1. Distribute Your Team
Launch Potato was set up as a distributed company from day one. As WeWork puts it, “Distributed teams are composed of employees who work remotely from all around the world rather than being centralized at a single physical headquarters.” We have a physical office in South Florida, but about 50% of our employees already worked from home (or other locations) before the entire organization went remote. We place a heavy emphasis on remote work because it’s mutually beneficial. We’re able to recruit the best talent from around the world instead of being limited to only South Florida. In turn, our employees can decide where they want to work from without a commute. If you love what you’re doing and can properly and professionally manage your time, then your location doesn’t have to be restricted. Work from a hotel, the beach, or your home office. As long as the environment is conducive to our core values, including Hustle and Team Unity, we welcome and embrace it. Because we’ve always had a welcoming attitude toward remote workers, it wasn’t a big leap to convert the entire team to a remote workforce. Many of our office employees already worked from home occasionally, so they were quick to adapt. 2. Create Watercooler Moments
Distributed teams can make sense for many businesses, but that doesn’t mean they’ll immediately function without hitches. With certain technology, such as Zoom, it’s easy to set up video calls with remote team members to discuss a project or initiative. It’s instant communication that keeps everyone on the same page. Still, that doesn’t replicate the impromptu interactions and casual conversations employees may have around an office. These watercooler moments can promote team chemistry and further collaboration within the workplace. The inherent issue with a remote or distributed company is the lack of these types of moments. To overcome this issue, we’ve had to be creative. Here are a few ways we bridge the gap between in-person interactions and remote work environments:- Company retreats: Annual and semi-annual company retreats are a great way to get one-on-one or group time with your co-workers and team members. It’s a laid-back environment filled with learning opportunities, group activities, and social outings. We’ve had to push back our latest retreat due to COVID-19, but it’s already rescheduled for the future.
- One-on-one video calls: We encourage every new hire to meet every other member of the company in initial Meet-N-Greets. For our remote workers, this was already done via Zoom calls. When we first started this practice, you could meet everyone fairly quickly. Now, as our numbers have grown, it may take weeks before you meet all of your co-workers. Still, we find it’s invaluable to put a face to a name and learn everyone’s roles, even if you aren’t in the same department.
- Slack channels: Slack is our No. 1 communication tool within the company. It’s easy to use and allows for instant collaboration across multiple, customizable channels. We use our #watercooler channel for chats about anything and everything. It also presents an opportunity to play fun games and get to know each other a little more. You can learn some interesting things when you’re trying to guess whose workspace or pantry it is in a shared photo.
- Virtual hangouts: For those who are interested, we also schedule virtual hangouts. This could range from a Friday Snack & Chat to a Thursday Virtual Happy Hour. Attendance is optional but highly recommended. It’s an easy way to video chat with co-workers about whatever you want. You get to enjoy a snack and beverage of your choice, as well as the company of your fellow employees.
3. Use the Best Tools
It’s essential to stay organized and keep productivity levels high with any business. But when you bring remote work into the picture, it becomes even more important. It’s a misconception that remote workers are living the easy life, basking in the sun in exotic locations. Another recent FinanceBuzz survey about the remote work lifestyle found that 78% of remote workers are working more than 40 hours per week. And many have to deal with disruptions, such as pets (47%), delivery people (39%), a partner/spouse (32%), or children (21%). Working remotely is no walk in the park. You have to manage your time effectively and prioritize your top tasks. Time blocking has always worked well for my own productivity. I set aside blocks of time in which I focus only on specific tasks and don’t allow for interruptions. It works well, but without the proper tools, I wouldn’t be able to get my tasks done in a timely manner. It’s a combination of using Zight (formerly CloudApp), Slack, Asana, G Suite, and other tools that help me be as efficient as possible. Multiply that efficiency by 50 or more people — when we’re all using the same tools and our preferred, shared methods of communication it becomes extremely effective for the business. The fact that these tools function just as well in a remote team as they do in our office structure really prepared us for the switch. 4. Take Advantage of All the Zight (formerly CloudApp) Features
The many available features of Zight (formerly CloudApp) have made it one of our go-to tools for workplace efficiency:- You can use screen captures to quickly highlight vital information for your team members without having them sift through useless data.
- On top of that, you can annotate your screenshots to point out exactly what you liked or didn’t like about an ad or something similar.
- You can also blur out sensitive information before sharing a screenshot.
