How To Push Your Remote Team Productivity
Here is how to push your remote team productivity by using the following 4 great apps:
1. BoostHQ
Assembling teams of contract workers who are stationed in remote offices for a video meeting can be a frustrating exercise. It starts with the fact that to independent workers, time is money and meetings are a waste of both. They just want to know what needs to be done and any specific directions on doing it, and then they want to complete the work, submit their invoice, and move on to the next task. How do you build team relationships, bring everyone onto the same page, and propel your project forward in a unified way if you can't have meetings?
There is an app that takes your meetings online.
This app is BoostHQ. This web and mobile app becomes your team's virtual workspace. A workspace for your team's documents, spreadsheets, videos, links, checklists, polls, and discussions.
Team members get invited to specific channels, that relate to them, and they can read and share any content. BoostHQ makes knowledge sharing in teams easy and powerful. Curate any type of content, share it, and ignite real-time discussions on content that works. Employees no longer need to be in the same room in order to spark knowledge and innovation.
Improve your employees productivity because with BoostHQ creating, sharing, and applying everyday learning just got a lot easier. Employees will no longer need to waste 1/3 of their time looking for information or try to find the right people to talk to.
2. AgreeDo
Another app that makes meetings so efficient that even contract workers are happy to setup is AgreeDo. It works because everyone involved in the meeting can immediately see evidence that it is worthwhile. This app turns ideas team members are sharing into a meeting agenda, and then into meetings following the online session.
When decisions are hashed out during the meetings, the app immediately takes those ideas and turns them into a series of trackable tasks with the names of each team player attached to their tasks.
A great aspect of this app is that when your workers are scattered across the globe and there are different technologies in place, this unique tool works with Windows, Mac, iOS or Android.
3. Wunderlist
Another great app to track tasks when you are working with remote teams is Wunderlist.
When you manage a remote team, if you do not have a good production system, you can spend hours everyday simply managing the tasks of who is doing what.
Wunderlist looks after that for you. Essentially it is an app for tracking tasks and checking on their status.
For example, your team members will "star" a task if something has blocked their way and they are unable to advance to completion of their task. It prioritizes tasks and lists them in order of performances and then it breaks the big tasks down into subtasks.
It is an authentic system. There are no phony deadlines, only the real deadlines. It is assumed the team members will work as rapidly as their pace and circumstances allow.
When tasks are delegated, it is clear for all to see which team member is doing which task. As part of the process, each team member is directed to the "today" tasks on their "Assigned to me" lists.
4. Zapier
Another issue in working with remote teams with an eye to effective production methods is that each of these team members is used to working with their own favorite apps and is loath to change them.
For that there is Zapier, an app their website describes as "the glue that connects more than 750 apps".
Essentially it is an online automation tool that brings a connection between popular apps like Gmail, MailChimp, Slack, and others. In the process, it keeps you accountable while simultaneously keeping other team members in the loop. It is especially popular for busy independent workers who are comfortable with certain apps and don't want to switch just for one project.
You set it up by telling Zapier what kind of apps your team members are using and it connects them.
It is wonderful in avoiding conflict when you have on team member who likes using Google Drive to send documents, for example, and others who swear adamantly on Dropbox.
Nobody misses out in the process and the remote workers can continue to use the apps and systems with which they are comfortable.