How to Train and Mentor New Employees Remotely to Build a Productive Workforce
Mentoring remote employees

Working remotely does not need to be a disruption to foster meaningful relationships between mentors and mentees. There are multiple whiteboard and remote collaboration tools that enable you to continue training and mentorships with ease in real-time.

Creately, together with Gren Gale at PM Results held a Twitter chat to explore ways of training and mentoring remote employees to enhance the productivity of the workforce. Given below is a curated version of the discussion.

Q1) New remote employees usually struggle with reduced access to an ‘over the shoulder’ instructor support; how to overcome this problem?

Gren Gale points out that many companies do not have clearly defined processes. Often only a few people know how exactly the processes work. He says that this may lead to confusion among new remote recruits.

I recommend companies analyse and document their processes. While this isn’t a five-minute job and may divert busy people, it’s work you should definitely undertake. I recommend you look at Lean Six Sigma to analyse processes and you can use Creately to collaborate on and document them.”

He further suggests that both office-based and remote workforces should build a knowledge base.

“All of your processes should reside on a knowledge base together with the expert knowledge that resides in people’s heads but never gets written down. The work hygiene stuff like expenses, payroll and HR policies should be there too.

It’s a good idea to include authors for each page in the knowledge base and a contact icon so people know who the experts are to ask questions.”

Q2) How to make information easily accessible to remote employees, especially online?

To this end, Gren Gale highlights the importance of having structured meetings – which are minuted – for remote teams on a daily and weekly basis.

“Questions like how are you doing? Are you stuck with anything? Or how do you feel about work? should be asked. Setting goals and then measuring how well new employees are doing is essential for both the management and the morale of a new employee.

It’s a good principle to organise daily team ‘stand up meetings’ and invite new employees to these. Employee engagement packages formalise these arrangements and I’m a big fan of these for remote or hybrid work.”

He also mentions that an organizational chart is also an essential tool for new employees.

“Try finding your way around a remote team or worse still, around a client of the remote company without any sort of organizational chart and you’re in big trouble. You need a chart that shows what people do and who they work for and how to contact them.”

He also recommends the use of employee engagement software to ensure that new employees are being supported by their managers and lets senior management know otherwise. Furthermore, organizing social events, face-to-face and online, will help new team members socialize with the rest of the team.

“I’m a big fan of a ‘wall of fame!’ whicis is somewhat similar to an org chart. The wall of fame contains images of people on the organisation chart with a short description of their background and hobbies.

It lets everyone on the team know what their colleagues look like and provides scope for small talk. Hey you’re a movie buff, keen cyclist or music lover. It opens up everyone’s background and interests and that helps inculcate the feeling of being in a team.”

Q3) What qualities qualify a person to be a good mentor to a remote employee?

Qualities such as being patient, being prepared to listen and making sure you are knowledgeable about the subject area or know where to get the information are both common to one-on-one and remote mentoring.

However, Gren Gale highlighted some skills that are specific to remote work.

“Both mentors and employees are required to be totally comfortable with the remote work technology, have an understanding of how the company is organised and who does what, and have an idea about the sorts of insecurities and frustrations remote workers might experience. A common feeling for new remote workers is imposter syndrome – are they good enough?”

He stresses that it is vital that mentors are sensitive to and understand this. it’s a lot harder to measure your performance against others when you’re remote. He adds that people leading teams remotely in particular can suffer from imposter syndrome.

Q4) How to find the right balance between overloading a mentee with information and expecting them to achieve their goals with the highest level of accuracy?

Gren Gale states that it’s important to give people simple tasks to do as soon as possible so they can feel they’ve achieved something and that they are able to find their way through this new organisation and make stuff happen.

“Imposter syndrome can lead to demoralization of new employees. As I mentioned earlier, I would recommend making use of employee engagement packages. They help with goal setting and reviewing. The strength of these packages is that employee satisfaction or unhappiness or lack of one-to-ones is flagged up in reporting to senior management – it ceases to be invisible.

He points out that it ultimately comes down to good management. However, being a remote manager is a whole lot harder than being office-based. It is important to make training a priority for all of your managers.

“I’ve managed a large team spread right around the world and I can honestly say I found it twice as difficult as managing face-to-face.”

He added that it is also important to train and support managers for remote work or their stresses may rub off on new employees and turn them off and demoralise them.

Q5) How important is it to match the mentee with the right mentors?

The short answer is, extremely important! It is also essential to find mentors who are comfortable with the technology and with the concept of remote mentoring. Gren Gale points out that many companies resorted to remote work during the past 18 months as a temporary measure, rather than a long term pattern. Therefore, it is possible that mentors may not have a lot of experience in remote mentoring and how people may react to what they are trying to convey. Hence, patience on the part of both mentors and mentees is vital.

“This needs to be on the 1:1 agenda with your manager. How is your training going? How are your mentors? The same thing needs to be asked of mentors. If it’s not working, change it. Getting mentors together also makes sense. There’s lots of learning to be gained and the more these guys talk and review what they’re doing the better they’ll get at it.

As is the case for managers. It’s worth considering training mentors in what they need to consider for remote mentoring to give everyone a better chance of making it work.”

Q6) What advice should a mentor give when helping mentees to align their goals with that of the organization’s?

To this end, Gren Gale states that communicating goals to all employees via available communication channels is incumbent on the senior management. This is why it is vital to have a clear line of communication in place.

“Goals should cascade down from the top with each level completing the goals set for the level above. Managers should always be delegating goals that align with the organisation’s goals. Once again this comes down to simple, good HR principles. Set people measurable goals and monitor their progress against those.”

Ensure that goals are measurable, achievable and fit with the objectives which your manager has been given by his/her manager.

SMART Goal Setting Template - Mentoring remote employees
SMART goal setting template (click on the image to edit it online)

Q7) How can a project manager keep track of assigned tasks in bigger and dispersed teams?

Gren Gale points out that the most effective solution is to use an appropriate project or task management package which allows you to stay on top of things with real-time alerts and notifications.

“Personally, I’d rather talk to each team member about their progress, in addition to receiving the progress data they enter via the project management package. However, this can be time-consuming. If you can’t get everyone together in one virtual room, then look at how you’re going to communicate effectively on progress.”

He further added that there are innovative project management and meeting software that aims to make things fast and efficient. If a project management package is out of the question for you, then make sure to at least maintain an action list with a clear task allocation and deadlines.

RACI Matrix
RACI Chart Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Q8) How to build and maintain trust within a remote working team, especially among new recruits?

“No. 1 is don’t be a disembodied voice on a video call. Show your face! Turn on the video even if everyone else has it switched off. If you’re going to prove your professional credibility you need to be very organised. Maintain risk, issue and action lists and keep your plans up to date. Share each of these with your team. Stay on top of change.”

Gren Gale also suggests that it is always better to concentrate on making active efforts to fill the gaps in your knowledge, in addition to conducting your own research into unfamiliar technical areas, in order to stay up to speed.

“The way you act and treat the people in your team will earn you respect. You need to respect their culture, customs and personalities as well as run the project in such a way as to gain respect.

Inevitably project management involves a degree of subtle manipulation to get what you want when you need it from the wide groups of people who are involved in delivering a project.”

However, managers should also be careful not to seem like political manipulators or someone who is not aligned with the common goals of the team. The key here is to build trust.

“I’ve always found that if you trust and support people they’ll nearly always deliver for you. The most respected people are those who appear to have no hidden agenda but are working towards the common goal.”

Q9) How to set and properly communicate the expectations of a job role to a newly hired remote employee?

Issues may arise regarding the expectations of a person’s job role when there is a lack of clarity or understanding about it among employees. However, when this happens remotely, such problems can amplify in your mind. Glen Gale highlights that communication is the most effective solution to overcome this.

“Communication in remote teams is key. Managers must hold one-on-ones with each of their teams on a regular, preferably weekly basis. These meetings must include goal setting and review as well as explicit questions about how an employee is feeling.

Team meetings and short daily ‘stand-up’ meetings are also important components in communicating what the team is trying to achieve and should lead to issues with new joiners being resolved more quickly.”

Q10) What steps can both the manager and new recruit take to foster a positive relationship with each other and avoid issues?

Gren Gale stresses that honesty and openness on both sides is essential to spot any problems. This applies to office-based staff too. However, one thing that is worthy of note is that people tend to have less inhibitions on a video call than face-to-face. This may be a positive for remote work!

“It is also helpful for new employees to be able to talk about their managers with other staff to get perspective. Some managers may appear to be less approachable but people who know them may say don’t worry they’re fine after they get to know you.”

He adds that remote companies should strongly encourage social interaction between staff. This can be done by appointing social managers or social organisers in teams. They should go the extra mile to encourage new employees to take part. 

“There are so many ideas on this front both online and real-world social events and ice breakers. You’ll find some in my books or just google it and you’ll find lots more! I’m also a big proponent of team meet-ups. Organised events to get everyone on a remote team together for a couple of days. This helps everyone bond and work as a team.”

Your Guide to Asynchronous Communication
Your Guide To Asynchronous Communication

Teams around the world are now well entrenched in the concept of remote work. Over the last year and a half, there have been learnings, frustrations, and some great breakthroughs in team dynamics, organizational culture, and overall productivity.

Companies have had varied success in their shift to remote work. But the most successful organizations have realized one thing, that remote work is not as simple as implementing a structure that existed when teams were co-located. 

Distributed teams feel more empowered when they have greater flexibility and autonomy. The ability to make your own schedule and prioritize various tasks in a day according to what suits them best gives team members the ability to design their day and maximize their productivity.

More and more, the benefits of working asynchronously are becoming apparent. Organizations are creating and implementing structures that make the most use of all the benefits that come from working asynchronously.

What is Asynchronous Communication?

Asynchronous work is when members in a team can communicate with each other without having to be present at the exact same moment in time. This happens when the information can be exchanged independently of time. In asynchronous communication, team members usually present some information and there is some time lag before the recipient offers their response. Simply put, asynchronous work is any form of work that doesn’t happen in real-time and allows team members to coordinate their efforts across multiple schedules to work together on a project. 

Asynchronous Work Is Not the Same as Remote Work

These two terms are often conflated but in reality they are distinctly different. Some companies who have gone remote, still expect employees to log in at a particular time and stay at their desk from 9 to 5 just like how they would if they were in an office. 

Asynchronous work however, allows employees to complete tasks on their own time which may be very different from their colleagues. This assumes that communication is not meant to be immediate and people can respond when it is convenient to them. Online hubs and remote collaboration tools allow teams to access a common resource on their own. They complete tasks and send them to their colleagues who can then pick them up whenever their workday begins. 

Meetings Are Horrible

Endless check-ins, daily stand-ups, and all-hand meetings can be extremely unproductive. Meetings have been identified to be one of the biggest time sinks in any organization. In a recent study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, 65% of managers said that meetings kept them from completing actual work, 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient, and 64% said they came in the way of deep thinking.

While some meetings are unavoidable, working asynchronously changes the way organizations approach meetings in general. In order to schedule a meeting while working asynchronously, you have to coordinate various people’s times which makes sure meetings take place only when they are absolutely necessary. This ensures clear agendas and more productive interactions.

The Era of Deep Work

As teams get more distributed, the value organizations place on the quantity of time spent at work has greatly reduced. Output and productivity have become the only important factors when evaluating employee performance.

“Non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks are often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create new value in the world and are easy to replicate.”

– Cal Newport

Deep work refers to our ability to work in a state of deep concentration and focus for a long period of time, without distraction or interruption. 

Working asynchronously removes employees from the daily distractions of a workplace so they can dedicate sections of their day to creating high-value, productive output.

Benefits of Working Asynchronously

More Flexibility: Working Asynchronously allows employees to become the masters of their time. They can create work schedules that fit into their lifestyle which leads to a more fulfilled work-life balance.

More Detailed Responses: When working asynchronously people are not expected to reply or respond immediately which means they can take their time to really think about an issue and analyze it before they offer their response or opinion. This leads to more thought-through decisions.

Fewer Distractions: Working asynchronously helps employees enter a flow state easier. By carving out some time dedicated to a particular task, they can truly engage in deep thinking without having to be worried about being interrupted by colleagues about other unrelated tasks. 

Automatic Documentation: Most asynchronous communication is written communication. Whether through email, chat or on an online whiteboard there is usually a record of the communication that takes place. You can always go back and refer to this communication and it serves as a log that avoids communication redundancy. 

Flattens Hierarchies: It creates an open forum for employees to add suggestions and thoughts. It takes away some of the intimidating factors that could exist during meetings or face- to face interactions.

Tools for efficient asynchronous communication

Email:
The popularity of email seems to be fading out with the emergence of many new-age communication tools like Slack that claim to be built for remote collaboration. But email still translates very well to asynchronous communication. It does not expect an immediate response, so team members can reply on their own time with thoughtful, valuable inputs. 

Video Communication:
Video conferencing has been the default way of communication to replace face-to-face meetings. But it doesn’t translate very well to asynchronous work as it involves having to get people together at a common time. Tools like Loom fixes that and allows you to experience the benefits of verbal communication through recordings and screen sharing.

Online Whiteboard:

With tools like Creately you can visualize thoughts, ideas and plans just like you would in a conference room. Team members can then review your visualizations and add comments, thoughts and suggestions to it at their own time. This creates a flexible and intuitive virtual workspace that is great for your asynchronous teams.

Creately's online whiteboard for asynchronous communication.
Online Whiteboard From Creately ( Click on the image to know more)

Tips to Working Asynchronously 

Focus on Goals: Many remote workers feel pressure to “look busy.” But asynchronous work is all about output, not activity. By focusing on clearly defined tasks you can cut down on unnecessary team chatter, do better work, and enjoy your new work-life balance.

Establish Core Hours.  Working asynchronously doesn’t mean working without a routine. On the contrary, it sometimes involves creating a more structured and detailed plan that you stick to. Communicating what your core work hours are to the rest of the organization is important so everyone knows who is working on what schedule.

Set Timing Expectations: While collaborating asynchronously it is crucial to be clear about deadlines. Working on individual schedules cannot ignore the fact that larger timelines need to be adhered to. Setting expectations of when something is due is important to help employees organize the workday to prioritize urgent tasks first.

Async Does Not  Mean Asocial.  Working asynchronously does not mean working in isolation. It is still important to find ways to have team members connect with each other and have fun.
Organizations need to prioritize ice-breakers and virtual parties or so coworkers can let their hair down and get to know their teammates on a personal level.

Tell us About your Experience Working Asynchronously

Organization-wide asynchronous work is still a relatively new concept and teams are still trying to work out all the kicks. Do you have any experience working asynchronously? We’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter, please feel free to share your insights in the comments below.

Fun Virtual Christmas Party Ideas Perfect for Remote Teams
Virtual Christmas Party Ideas

What a year 2020 has been. 

From virtual learning to virtual award ceremonies, this year has replaced what we normally do in-person with Zoom calls for socializing, online classrooms and whiteboards for teaching, video-game broadcasting on Twitch, and Netflix and TikTok for entertainment. 

Now, with Christmas fast approaching, we are pulling out all the stops to find the perfect way to successfully host a virtual Christmas party. We also took some time to curate a list of virtual Christmas party ideas – ones that are actually doable and fun at the same time – that you can try out with your friends, colleagues, or family online. 

Send Virtual Christmas Party Invitations or Flyers 

After all the hours spent on online meetings, another Zoom call that may lag on for hours may turn the team off. To avoid making it seem like another meeting, it’s important to hype everyone up. The first step to doing this is the invitation. Instead of sending another meeting link or a calendar invite, share a virtual invitation or flyer

Get creative with Creately’s shape libraries for over 70 types of chart and diagram types and the built-in Google image search feature (like we’ve done with the templates below). You can also copy-paste or drag and drop logos and other design elements right from your own device.

Click on the links below to edit or share them online.

Alternatively, you can also turn it into a fun game by getting everyone to create a greeting card of their own; the best one obviously wins! 

Dress the Part

It’s a party after all so wear something festive. To encourage everyone to do so, you can make a game out of it with an ugly sweater or best-dressed contest. Even though you can only see each other through a screen, dressing up can do a lot to distinguish the party from your daily meetings. 

Virtual Company Talent Show 

Showing talent – whether singing a song, performing a magic act, or being a mime – can be easily done through video conferencing and that’s why it makes another great virtual Christmas party idea. You can have people sign up for time slots early on to make it easy to properly plan your party agenda.   

Here are 50 great talent show ideas you can try for this year’s virtual Christmas party. 

Two Truths and a Lie Christmas Edition 

You can turn this popular ice breaker game into a holiday-themed one by getting the participants to introduce Christmas-related two truths and a lie. It can be about Christmas family traditions, the weirdest Christmas gifts they’ve received, or what they love about the season.

Christmas Two Truths and a Lie Virtual christmas party ideas
Click on the template to edit it online

Virtual Escape the Room 

Escape rooms offer an adventurous way to entertain everyone and improve team collaboration at the same time. Virtually you can play these by connecting over Zoom or other video conferencing platforms. Here are 24 virtual escape rooms you can have fun getting out of this Christmas. 

Christmas Tic Tac Toe

This classic game is another fun way to keep the crowd entertained. Make your game more Christmas-y with the game board templates below. Duplicate the game board for multiple pairs by simply copying and pasting it elsewhere on the canvas.

Christmas-Tic-Tac-Toe
Click on the template to edit it online

Decorate a Virtual Christmas Tree

Since you can’t actually meet up, make it a little bit different this year and decorate a Christmas tree – online. It can be a great way to keep the participants engaged and entertained. You can also turn it into a game by teaming them up and selecting the best decorated virtual Christmas tree. 

What do you need for this? Only an online canvas with real-time collaboration capabilities.

Below is a Christmas tree template you can use. You can create a library of Christmas tree decorations you prefer and copy and paste them right onto the canvas from your device. Use a Google Drive folder to store your library, so you can easily share it with your team, and using the Creately Google Drive plugin you can share the Christmas tree document through the same folder.

You can also search for decorations with the Creately canvas’s built-in Google image search capability. 

Virtual-Chritsmas-Tree-Template-virtual christmas tree party ideas
Click on the template to edit it online

Tip: Press C on a bauble to attach a message or write about a memory on the virtual Christmas tree. 

Virtual Dance Party 

You certainly don’t have to be in the same room to bust out a dance move or two. You can create a playlist out of everyone’s favorite songs or use a random song generator to play music while you dance in the living room. Or have a virtual karaoke party taking turns crooning the tunes.

Christmas Crossword Puzzle 

A crossword puzzle is another great way to keep the participants engaged. While you can use a Christmas themed crossword puzzle, you can also make it more exciting by generating one with clues for what goes down in the office and among employees (i.e. Michael always steals the lunch of ….).

christmas-crossword-puzzle
Click on the template to edit it online

A Christmas Slide-Show 

There can be a drive full of previous office Christmas party photos that you might have forgotten. Reminisce those joyous occasions by gathering them and creating a quick presentation with them. 

You can also mix it up by getting individuals to create their very own presentation on a hilarious Christmas related topic (i.e. the weirdest Christmas traditions in the world). Optionally, you can also give the best presentation a prize, hence making a game out of it to hype things up. 

Name that Tune

Give this classic game a Christmas twist with a selection of holiday-themed tunes. Participants can hum the tune or mute their mics and sing the songs allowing others to read the lips to recognize the song. Here are some song suggestions you can try.  

Got More Virtual Christmas Party Ideas?  

Year-end holiday parties provide a great opportunity for teams to blow off some steam and get excited for the year ahead. Although this year you might not be able to gather, you can still have some fun with a virtual Christmas party.  You can tweak the usual Christmas traditions to suit a virtual environment, invent new ones altogether or choose from the list of virtual Christmas party ideas above. 

Let us know how it goes in the comments below.

How to Effectively Manage Your Time While Working Remotely
Time Management Tools For Remote Teams

During the lockdown, it can feel like all we have is time, so we may not recognize the need to effectively manage it and make conscious decisions to better prioritize our tasks.

But more often than not, we find our days slipping away and that long list of all we thought we’d accomplish gets pushed to the next day, and the next, until we are overwhelmed by the burden of it all. 

Implementing time management tools is hard to get right under any circumstances, but add to it the complexity of distributed teams, coordinating efforts with others remotely, dealing with the isolation and loneliness of the lockdown, it becomes a challenge that requires some creative solutions.

Endless flexibility is not necessarily a good thing

Working remotely comes with a natural loss of oversight. In many ways, we are now in charge of our own schedule. Organisations too are no longer focused on time clocked and are more concerned with the productivity and output of employees. Having unlimited flexibility to plan our day requires us to have an added level of discipline in order to organise our work. The built-in structure of a regular workday at the office is missing. We need to find efficient time management tools to fill that void.

Multitasking ≠ Productivity 

These terms are usually conflated. While working from home, the desire to do many things at once is ever-present. We think we can attend to home chores while replying to emails or deal with the kids while on a conference call.

With the lines blurred between home and work, there is a constant temptation to switch between tasks. While it may feel like we are constantly busy, we may not actually be getting much done.

The challenges

Simply translating a schedule that worked for you in the office into your work from home routine may not work. There is a whole set of other considerations to take into account in order to stay efficient and productive while working from home.

Risk of overworking

We often feel the need to do too much while working from home. Since most of us are restricted to staying indoors, we feel like there is not much else to do but work. This might make us take on more than we should. We don’t switch off from our workday which doesn’t allow us the break we need to stay refreshed and productive. 

Feeling of loneliness

The biggest loss of working from home is the feeling of community we experience in the workplace. This feeling of isolation can lead to a sluggish mental attitude, causing us to be unmotivated which can greatly affect how we manage our time.

No more work-life balance

 Having an active social life outside of work is important to our performance. It takes added effort to find ways to stay fulfilled when we no longer have access to our regular routines. We need to find ways to finish our work tasks so we can move on to other things.

Endless distractions

Despite our best efforts, there will always be distractions to working from home. Finding time solely dedicated to productive work can be difficult when there are so many other things to tend to at home.

Add structure to better manage your time

Establish a routine

Simple techniques like waking up and starting work at the same time every day can help you kick start your productivity. You can then better identify the times of day you are more efficient and allocate tasks accordingly.

Communicate your schedule to your team so they have a clear understanding of when you are available so you are not constantly interrupted while addressing other matters.

Set goals 

Break down your tasks into manageable units. You need to be able to identify your long-term goals and translate that into more immediate actionable tasks. Establish a daily workload that is in line with reaching your targets at the end of the week. This allows you to assess your progress multiple times and make adjustments accordingly.

Be proactive and visible 

Use Slack and other communication platforms with your teams and constantly provide updates to them on what you are working on. Let them know when you are away and can’t attend to work. If you can’t complete something on time, let the relevant people know in advance so things don’t spiral out of control. 

Plan your breaks – and stick to them

Switching off and dedicating time to activities you enjoy is key to staying refreshed and motivated. Don’t feel guilty about allotting time in your workday to forgetting about work. Take deep, meaningful breaks and let people know when you are. Creating ‘no work zones’ gives you something to look forward to and allows you to come back more focused.

Learn to say no

While working remotely we feel pressured to take on whatever task arises as a way to prove how hard we are working. But this can be counter-productive, taking on too many things can spread us thin to a point where we don’t get anything done as effectively as we need to. Being forthright about what you can and cannot do allows for greater transparency and helps you and the organization save time.

Visual time management tools to boost productivity 

Timeboxing

Timeboxing is a time management tool that divides your day into blocks of time. Every box is dedicated to one activity or a group of related activities. Instead of scattering your day into many activities that you need to get off your to-do list in random order, timeboxing allows you to structure your activities in a more effective manner so you can better plan your day. 

This is great if you handle different projects and responsibilities that you have to switch back and forth from. It allows you to better account for interruptions so that you are not constantly reacting to emails or tending to things as they arise.

Time Management Tools- TIme Boxing Template
Time Boxing Template ( Click on template to edit it online)

You then use this time and only this time to address the tasks laid out for a specific project. Setting up strict limits dedicated to tasks increases focus and allows you to spend a proportional amount of effort based on how important the task is.

Without effective time management tools, you may find that work expands to fill the time available to complete it. This isn’t a very efficient way to approach tasks as you may find yourself spending too much time on inconsequential tasks. 

Eisenhower Matrix

All jobs are not created equal. You can’t effectively manage your time without prioritising the tasks that need to be completed. You need to find an effective way to add weight to what’s on your schedule to allow you to better allocate time. The Eisenhower Matrix is an effective time management tool that helps you visualize which tasks you should complete and in what order.

Time Management Tools- Eisenhower Box
Eisenhower Box Template ( Click on template to edit it online)

This visual tool allows you to group tasks based on importance and urgency and gives you a better understanding of how you should divide up your day.

Checklists 

Simple and effective, they should be a staple while planning your day and week. Simply listing out all the things you need to get done gives you a better handle on how you should plan your day. While working from home you should list out all the non-work-related tasks that needed to be tended to during the course of the day so they don’t catch you off guard.

Time Managment Tools- Checklist Template
Checklist Template (Click on template to edit it online)

Using online tools like Online Checklist Maker allows you to easily list down your tasks so you can address them in a more effective manner.

Gantt Charts 

Gantt charts are a great tool to add visibility to remote working teams. You can list out all the tasks that need to be completed in a particular project and specify the order they need to be done as well as the time frame. This is a great tool as it identifies dependencies and allows everyone to see who is responsible for what at a glance.

Time management tools- Gantt charts
Gantt Chart Template ( Click on template to edit it online)

With Gantt Charts you can identify the difference between sequential tasks (ones that can only be started when another is completed) and parallel tasks (ones that can be worked on at the same time). 

Remote teams can then divide up work better and co-ordinate amongst themselves with ease.

Tips to ensure better time management

Identify time sinks 

Time sinks are productivity drainers, they are things that you spend too much time on without reaping any real benefit from. Answering too many e-mails that prevent you from getting real work done, attending numerous meetings, or simply checking social media too often. Identifying the biggest time sinks are in your day allows you to plan around them.

Conduct a time audit

A time audit is a process of identifying and recording exactly what you spent time on in a given period. It’s a great way to identify inefficiencies in remote teams and take corrective measures. A time audit answers three basic questions:

How do you want to spend your time?

How do you actually spend your time?

What adjustments can you make?

Group similar tasks together

The process of grouping similar tasks together or ‘time batching’ is a great way to break up your day. For example, setting aside time in the day to make calls or respond to emails can avoid constant distractions and can be a great productivity hack.

Build-in buffers

Time management is not an exact science. Creating a schedule should account for some degree of divergence where tasks spill over into the others without having a cascading effect on your overall schedule. 

What time management techniques work for you?

Finding an effective way to manage your time when working from home can be an immediate boost to your productivity and your overall spirit. If you have found better time management tools to organise your day, let us know in the comments below.  For more tips on how to stay productive while working remotely, check out this article.

The Quick Guide to Running Productive Retrospectives Remotely
retrospective-meetings-online-1

Retrospective meetings are even more important to remote teams than they are to co-located ones. 

Because remote teams don’t get to work next to each other on a daily basis,  they often miss out on opportunities to detect the complications in their workflow that can affect their performance and spirit early on, which may eventually delay the timely completion of their project deliverables.  

Regular retrospectives can help remote teams avoid this by providing the platform for every team member to speak their mind, talk openly about the challenges or blockers hindering their work, hence completing everything efficiently.  

This post will walk you through all elements of a retrospective meeting, with a special focus on running them effectively, remotely. All retrospective templates provided are editable online, and you can use them to start your retrospective meeting right away.

What is a Retrospective Meeting

Known by many names – Scrum retrospective, sprint retrospective, agile retrospective, after-action review, and even sometimes post-mortem or wrap-up – this type of meeting is a timeboxed event where teams come together to discuss and reflect on what went well and what went wrong during their last Sprint or iteration. This enables them to improve their next Sprint by learning from their past mistakes and triumphs.  

Although originally was generally used in agile software development, retrospective meetings have been adopted by many other teams in marketing to HR management over time.

The basic steps

  • Go over the work that was planned, completed, or unfinished and other significant events that may have occurred during the Sprint/ project. You can use a retrospective template like the one below and encourage the participants to fill it out. This will help you keep track of the conversation and the important ideas shared easily. 
Retrospective Meeting Template
Retrospective Meeting Template (Click on the template to edit it online)
  • Go over each of the items put on the board by the participants and discuss them in detail. 
  • Decide how to improve future projects based on what you’ve learned during the retro and create action items for implementing those improvements during the next iteration. Assign an owner to each of these actions. During the next retro, you can check back with the owner to see if it has been implemented; if not it will continue on to the next iteration.

Who should participate

Invite only the immediate team members who work together. Retros provide a safe space for the participants to talk about everything out in the open, including the challenges they are facing, what they are failing at, and the help they need. Therefore you can avoid inviting someone (say a manager or stakeholder who isn’t directly involved in the work the team does) who might make them feel vulnerable or uncomfortable to speak openly.

What you need

In order to keep things organized and focused, you need to write things down, especially what’s being communicated by the team during the meeting. To do that, you need a whiteboard

During a remote retrospective meeting session, you need to however switch to an online whiteboard where you and your team can collaborate (perhaps even better than you would have around a physical whiteboard) on sharing your ideas, questions and opinions. 

  • Creately is an online whiteboard/ online canvas tool designed for team collaboration. It comes with an infinite canvas, standard shape libraries for 50+ diagram types, in-app video conferencing, real-time change previews and mouse tracking, and in-line commenting. All of this combined, it makes a great tool for running retrospective meetings, brainstorming sessions, planning meetings, etc. online.  

In addition, you may also need a video conferencing tool (only if the online whiteboard software you use doesn’t support in-app video conferencing) to facilitate the meeting online. Some options you can consider are, 

Alternatively, you can also make use of a document collaboration tool like Google Docs or Google Sheets along with one of the video conferencing tools above to carry out the retrospective meeting.

Tips for Running Retrospective Meetings Remotely

Running an in-person retro meeting is quite different from running one online, mainly because the team is distributed across the continent, if not across the world, and is limited by their devices in terms of how they conduct themselves during the session. 

However, it doesn’t mean that doing a productive retro remotely is impossible. Here are some tips to keep things effective and engaging online.   

Make sure everyone participates

If your team is spread across different time zones, make sure that you choose a timeslot convenient for everyone. Usually, retros are held at the end of a Sprint (they could also be carried out during the Sprint/ project if it spans over a long period of time). As you plan your Sprint, remember to schedule the retros on to the team calendars early on. Timebox your session and try to finish it within the allotted time to avoid making any inconvenience to the participants who might be skipping lunch to join the meeting. 

Make sure that everyone participates. If they are unable to, ensure that they at least provide their input prior to the meeting so they can still be referred to and discussed during the meeting with everyone else. You can use a pre-made retrospective template to gather their feedback.

What? So What? Now What?
What? So What? Now What? (Click on the template to edit it online)

Follow the general online meeting etiquette 

Things sometimes tend to get out of hand during an online meeting, and setting guidelines help manage it all better. For a more productive outcome, have what you expect of your meeting attendees and how you want them to conduct themselves explained, prior to the meeting. 

Some of the general meeting etiquette to follow as attendees are, 

  • Dress appropriately 
  • Make sure you are set up in front of a background that is work-appropriate (i.e. no beds, messy rooms, etc.) 
  • Mute your microphone when you are not speaking
  • Don’t get distracted. Don’t stare at your phone, type away on your keyboard or work on other tasks when someone else is presenting 
  • Put your phone on silence and turn off other notifications 
  • Don’t interrupt while others are speaking or talk over them
  • If you have a comment or a question, bring attention to yourself before speaking. Either make a hand gesture or say ‘question’ or ‘comment’
  • Be ready. Make sure your connection, camera, and microphone are working before the meeting 

How to Run a Productive Remote Meeting | Best Practices and Templates

Collect feedback prior to the meeting 

In order to spend more of your actual retrospective meeting time analyzing the ideas given and discussing action items for the future, collect the team’s feedback prior to the actual session. 

Share one of the retrospective templates below with the team ahead of time, allowing everyone to list down their failures and triumphs, and concerns, and suggestions. This approach can also help introverts feel more comfortable with sharing their ideas and encourage the members who may think their feedback is more critical to share it without feeling apprehensive.

Create an action plan 

Distributed teams easily lose track of who is responsible for doing what and when things are due. In order to avoid any confusion and hold everyone accountable, create a simple action plan that is shared with everyone.

Action Plan for Retrospective
Action Plan for Retrospective (Click on the template to edit it online)

Or you can use a project management tool like Favro to create tasks, assign owners and track progress.

Use the correct retrospective technique

The standard retrospective has the team answering the questions, what went well? what didn’t go well? and what can we improve? While this is fairly straightforward, it might make things stale when you do it repeatedly. Here are a few retrospective meeting ideas to make things more fun and engaging. 

Start, Stop, Continue

This approach gathers participants feedback across 3 categories; 

Start Stop Continue Template for Online Retrospectives
Start Stop Continue Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for (4 Ls)

Split the canvas into 4 areas and ask the participants to individually provide their ideas on each of the Ls. 

  • Liked – things they liked about the project 
  • Learned – things they have learned
  • Lacked – things the team has done but could have been done better 
  • Longed for – things that they wished for during the project
Four Ls Retrospective Template
Four Ls Retrospective Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Mad, Sad, Glad

This approach lets the team share and group their feedback based on their emotions about the previous sprint 

  • What they were mad about
  • What they were sad about 
  • What they were glad about
Mad Sad Glad Retrospective Template
Mad Sad Glad Retrospective Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Once the ideas are grouped, the team can vote for them. The ones with the most votes will be prioritized and will be taken action on during the next sprint.  

Sailboat 

This method technically compares the sprint to a sailboat, getting the team to compare the things that affected the sprint to what propel a sailboat forward or backward. 

  • Sunshine – things that made the team happy  
  • Anchors – things that held the team back from making progress 
  • Wind and clouds – the things that helped the team propel forward 
  • Rocks and pirates – risks and obstacles that may prevent the team from where they need to be 
Sailboat Retrospective Template
Sailboat Retrospective Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

KALM

KALM stands for, 

  • Keep (things that you need to keep)
  • Add (things you need to add)
  • More (things that you need more of)
  • Less (things that you need less of)
KALM Retrospective Template
KALM Retrospective Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Find more retrospective techniques here.  

Got More Tips for Running Productive Remote Retrospective Meetings? 

At the end of the retrospective meeting, you can take a little time to reflect on how it went (a short retrospective on the retrospective!). Encourage the team to share their feedback on how to improve the retrospective to make it more productive the next time. 

Retrospective meetings give you the opportunity to reflect on the mistakes you’ve made and where you thrived in order to plan for a better future. Although running a remote retrospective may have put you in a difficult position in the past, we hope this post and the templates we have shared will help you do it successfully from now on. 

If you have something that has especially worked for you when running remote retrospective meetings, please share it with us in the comments section below.

How to Conduct Remote Performance Reviews: A Complete Guide
Remote Performance Reviews

The longer we stay in lockdown the more important it is to find ways to reinstate regular business routines so that employees don’t feel like they are left in this state of limbo forever. But as we settle into our new rhythms and strategies one might wonder whether remote performance reviews still have a place. We need to resist the urge to completely write this year off and assume that we should only go back to performance reviews once things return to normal.

Performance reviews are essential to ensure the efficient management of individuals and teams, in order to achieve their goals and organizational success. And in a time where the survival of businesses depends on how effectively they can manage their remote staff, effective performance management is the key to create alignment and a shared understanding. It clarifies what has to be achieved and what individuals or teams have to do, learn, and develop to be successful in these challenging times.

How to Adjust to COVID

Even before the pandemic, performance reviews brought with it a level of stress amongst employees. People are hesitant about being criticized and prefer to avoid difficult conversations. Working from home has created a sense of isolation and loneliness which could be exacerbated by remote performance reviews.

We must acknowledge that this is no ordinary review and won’t be treated like one. Communicate to employees the need for remote performance reviews and clearly lay out how the process is going to take place.
It’s important to make changes that account for physical distance, technology hiccups, communication difficulties, and other factors that make remote performance reviews less than intuitive for many managers. And most importantly, organizations cannot rely on strategies that only work well for in-office conversations.

Setting Expectations

Acknowledge that both the organization and its employees have had to undergo significant challenges this year. During COVID-19 restrictions, compassionate leadership should be a priority. As a manager, you need to adapt and tie employee performance with well-being.

The format:  Explain in writing how the remote performance review will be conducted. Clearly lay out the steps, how the employee needs to prepare, whether it will be done through a video call and on what platform etc.

Invitees – Outline who will be present during the review. How many rounds it will involve and the purpose of the presence of each member present. 

Duration – Send a calendar invite well in advance. Usually, it’s best to give employees between one and two weeks notice so they can prepare all the material required for the remote performance review. Include how long the meeting is expected to last in the invite.

Structure – In your calendar invite and/or the corresponding email, break down what you will discuss. The topics you will be going through and how you will be measuring their performance. 

Conducting the Remote Performance Review

Connect via video

Body language communicates a lot of detail and the best way to have meaningful conversations is with face-to-face interaction. Video calls are the next best thing to being in the same room with an employee. You can use Creately’s in-built video conferencing feature to have conversations with employees while you go through their performance criteria, review the work from the previous year, and set a goal for the future all in real-time on its infinite canvas.

Have a conversation guide

Performance reviews are not a general-purpose catch-up meeting. Focused, concise, and thought through meetings are the most effective. Prepare a conversation guide with the topics you need to touch upon, the different parameters of evaluation you need to go through, and specific sections you need feedback from the employee. Be structured and focused; while you should have some flexibility, it’s important that you get through all the assessment areas in the stipulated time. 

Provide the opportunity to ask questions before the session – Set aside a designated period for your team members to discuss any questions or concerns they have. This empowers them to prepare and share.

Setting clear expectations can help you and your team stay on task throughout the review, even in a virtual setting.

Use templates and analysis tools

It’s important to understand what you are evaluating and how you will measure performance. Structured templates ensure clarity of thought and streamline the remote performance review process so everyone in the organization can be on the same page. Employees can get a better sense of what to expect so they can prepare themselves and have more meaningful discussions when it comes to the face to face conversations.

Personal SWOT

Personal SWOT analysis remote performance reviews.
Personal SWOT Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

This tool is great for individual self-reflection. It provides employees with a structure where they can honestly assess both their positive and negative traits and discover areas of improvement and hidden potential. You can send the self-assessment exercise to employees a few days before the remote performance review. With Creately, managers can review the completed SWOT analysis using SWOT analysis tool and add their inputs and comments to each section.

SMART goals

Performance reviews are as much about charting individual career paths with employees as they are about evaluating past performance. During a remote performance review, it is important to reassure employees that their contribution is critical to the company and path a forward-looking trajectory for both the individual and the organization. 

Setting goals can refocus intention and provide context to the efforts.

SMART goals are concrete targets that you strive to achieve over time. Managers and employees should draft these goals together. “SMART” is an acronym that describes the most important characteristics of each goal. You can use Creately’s SMART goals template to plan your goals

Smart goals template for remote performance reviews.
SMART Goals Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Action plans

This document lays out the tasks you need to complete in order to accomplish your goal. It breaks up the process into actionable assignments based on a timeline. An action plan template will outline all the necessary steps to achieve your goal and help you reach your target efficiently. You can assign a timeframe to every step in the process. Depending on your needs and preferences, you can use this document to set single or multiple goals.

Action plan template remote performance reviews.
Action Plan Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Things to keep in mind

Do’s

  • Approach your evaluations with more flexibility, leniency, empathy, and compassion.
  • Recognize and show appreciation for the people who are working hard and are engaged. It’s critical for their morale and for your organization’s ability to retain them.

Don’t

  • Be too critical of poor performers.  Give them a grace period to get used to working remotely and to turn things around.
  • Let biases creep in. Make decisions based on data. Ask colleagues and get more information on how well other employees are communicating, collaborating, and helping.
  • Think of it as just something that needs to be completed. Use remote performance reviews as a tool to identify blind spots and hidden opportunities in the way your business operates.

All things considered, despite the challenges of remote performance reviews the benefits can be overwhelmingly positive. It gives you a chance to connect with employees and have meaningful conversations with them about their performance. But more importantly, hearing directly from employees during these peculiar times will give you a better understanding of the challenges they face. You can then create policies that take these factors into account and make decisions that create a more efficient remote working environment.