When you’re dealing with several teams based in different locations even with different time zone and communication logistics, trying to keep your team motivated and engaged can be complex.
Managing a field team is a bit challenge that requires a specific set of skills and tools in order to ensure that the whole team stays connected and productive. So how can you successfully manage your team in the field, no matter where they are? Here we have few great tips to manage teams in different locations efficiently.
Focus on deliverables
When you’re managing an in-office team, you can easily monitor your team’s work hours and tasks. When you are managing a field team, checking everybody’s performance is more complicated. It requires a change on your benchmarks; instead of measuring the amount of time that your field workers dedicate to each project, you need to measure their deliverables and the goals accomplished.
Stop micromanaging
When you are managing teams in different locations you will need to develop trust in your team and replace micromanaging with a more empowering management style. You need to trust in your team’s abilities and in your judgment, and give them some freedom to do take some decision when it is necessary. However, giving and receiving feedback is an essential skill when you are managing a field team. Don’t underestimate what your staff are capable of. There are many tasks that can easily be handled well by local employees at each location.
Give relevance to communication
Maintaining effective communication is a key component within any industry, however, when you are managing field teams based in different locations is even more relevant. It’s essential to receive ongoing job updates, costs and asset information. Having the appropriate communication tools allow your employees to do their jobs efficiently and manage the recording and reporting.
Your employees also need to socialize. If you want them feel like a team. When they are working in different locations, you need to re-create opportunities in the virtual space for them to bond. You can, for instance, encourage them to regularly videoconference just to ask each questions, communicate or simply connect as a team.
Maintain real time visibility
When working with remote teams, you need to ensure visibility in the field – without having to constantly contact your employees for updates. Investing in systems that allow for real time awareness of field technicians’ locations will not only increase visibility, but will solve many job scheduling issues. Visibility allows managers and users to identify the more challenging tasks and areas and prioritize resources to address unexpected circumstances, increasing efficiency and diminishing risks. By having a transparent view into operations, teams can make informed and responsible decisions. Visibility in real-time allows businesses to plan, forecast and detect flaws along operations and instantly prevent them and solve unexpected circumstances.
Use technology to fill the gaps
When you are managing a field team, you can fill communication gaps by using some great communication technology. Right now, there are many tools in the market that can help you communicate with your team and monitor your company’s operations.
Platforms like Slack, which is an instant messenger type system, allow a quick communication between team members that you’d have in an office. Other tools such as DataScope can help you to manage field teams efficiently. This app includes a task manager and a messaging app to communicate with you site supervisors and your workers. It also supplies automatic alerts to simplify the way you manage your field team and real time insights. When a tasks has been finished, you will receive the report with the corresponding signatures.
So whether it’s Skype, Slack, DataScope or WhatsApp, you need to find the tool that works best for you and your team to help manage communication and improve productivity.
Managing a field team isn’t easy, but with the right tools in place, you can overcome communication barriers, minimize inefficiencies, and keep your whole team productive and engaged.
Want to learn more about how tool like DataScope can help you manage a remote team?
DataScope is a platform which allows various industries to streamline, organize and evaluate the work of their field staffs thanks to online forms which provide real time indicators 100% adaptable to any field.
