Remote working is on the rise. However, there are plenty of reasons to be cautious. Here are five strategies to ensure that your distributed team works together as effectively as possible. Full article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-strategies-help-distributed-teams-work-better-together-michael-venn/

1. REMOTE
WORKING

2. 2.
Remote working is on the rise
There are plenty of
reasons to be cautious.
How can you ensure that your
distributed team works together
as effectively as possible?

3. 3.
43 percent
of employees in the US
now work remotely at
least some of the time
37 percent
say that they
would change
jobs to be able to
43%
37%
Buffer is a well known example, with 75 staff,
4.5 million customers – and no office.

4. 4.
Benefits for the employee
Stay in the
comfort of your
own home
Skip the commute
and work around
your other
commitments
Positives for the business
o Boosting morale
o Saving the need for
expensive office space
o Allowing the company to call
on the skills of individuals
around the world.

5. 5.
Remote working in Crugo
Working together physically has its advantages
When Crugo was founded, the team included a number of remote workers.
Being in the same space
makes it far easier to
communicate
People have conversations in
person. This can make a crucial
difference in driving innovation
and building team spirit.
Still have remote workers,
and work with temporary
freelancers on occasion
Freelance platforms make it fast,
simple and affordable to hire highly
motivated and highly skilled
individuals from almost anywhere

6. 6.
There are plenty of potential NEGATIVE FACTORS to remote
working that managers are quite rightly afraid of
The potential for employees to become
DISCONNECTED and UNPRODUCTIVE in an
organisational structure with limited accountability
However, by ensuring that the distributed team remains connected and engaged,
businesses can realise the benefits of remote working with few of the drawbacks.

7. FIVE STRATEGIES
to ensure that the distributed team
remains connected and engaged

8. 8.
The first and most important step
to connecting your distributed
team is to ensure that
THEY REALLY ARE A TEAM.
From a managerial
perspective, it’s also worth
considering how staff output
and productivity is measured
Thorough documentation might
sometimes seem excessive, but
when working with a remote
team it’s hugely valuable.
Stay aligned1

9. 9.
Conference call2
A key part of keeping the team aligned is to
Have regular meetings
Keep the conversation going in
the meantime with chat threads.
Communicating solely through
emails and text messaging can be
effective but it can ultimately feel
isolating, lacking the human
element of verbal communication.
Scheduling regular video and audio
calls between colleagues and
between line managers and reports
ensures that staff stay on the same
page and that they feel included.
Ensure you have always-available communication channels – and that you use them.

10. 10.
Make time3
Processes carried out remotely can often be notably more time consuming – however,
the overall efficiencies gained by distributed working often outweigh the costs.
Meetings can take time, for
example, but it’s important
to make the investment,
and to ensure that
everyone checks in at
regular intervals.
If you’re working with
international staff then
time zones need to be
considered.
If these factors aren’t taken
into consideration then staff
are likely to feel fundamentally
disconnected from the team.

11. 11.
Use the right tools4
Staying connected relies on having the right tools
Instant messaging, voice notes, video &
audio calls, screensharing and multi-
way video conferencing are all powerful
channels, providing more fluid
communication than can be achieved by
email.
Collaborative editing, file
sharing and online tools and
platforms can all provide
highly effective channels for
distributed teams

12. 12.
Use the right tools4
Someone in a
foreign country
Someone who’s
50 metres away
Someone who’s on
the next desk over
A team that is
part-time remote
Having one platform where you can communicate, plan projects and share files, all in one place,
rather than needing to use a handful of tools or applications is invaluable.
Eg: Using an array of tools naturally makes team workflows quite
disjointed (are the files in Google Drive, Dropbox or email?)
Having the tools to connect, and to document and archive communications,
is extremely useful whether you’re working with

13. 13.
Meet in person when you can5
When possible, it’s also great to bring the remote team together in person.
That can mean for
department or company-
wide meetings or simply
for social purposes (like
bowling and drinks).
This gives the team the
opportunity to relate to
one another on a
personal level

14. 14.
Conclusion: engage, communicate and energise
It’s important to ensure that
Every member
of the team is
engaged
You have clear and
open channels of
communication
You have the
time and tools
to connect
In a worst case scenario,
distributed teams can feel divided, disconnected from the core team and poorly resourced.

15. 15.
Conclusion: engage, communicate and energise
Remote working isn’t something that’s
going away anytime soon – and with the
potential of collaborating across mixed-
reality work spaces, it’s something that’s
only going to become more immersive.

16. THANK
YOU!