Managing a virtual team allows you to streamline your processes, mitigate operational risks, and reduce ongoing costs.
But it also requires you to be vigilant about the efficiency of your digital workforce.
Otherwise, you may only utilize a fraction of your resources while falling behind on crucial objectives.
Fortunately, learning how to get the most out of your virtual workforce is easy. To help you lead your online staff with the utmost efficiency, here is a guide to goal setting and performance management in digital teams.
Properly Define Goals For Each Employee
An in-person setting makes it easy for team members to clarify their ongoing responsibilities.
But when you operate in a digital environment, it gets difficult for employees to determine their daily tasks on their own.
By learning how to set realistic business goals, you can provide your digital team members with a proper guide to performing their duties. This also helps you understand each employee’s role and their value to your business.
Determine Clear Performance Indicators
After you figure out the goals for your employees and visualize them with tools such as Kanban boards, you need to establish systems for tracking your workforce’s performance.
This is where setting key performance indicators (KPIs) can help. In addition to helping you determine the efficiency of your employees, this also goes a long way toward constructing transparent feedback.
You just need to outline these KPIs beforehand to practice fair assessments for each team member.
Increase Accountability With Regular Check-Ins
Being disengaged with your workforce is one of the gravest mistakes you can commit as a leader. It not only pushes projects behind but also affects employee morale.
In contrast, when you hold regular check-ins, you can track progress in real-time while establishing your genuine interest in your team’s success.
Since you can easily perform these check-ins through an email client or an instant messaging app, you can follow this tip without disrupting your comfort.
Set Deadlines To Speed Up Processes
Almost every task at the workplace is tied to a deadline. The sooner it is completed, the quicker you can move forward with your plans for the future.
But when it comes to digital teams, establishing deadlines is one of the most important project management principles.
As long as you set fair deadlines, you can also keep your employees motivated to achieve them.
Deliver Constructive Criticism When Required
Being a good manager requires you to deliver praise where it’s due. But it also calls for you to present criticism whenever required.
This does not mean that you should adopt the habit of micromanaging and lambasting your employees’ every move. Instead, you should learn how to deliver feedback positively and helpfully.
For instance, you can use an employee recognition app to highlight achievements and outline a path to improvement for each team member.
Be Open To Employee Feedback
While providing timely feedback is important for enhancing your employees’ contribution, acknowledging what your workforce thinks about your business is also important.
From introducing an open-door policy to encouraging anonymous feedback channels, you can establish various ways to improve your organization with the help of your workforce.
Since listening to your employees helps them feel appreciated and motivated, this also becomes one of the top tips to prevent employee burnout in the long run.
Commit To Regular Performance Reviews
The digital workforce has just as much right to fair compensation as traditional teams.
But to set the right pay scale for every employee, you need to pay attention to their overall performance and keep them informed on their progress.
You can navigate this difficult task by holding performance reviews every six months.
Whether you use video calling software or exchange reports through email, holding these reviews can make a huge difference in your workforce performance.
These practices let you get the most out of your digital team without adding an unfair burden to your shoulders.
This allows you to lead your business to new heights of success with the support of your virtual workforce.
