Managing Your Virtual Office: Avoiding the Pitfalls
Business startups and other small businesses already face the challenge of competing with the big leagues in the industry, where the pursuit for success is like climbing your way to Mount Everest. On top of this tough ordeal comes the challenges in operating a virtual team across the globe. With the recent economic recession, many businesses have been forced to maximize profit by outsourcing work offshore. Telecommuting seems to be the trend nowadays, where virtual workers are just too happy to earn a living and report to work – even in their pajamas.
With today’s technology, nothing seems to be impossible in the virtual workplace. Still, newer technologies sprout like a modern-day mushroom helping people bridge the gap of geography by offering better communication services at no cost. Huge savings on office spaces, lease or rent, employee benefits and insurance, taxes, retirement plans, office equipment, software, and human resources have been the greatest reward of managing a virtual office. With more flexible ways of doing work, we can see a growing number of freelancers working at home in the next few years, outshining their local, traditional counterparts. But, together with this fast-growing trend comes the pitfalls of managing a virtual team. In fact, a recent study made by Harvard show that virtual offices face more issues than its brick-and-mortar rivals.
What are the Five Common Mistakes to Avoid in Managing a Virtual Office?
The good news is that these pitfalls are truly avoidable, if one will take the time and effort to organize and plan carefully:
1. Not Setting Clear Work Goals
Remember that when it comes to hiring remote workers, you will be working with various personalities, culture, ages, and religions. There is also the gap between a Generation Y and a traditional worker. Define each team member’s skills, assign duties related to their capabilities, and learn to set expectations on how you want them to perform or document the work to be done – before even starting on ground zero.
2. Skimping on Technology and Communication Tools
One reason business owners hire a virtual team is to save on overhead costs, but this must not be a reason to skimp on important tools like a fast internet connection, a VoIP service, an online data storage solution, data sharing services, the right equipment, or the latest software or online training that will help your virtual workers be the most productive team you ever had. Although 90 percent of remote workers have the right tools to do a flawless job, having the best of both worlds will definitely boost the speed and efficiency of each service provider for your virtual team.
3. Failure in Reinforcing Communication Rules
Communication is the very lifeline of your remote business and without a good communication with your virtual workers, you are simply – doomed. Make sure that you set guidelines on how your team will communicate queries and tasks each week. You may schedule a weekly video conferencing, or you may use email or instant messaging services for work updates or memos. Also, set the time frame for responses, specially when you have workers working in different time zones. It will all come down to synchronization.
4. Losing Track of the Work Progress
With the flexibility of doing remote work comes the woes of micromanaging each virtual worker. Any virtual team manager MUST be the most organized person in the team, where he or she needs to track the work progress among the team and makes sure that each one is working to meet the project’s target deadline. There are plenty of calendar sharing programs on the web that can help utilize a remote worker’s whereabouts, keeping your team informed on how each one’s effort will lead to the final completion of the work – even with the distance.
5. Lack of Encouragement
Team managers need to encourage small talk with their team members, without getting too personal or wasting too much time. Virtual work must be fun too, or you run the risk of having your team members feel that proverbial “burnout” feeling. If the work done exceeds your expectations, don’t miss giving out words of appreciation. You may give monetary bonuses or other incentives, if you have more than enough to spare. Since virtual workers have the tendency to overwork, you may encourage them to enjoy their personal lives or you may setup a forum where your remote workers can have a virtual coffee break and simply mingle.
No matter how new you are to creating and managing your very own virtual office, know that addressing these mistakes and making a careful plan will truly make you reap the great rewards of doing your business online. A virtual office is totally different from the way a traditional office is handled and at the end of a working day, it is all about knowing how to address issues properly and taking the time to communicate effectively with the team. As Ann Bamesberge ( Vice President – Open Work, Sun Microsystems ) says, “ It involves a shift in the way you manage. “ [ quoted in an article by Rachael King for Business Week: Virtual Workplace Dos and Dont's ]
A Video on How to Manage Your Staff:
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