplify workflows and reduce errors.
2. Best for… time management
Time-tracking can reveal useful information about your business – but remembering (or finding the time) to do it can be the challenge. Harvest streamlines the process and gives you the data in an easy to understand format. Want to know where your team’s time is going, and how much of it is being spent on key projects? Harvest collates timesheet data into a visual report to help you interpret it clearly and quickly. Harvest can even turn your business’s billable time and expenses into professional invoices, ready to be sent to clients.
3. Best for… communication
Jell wants to “cut the mess of emails and meetings… and help you focus on work that matters most”. Its ‘daily standups’ help managers to keep track of what everyone's working on – making it convenient for team members to share progress and problems, without losing time in unnecessary meetings. Additional check-ins can be created with individuals or smaller teams to collect metrics or other information you need on a regular basis. Jell handily integrates with Slack, to fit your team's natural workflow.
4. Best for… file management
Billed as ‘the industry’s most secure document collaboration solution’, Huddle is a file management app trusted by the likes of Nasa and the US Department of Homeland Security. Users can set access permissions, easily keep track of stored documents, review files without downloading, and quickly share them with people inside and outside your organisation. It uses hi-tech security software to keep everything private and, conveniently, it works alongside the most common workplace apps, including Microsoft Office and Office Online.
5. Best for… rewards
Want to be a better boss? Or empower your managers to get more from their teams? The amusingly named Awesome Boss gives you simple tools to do just that, from personalised reminders that help you build meaningful relationships with your employees, to ideas for rewarding and recognising individuals and teams. Suggested feedback prompts and development assignments encourage regular engagement, while access to ‘coaching cue cards’ help managers to start any conversation with confidence. Amazon, Coca-Cola, BBC, and Stanford University are just a few of the organisations that use the platform.
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