It’s such a crazy time in the world right now and we are seeing more and more businesses and teams shifting to remote work. For a lot of us we are used to working virtually on a daily basis but for others this is new territory to navigate. So I wanted to put together a post with some tools to get your team up and running to work remotely.
Even if you don’t have a team I’m hoping these will help set you up for success as we all try our best to continue our business as usual.
The tools you will want to check out:
Zoom: This video conferencing software will be a game changer for you to virtually connect with your team and still be able see their beautiful faces. It’s a daily staple in my business to maintain connection and be able to hold regular weekly team meetings with my clients and their teams.
Loom: Not be confused with the above – this tool allows you to record your screen, your face, or both to be able to walk through or explain anything really. I find it super helpful to be able to walkthrough a project or workflow, go through instructions or steps to complete tasks or to even ask questions when a visual would be helpful. My friend Louise Henry just did a YouTube video tutorial on how to use this, you can check it out HERE!
Slack: This is a STAPLE for any remote team. The modern day instant message tool that allows you to stay in touch throughout the day with your team members. You can create channels so you can include different departments in one conversation thread or create a thread just for information pertaining to a launch or specific project or campaign. You can also direct message members of your team if topics are more sensitive or if it only needs to involve the two of you. I can honestly say this is the best tool to not feel isolated all day, to build culture and to have fun and casual conversations with your team that will no doubt include a large number of giphs.
Bonus: Slack can also integrate with so many other apps like Asana to make things even more streamlined.
Voxer: This is a great app with a free plan option to use for sending voice messages or to stay in touch via text without giving out your personal phone number. It’s like a digital walkie talkie to send voice messages back and forth. What I love about Voxer is that you can pause and speed up the messages you are listening too.
Asana OR a Project Management Tool: Hands down Asana is my all-time favorite project management tool to use when managing and leading a team. A Project management tool can act as a central hub to house everything from your company information to major projects. Everything can be accessed online which makes it really easy to delegate tasks to your team remotely.
GoogleDrive: I feel like most business owners are probably already using this but just in case I wanted to mention it here. Having all your documents saved on GoogleDrive will allow you to share and comment on docs back and forth with your team online. No file attachments through email, everyone can have access to what they need with a click of a mouse.
Maintaining strong communication with your team is probably the most important thing you can do when moving to remote work and all of the tools listed above help you to do just that. Keeping them informed and updated on all the latest information will help build a strong foundation of trust amongst your team members.
I would highly encourage weekly video meetings with your team to keep up with seeing them face to face as much as possible. Daily communication and check ins via Slack and making sure to continue having fun through conversation. Delegation and tasking them with new projects or what they should be working on through in something like Asana will keep things operating as smoothly as possible.
On the flips side, if you are finding yourself working from home for the first time here are some of my top tips to get yourself settled:
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Maintain a routine as best as possible. As tempting as it is to work in your pyjamas ( which we’ve all done on occasion and you have permission to do if you want) it helps to actually get up and get dressed like you are going into work or continue with your morning routine as usual to set you up for the day.
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Designate a workspace. If you don’t have a home office make sure to create a space that is just for you and preferably one you can leave when working hours are finished.
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Set your own “office hours” or determine your working hours based on what will work best with your schedule, your team, your kids etc. make sure to still maintain those boundaries and most importantly, determine a time when you will stop working every night. Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean it needs to be 24/7 (I’ve been guilty of this in the past)
Please let me know in the comments or send me a DM on Instagram if you have any further questions about working remotely or how to get yourself settled into working from home! Remember we are all in this together!
