Running a teamwork remotely due to Covid-19

The new Corona pandemic's effects have changed the global economy's face and made all countries, international institutions, and companies reconsider their calculations regarding the business future during 2021. Perhaps the most prominent features that have changed in 2020 for the economy are working from home, increasing reliance on databases, and continuing in the business sector requires creative models that can adapt to developments occurring faster than they were previously. The majority of business models expected to flourish in 2021 are mostly related to the information technology sector, like artificial intelligence, robots, and remote drones have become more prevalent.

Closures and bans in many countries have been a significant experience and training for business sectors, where all tasks can be completed from home. And economic institutions should think carefully about what 2021 will witness in terms of continuing this matter, which means that they have to reconsider the business model without offices and think about providing support and contact for home workers. Even those who need offices to carry out their tasks should think about the Work environment as safe as possible. Many have also turned into eating meal delivery service for healthy eating lifestyles. They're affordable and great tasting meals.

Running a teamwork remotely due to Covid-19 Second Wave in 2021

The new Corona pandemic's effects have changed the global economy's face and made all countries, international institutions, and companies reconsider their calculations regarding the business future during 2021. Perhaps the most prominent features that have changed in 2020 for the economy are working from home, increasing reliance on databases, and continuing in the business sector requires creative models that can adapt to developments occurring faster than they were previously. The majority of business models expected to flourish in 2021 are mostly related to the information technology sector, like artificial intelligence, robots, and remote drones have become more prevalent.

Closures and bans in many countries have been a significant experience and training for business sectors, where all tasks can be completed from home. And economic institutions should think carefully about what 2021 will witness in terms of continuing this matter, which means that they have to reconsider the business model without offices and think about providing support and contact for home workers. Even those who need offices to carry out their tasks should think about the Work environment as safe as possible.

Does anyone still think that remote work teams are a compulsory choice that some institutions may be forced to do without others? And that it may fit a simple category of institutions of a specific nature and specific fields?

Indeed (no), the current situation has reversed due to the repercussions of the Coronavirus spread. Managing and leading work teams remotely is a strategic, proactive option that many successful global companies and institutions resorted to early in various fields and sizes. This is due to the real advantages of those teams in their new shape and characteristics such as:

Rationalizing institutional expenses, raising efficiency, and achieving goals

Increase employee satisfaction and enable them to achieve a sufficient balance between work requirements and their personal and family needs

The ability to use team members who could not join the team in its traditional form

The ability to communicate and hold meetings in a variety of different times and circumstances

And other advantages gave a competitive advantage to each leader or manager who has the competencies and tools that enable him to manage and lead teams from working remotely effectively.

The five tools for managing remote work:

Telecommuting options have recently become increasingly popular; A recent study revealed that 3.9 million Americans have worked from home for at least half of the week, including the self-employed and small and large businesses.

It seems easy to understand why the professionals prefer to "work remotely"; Being not limited to a period from five to nine hours, with the possibility of doing it in a private and comfortable place, and also helping to get rid of other problems; Such as transportation and driving.

Increased productivity

And suppose there are employers concerned about the productivity of an employee who works remotely. In that case, studies indicate that he is more productive than his counterpart in the workplace if he performs his job from home effectively. However, when building a team that performs remote work, there is one roadblock that requires addressing; Which is team management.

Traditional workspaces provide an opportunity for rapid face-to-face interaction to answer questions that require immediate answers. Simultaneously, companies based on "remote work" rely on emails that may not be answered directly or phones that may also be unanswered.

These are not great ways to communicate between team members; Employees may exit quickly from conference calls or email chains. Some clients may have difficulty managing tasks with those working remotely; Other people may be working on the same project; What causes a problem in telling each employee of his role in the job, if the team is not in one place, at the same time.

Some argue that the rising popularity of remote work means developing some tools to serve colleagues' needs at work whose work is not necessarily in the same place.

Five tools

Here are five tools that are useful for some remote work:

ASANA:

Versatile project management software, typically used in traditional workspaces; To manage projects across large teams. It is suitable for dealing with remote teams; It sorts outposts for employees and lets you add comments and upload files directly to tasks to mark progress.

Slack:

The program of choice for many remote workers, when it comes to communications; Message logs are separated into channels; This makes it easier to focus on one conversation at a time. Files can be uploaded and discussed in real-time, in addition to being distinguished by private messages, when co-workers want to speak individually.

Proofhub:

Significant project management site, but with a slightly more fragmented design than ASANA, comprehensive "projects" can be separated into lists, with tasks also listed, divided into sub-tasks. It is a handy platform for companies with many clients.

Join – me:

Allows screen sharing for free and is an online conference platform; The voice chat function allows communication while anything is displayed on the screen. An app is a powerful tool for discussing projects with co-workers or providing ideas to clients.

Zoom:

A video conferencing tool that allows remote workers to meet "face to face." Thanks to the audio and video quality, the zoom feature is a favourite among many remote workers; It allows for a more realistic meeting without knowing the person's location.

These are only five of the popular tools with remote workers, and unlike other means available, there is no room to list them.

When choosing the right tools for the business, you must consider the culture and your unique needs. Choosing the right tools for remote teamwork guarantees you a more productive and happier workforce.

Remote work management ... Virtual companies as a new pattern in 2021 after the outbreak of the second wave of the Coronavirus

Speed, change, change and permanent development are among the most prominent features of the current era. Perhaps one of the essential components of this change is talking about a new type of companies that virtual companies that are emerging and spreading day after day. Therefore, it became imperative that remote work management be the available logical option as these companies do not rely on traditional ways of working.

Not only that but maybe there is an urgent need in some times or circumstances that necessitate resorting to the remote work management style. Suppose the company is exposed, for example, to compelling circumstances that prevent its employees from coming to work offices and traditionally performing their duties.

But it's not just that; A company can decide to shift from being a traditional company that runs and operates according to standard and known methods to a virtual company that relies on working remotely in everything it does.

It is understood from this that remote work may be resorted to as an urgent necessity or a compulsive response to a specific circumstance, as happens in light of the Corona crisis. For example, we may resort to it due to the various benefits and advantages it entails.

Virtual team ... its management and essential elements

The modern technological media represented a great openness in many areas. It brought a lot of development to work and different production methods, except that the virtual team is not, as it might be imagined for the first time, one of the results of these modern technological openings.

Jessica Libnac and Jeffrey Stamps argue; In their joint book entitled "Virtual Team," this virtual team is, in origin, the manifestations of the societal tendency embedded in human nature's structure.

Therefore, what drives people to communicate with each other beyond the time limits, and space tends to meet and intertwine. Modern technological media is indeed the tool that facilitated such a matter, but it is not its motive or main reason.

Managing virtual teams

If we want to succeed in managing such virtual teams, there are three essential elements that we must pay special attention to, namely:

1- Purpose first

Predictably, the argument put forward by Jessica Libnac and Jeffrey Stamps; is nearly related to research and return to the beginnings of the history of the human race; They find that the goal - whatever it is - affects everything beyond, even the way we do it.

Accordingly, according to what the authors show, the virtual team does not have supernatural capabilities that enable it to solve the complex problems and dilemmas that stand in its way, as long as it has a clear and specific purpose.

2- Leadership circulation

In primitive societies - the subject of the meditations and inspiration of Jessica Lebnak and Geoffrey Stamps - leadership was not always the right of one person. Still, the leader would change with the change of the task assigned to the people under his command.

This matter - leadership rotation - is not appropriate for our modern societies and the working conditions. Instead, it is what it should be. Through this method, we will be able to perform our tasks optimally.

3- Sustained communication and belonging

Leadership involves much more than managing a group of people, assigning them to tasks such as enhancing communication and building trust. These elements are what is called "the social functions of leadership."

In virtual teams, all boundaries between members and their leaders or between team members and its leader are porous; As each of them will be able to obtain what they want from the information and data through the other party.

Another awesome thing and ongoing communication can provide, which is related to the promotion of belonging to the team and the organization. Accordingly, this communication becomes one of the main pillars in the management of virtual teams.

Challenges facing remote work during the Corona crisis

Remote work has advantages and challenges that are entirely different from working under customary and traditional conditions. Among these challenges are:

Finding a suitable place away from the inconvenience and other obstructive factors ensure focus on various job tasks and maintain business privacy and confidentiality.

Also, some works require intensive discussions and meetings. Still, intermittently, it isn't easy to coordinate online. This is also one of the challenges of working remotely, explaining that the Internet and service interruption's quality dramatically affects the workflow.

Several other challenges face the remote work system, such as the weakness of the possible protection methods compared to working within the office or company, and this naturally includes digital protection and physical protection at the same time.

Despite these challenges, remote work has several advantages: Most notably, getting rid of road congestion and the burden of going to and from work.