By Fernando Berrocal

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Managing remote teams from different parts of the world, as well as local and regional clients is a tough challenge to face for your startup. You'll often face many different obstacles and issues that hinder your organization's success. Here are five things we do to keep our remote teams in control.

Improve your Internal Communication Process: When managing a remote team, you must operate as if everyone is present in the office. That implies being able to communicate regularly and cultivating a collaborative and communicative culture. We promote a culture of oversharing so that everyone is aware of what's going on and team members feel that they're not alone. By oversharing, we mean that whenever you've completed a job, send a message to your colleagues in the Slack channel. While it may appear minor, it keeps team members from becoming disengaged and allows supervisors to keep track of what is going on.

The value of communication in remote teams cannot be overstated, particularly as you begin to recruit more individuals from different time zones and countries. Slack, Microsoft Teams, or whichever other system works best for you can help bridge the gap between markets and encourage collaboration.

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Invest in Cybersecurity: It can take a couple of cybersecurity nightmares for you to decide to invest in some strong data protection for your business. Even if you don't deal with much data, you might be handling sensitive material involving you, your colleagues, or your customers, therefore excellent cybersecurity is critical for remote workers. While some businesses may be able to get by with basic protection, the online threat is both real and frightening. Your initial investment might save your startup money in the long run.

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Celebrate the Little Things: You'll learn the hard way that when you work remotely, things like birthdays, anniversaries, and other celebrations go out the window. This isn't done on purpose or with hostility, but rather as a result of not being able to see the person in the same room. It's also due to the business's shifting HR requirements. So, one thing we constantly do nowadays is recognize and celebrate modest achievements throughout the workforce. Simple 30-minute company-wide Zoom sessions are common, and they're an important component of keeping a team motivated.

Make A Wise Use of Technology: Nowadays, many managers appear to be reluctant or afraid of new technologies. It may be challenging to adjust to new tools, whether they are organizational tools such as Asana or Monday, or productivity tools like ProofHub or Google Keep. There's also the constant noise coming from many of the programs on your phone and laptop that you are already dealing with.

Try to keep it simple, automate what you can, experiment when you can, and make decisions based on the results. Focus on implementing tools into your everyday workflow if it helps you be more productive. Automate many tasks, but create the right balance between technology and human touch.

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Culture Still comes from the Top: It can be easy to procrastinate work and always actively support your remote team. However, you must create the culture you desire in your startup. You might want it to be collaborative, communicative, helpful, and so on. Try to set the tone, things like brainstorming sessions, weekly team meetings, and regular one-on-ones with the team are all ways of setting the example of how the company culture should operate.

Ready to bring your startup to the next level? Apply to MassLight’s next batch. MassLight supplies capital and a dedicated tech team. We take equity in return. Have questions? Refer to our FAQ page.

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