7 Habits of Productive Remote Teams
Here are the 7 Habits of Productive Remote Teams – In the post-pandemic era, 2 myths can’t help but go viral. You have Pseudoproductivity and fully remote work for every employee of a company. If you are a business owner or a decision-maker in an organisation, it is only fair to ask yourself and your stakeholders what workplace style is best for your teams and how you can maximise getting more things done. But before we dispel whether the work setup makes the team productive, we wanted to make sure that yes, if it can be an email, don’t book that meeting.
As we head onto the best productivity practices that apply not just to you but to your teams, let it be known that fully working from home gives 10% lower productivity according to Standford research and 20% lower productivity based on a white paper published by the Institute of Labor Economics of Deutsche Post Foundation. Now that we are aware that hybrid setup is mostly the effective workplace for the majority of companies these days, let’s talk about the habits that you can use to boost your team in accomplishing more day in and day out.
1. Timeboxing
Instead of having multiple pages of tasks to cross out, set a time every day for different things to do. Promoting a to-do list for your team can be overwhelming and may lead to burnout as you wouldn’t know if it’s possible to get it done in a day or even in a week. This can also prevent procrastination as difficult assignments can be placed at a time when it’s needed to be faced. Things that are hard to do usually get pushed down on the priority list.
2. Eisenhower Decision Matrix
Since you have segmented your work hours, which ones should you do first? The Eisenhower Matrix is just a quadrant to determine which responsibilities to prioritise. It is divided into Important, Less Important, Urgent, and Not Urgent. This will teach you and your team to say “no” and “later” to things that will deplete their precious time for matters that need more attention.
3. Habit Stacking
This one also relates to Habits 1 and 2 as its idea is keeping responsibilities that are similar or close to each other done together. For example, you have to download files regularly, you can spend the waiting time backreading Slack updates. Your team can also collaborate on assignments that will be easier to accomplish with each other’s help. However, do not confuse this with doing multiple things simultaneously. Do one thing then let the next thing on your plate be the closest to what you’re doing now.
4. Notification Blackout
If you want your teammates to be more efficient in their jobs, don’t interrupt them on their deep work. Several studies prove that getting back in the rhythm of your workflow takes up more energy. Once you set a time that lets them turn off all their notification and activate their flow state or that feeling of ‘being in the zone’—a workload that’s meant to take a week can be done in hours. That way, you can spend more time on talent development, recreation and networking with colleagues.
5. Pomodoro Technique and Co–Working
Although there are employees who prefer working alone, you can also work alone together whether that’s virtual or on-site. Schedule a meeting room where people can work at 25-minute intervals. Having quick breaks can help replenish their creative juices and keep their output in good quality. When you see your companions committing to their work, it is unlikely for you to distract them and get distracted.
6. Designate Areas
If you have teams globally, it’s vital that you support them in dedicating a space for work. You can maintain a work-life balance for individuals who spend most of their time working by not combining the place for their job and for their family and personal time. This is also applicable to offices in fostering creativity in areas where they can brainstorm ideas, loosen up, and rest.
7. Kanban’s Pull Model
This last habit is more on the technical side as it is usually used by tech teams. However, it’s also helpful for companies that don’t need to adapt Scrum and Agile methodologies. The Pull Model allows your teammates to view all of the tasks that are ready to be done so that the free team members can pull one of them and empty the list of work faster.
Since we have already mentioned the agile methodology, habits are only limited to your people’s capability and that can only do so much. Without you providing them with the tools that will allow them to automate menial tasks and build systems for streamlined processes, productivity will always be an uphill battle. Capitalise on what AI is offering and enable your teams to upskill so that they don’t just produce faster but better.
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