The reason you brought on a team is to stop doing #allthethings and start showing up as the CEO in your business.
In contrast to traditional businesses with in-office teams, online businesses mostly consist of remote teams, working in different time zones around the globe which can make managing a team even more complex.
Over time, I’ve learned that you can have the best team members in the world, without the right technology that will keep you connected and on top of the game, you will never let go of micro-managing the day-to-day.
Remote team management tools are an essential piece of the puzzle when it comes to managing virtual teams.
Here’s an overview of my top 5 tools:
MANAGE YOUR TEAM’S WORK IN A PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
When you want to build and grow a sustainable and successful business, you need your team to function like a well-oiled machine with everyone being clear on the projects that are coming up and the tasks they are responsible for.
A solid project management platform allows you to map out projects, tasks and responsibilities.
There are different platforms out there but one of the most common project management tools is Asana.
Asana is my favourite tool to house all my To Do’s and plan, organize, and manage my team’s work, from day one to due date. Plus, it is perfect to collaborate with team members or contractors and coordinate team tasks so everyone knows who is doing what. The great thing about Asana is that it has a free plan available. So if you are just getting started and you want to keep your overhead cost low, Asana is your tool.
For more advanced and complex businesses, I suggest taking a look at Teamwork or Basecamp – however, since they offer a wider range of features they are more complex and it takes a bit longer to use them in their full potential.
GET A MESSAGING APP TO KEEP EACH OTHER UPDATED AND ASK FOR QUICK FEEDBACK
A lack of proper communication can affect the work negatively.
When running a virtual team, a communication hub to communicate with co-workers, share ideas, manage the development of projects, and comment in real time to keep each other updated is a no-brainer!
Slack is a powerful tool when it comes to instant messaging and communicating with your team. You can organize your projects by channel and integrate other tools such as Asana or Google Drive.
Let’s say you discuss an upcoming marketing campaign with your team and ask your Virtual Assistant to create a set of social media graphics, Slack will allow you to directly create this as a task in Asana without having to switch tools.
SET UP A FILE SHARING PLATFORM TO COLLABORATE ON DOCUMENTS
When you work with a virtual team, your team members will need to collaborate on documents and share files. Sending large files over email is a hassle, and impossible when the file is too large.
Google Drive is my go-to-tool when it comes to storing and collaborating on files. From crafting email templates in simple text documents to creating complex project plans in a spreadsheet – it’s an ideal hub to house all your documents.
Google Drive is cloud-based, allowing access to documents, presentations and files from any Internet-enabled device.
The ability to share files with team members and even collaborate on the same document simultaneously without having to download them and send them via email or WeTransfer is just a game changer in managing your business with a remote team.
HOLD REGULAR ONLINE MEETINGS VIA A VIDEO CONFERENCING SOFTWARE
Although a virtual team comes with a lot of advantages (i.e. you don’t have to rent office space), one of the biggest drawbacks is that you don’t meet face-to-face on a daily basis to check-in with your team.
Getting updates on current projects, planning launches or giving feedback, via a screen shared video call is a lot faster and more efficient than back to back emails.
When it comes to choosing a video conferencing software, I recommend picking one that allows screen sharing and is easy to use.
Zoom is by far my favourite and probably the most common video conferencing software, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars. If you have group calls that last longer than 40 minutes you need to sign for one of their paid plans (which is totally worth it as you can use Zoom also for discovery calls with your clients or even coaching calls & mastermind calls!).
TRAIN YOUR TEAM BY USING A SCREEN RECORDING SOFTWARE
Screen recordings are a powerful way to illustrate and explain processes and task details.
Loom is by far my favourite go-to tool to film quick “How To” videos.
With Loom you can just film a screen recording along with audio while performing a task and send it to your team member with 1 click.
It is super simple to use and FOR FREE.
RUNNING AN ONLINE BUSINESS AND OVERWHELMED WITH ALL THE TOOLS OUT THERE?
Then the Her Secret Weapon Toolbox is for you.
It’s a comprehensive list of tech tools I use to manage my and my clients’ businesses as I saw many entrepreneurs struggle when it came to picking the right tool.
Inside the toolbox, I’ll list tools to manage different areas of an online business and explain the specifics of each of them. This overview makes it easy for you to pick the right tool depending on your business needs.
