Remote work became the buzzword when the pandemic hit. As companies were scrambling to ensure that their operations continued even amidst a lockdown that some countries are still experiencing, it became the solution to most of their problems.

But while working remotely was the easiest solution to an unexpected problem, it also posed a new challenge to managers used to working with in-house personnel. All of a sudden, they had to rethink the way they operate, the way they communicate, and the way they evaluate their team’s performance.

If you find yourself in the same boat, read on to find out how you can manage and lead a team of remote workers effectively and efficiently.

1. Emphasize the importance of communication

While your team was in the office it was easy to see who’s on break, who’s in a meeting, who’s out to lunch, or who’s not in for the day. You don’t have that same visibility on your team’s schedules when you’re working remotely. Thus, it is important to ensure that you’re not just communicating, but you’re “over-communicating.”

Setup a notifications channel on your preferred workplace chat app where team members are required to notify what they are doing if they would be unable to reply to messages. This way, everyone has a way of knowing where each other is and expectations are easily set and managed.

In general, you are always going to get a lot more out of your employees if you are making a point of being there with them as best as you can be. That means that you are engaged with them, fully involved in what they are doing at all times – and with the right approach, that is something that you can be sure of regardless of whether they are remote workers, or working in the office.
This is often an important part of total quality management. What is total quality management? Quite simply, it’s a set of procedures for best practice for managing your people and your business. You’ll find that it can apply easily and readily to any workplace, even one that utilizes remote workers.

2. Have shorter meetings

Let’s face it, even when you were in the office you hated long meetings. Imagine having to sit through 3- or 4-hour meetings while working remotely. You would get distracted more easily and not everyone may get a chance to share their thoughts. Instead of these lengthy and often long-winded meetings, have shorter 30-minute virtual huddles with clear agendas, and everyone is encouraged to participate.

3. Utilize collaborative tools

Similarly, you can operate using shared documents like Google docs or spreadsheets where all team members are able to contribute. It could be a master list of all your clients, an evolving style bible, or a spreadsheet of issues encountered that you could tackle at the next meeting.

In this way, not only are you fostering a collaborative environment but you are also assuring your team members that they are being heard.

4. Be a good listener

This leads us to the fourth tip. Don’t just tell your remote workers what to do. Instead, you have to take a step back and listen to what they need. The best remote workers are the ones that can work independently, and when you listen to your team members, you can easily identify who would benefit the most from constant monitoring and who would be better off being left to work on their own.

Regardless of the level of management they would need, however, it would still be a good idea to introduce an employee net promoter score. This will allow you to have a pulse on what your employees are truly feeling and how you can address any concerns they might have.

5. Allow for substantial break periods

When you’re working remotely, it’s sometimes difficult to differentiate the line between work and personal life. Employees tend to work overtime, get easily distracted, or would need to schedule personal errands during work hours. As their manager, you need to rethink the way you value their work. Reconsider your bodies-in-seat mentality and welcome the productivity hacks that each worker comes up with uniquely.

This way you ensure the jobs still get done, but your work-from-home employees are happy and satisfied with the new arrangement.

6. Set expectations

But just because you’re being flexible in your way of thinking, doesn’t mean you have to forget about deadlines and expected output. Make these expectations clear and remind them often that regardless of how they do it, there are certain expectations that they need to meet.

For example, if you’re managing a team of content writers, set a number of words they have to meet in a day and find a sweet spot of time when it can get done in a timely manner and still have enough time to meet high-quality demands.

7. Celebrate your wins

Finally, be sure to acknowledge the successes and wins that your team has achieved. These can be small victories like no late submissions for the week or month or something as big as launching a new product.

Make it a fun and engaging activity. Shoutouts are great, but how about considering doing a video presentation recognizing your team’s efforts? This makes the win more personal and their individual contributions are supported.

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You might know about CBD for its apparent benefits for wellbeing, anxiety reduction and chronic pain. But it is also a massive business opportunity for entrepreneurs. That’s because of how the market is going to evolve over the coming years. 

A Little Background

Just a little background first. CBD and cannabis are not the same thing. CBD is a specific compound from hemp plants that appears to interact favorably with the body. When people consume it, they feel like they are moving back to “balance.” Their brain chemistry normalises and they stop feeling so much pain. At least, that’s the claim. And there’s something to love about a delicious edible that can also help combat stress, anxiety, insomnia, and a whole host of other things.

CBD is legal in most countries, even if cannabis is not. So you’re perfectly within your rights to slap your brand on it and sell it to the market. But it’s also a growing industry, and that’s what makes it such an exciting prospect for anyone getting into the field. It feels a little bit like software in the 1980s. It’s exploding. 

Why CBD Is Going To Become A Major Industry

CBD is a fascinating molecule for its ability to change a person’s internal chemistry and states of consciousness. 

At the moment, we have a serious problem in the West. Most people are miserable and hate their lives. They feel anxious or depressed most of the time, and they’re looking for ways to escape this. 

Traditionally, people had two options. They could either go to their doctor and get them to put them on dangerous brain-altering pharmaceuticals, or they could go to their local drug deal. Neither of those solutions was ideal. 

But now there might be a third way: CBD. CBD alters the internal state of the body, but only in a way that brings it back into balance. People who take it regularly swear by it, claiming that it improves their wellbeing in unimaginable ways. CBD is also perfectly legal, so people aren’t risking a criminal record for using it. It seems to offer all of the benefits, and none of the downsides. Nowadays, many companies sell cbd wholesale, offering lotions, gels, capsules and oils designed to aid with pain relief, skin conditions and even as pet products!

Depression and anxiety look like they are going to continue their upward trend over the next couple of decades. So entrepreneurs need to be ready with safe and effective products to counteract the problem. And nothing is more potent in this regard than CBD. The industry is going to explode. 

There are all sorts of angles you could take as well. You don’t just have to slap your branding on CBD oil and sell it over the internet. Other opportunities exist in edibles, topicals and even cannabis debt collection (a kind of B2B service for the industry). 

Wrapping Up

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CBD has all of the properties of an industry set for primetime. It is gaining legal backing (a trend that is unlikely to reverse). It is something that people need and that requirement is only going to go up in the future. And it is also a product that people feel that they have to have continuously. All those factors mean that the market is going to grow tremendously, and a lot of people will get rich off the back of it.

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