Assigning tasks and delegating work and responsibilities to your remote team can sometimes feel like standing on the edge of a cliff and throwing rocks into the ocean. In explanation: you send something via email or your project management software and then you sit there wondering if anything is going to happen.

When you work in a physical office environment, you have a higher assurance that the work is going to be completed. You are physically sitting in the same room as your employees, you can answer their questions and also monitor their progress. With your remote teams that is obviously harder.

How do you ensure that work is going to be completed when you request it to be done? There are three methods that I use to achieve this.

 

1. Set clear deadlines and expectations

Some years ago, I was doing some volunteer work for a friend of my mother’s. That person said to me “Although the work is on volunteer basis, I have been told to set a deadline for you.” Being a friend of my mother, the person knew that for me to get the task completed I needed a deadline to work towards or else it would simply sit on my to-do list and not be prioritized. The same applies when working with your remote teams. Set clear expectations and deadlines of when you require the work to be completed.

When I am allocating work, there are two types of priorities or two types of work that I have. Tasks that are a priority and have a due date and other tasks that can just be completed when time and resources allow. I clearly differentiate between these two.

My project collaboration system, BaseCampHQ allows me to set due dates for tasks and I do so accordingly when I have particular work that needs to be completed by a certain date. Alternatively, I can add tasks to this system that will just sit there pending and can be actioned when my staff members have time to do so.

The other system that I use for prioritizing work is to send daily emails. Although I communicate throughout the day with my team via instant messenger, I still begin each day by sending out an email of today’s tasks and listing them in a priority order.

My general rule is to assign about 150% of work to be completed in that day. If my staff are working an 8-hour day, I assign them what I believe to be 12 hours worth of work. This ensures that they always have work left that needs to be completed, if for some reason they need to move on to another task. This is why having different priorities works well for me.

A few tasks at the beginning of the day are allocated work that needs to be completed but there will always be some work assigned that does not have a due date so I can always ensure that my team have sufficient work to complete throughout the day.

 

When I recruit new staff to my team, I set the expectation of what I believe their work load is to be completed each day or week. For example, if I am recruiting a new graphic designer then I would set an expectation of 2-3 website designs per week. It’s important that I set this expectation upfront so both of us can determine if the skills and experience of the potential team member meet the requirements of my business. I have done this for many years now and I know what an experienced team member should be able to complete in a working week.

 

2. Communicate

Communication is the key to any team running successfully and effectively. I rely upon my team to communicate with me at the end of every day, and update me about what they have worked on, what is left incomplete and if they have any issues with the work. It is a requirement of their employment with me that they send me an email update at the end of each day.

This way my communication strategy with my team is as simple as an email at the beginning of the day sent by me, outlining priorities for that day, and a return email from my team at the end of their shift outlining what they have completed. I also communicate with my team throughout the day through instant messenger and I ensure that I am available either through this method or via email. This keeps our tasks and projects working efficiently.

My team also know how to contact me straight away if they come across any issues or reasons as to why we might not meet a deadline with a particular task. I have communicated well with them, and by this time they know that I would prefer to be know in advance, rather than finding out after the completion date has expired.

 

3. Provide incentives

Many years ago, I had a part-time job working in a telecommunications retail store. Our primary product or service was to sell mobile phones on post-paid plans. It was a well situated business and I personally sold a good quota of phones per week. At one point, there was a promotion in place where the owner offered us an incentive for selling a particular type of phone for a certain time period. At the end of the month the owner actually approached me and asked “Why can’t you sell this many phones normally, why is it that we have to provide an incentive for you to sell so many phones in a month?” My reply was “Isn’t it obvious?” Adding an incentive to work is a really effective way of getting deadlines met and work completed quickly. It’s amazing what we can all complete when we have an incentive for getting it done.

Incentives do not need to be financial. For my team, I use the incentive of taking time off. If we are working on a particularly big project that has a deadline, I will often communicate with my team and come to an agreement that if we can get the project delivered by Thursday then we can all have Friday off work fully paid. Experience shows me that this is the most effective incentive that I can give my team. They may work additional hours throughout the week to bring the project to completion by the due date.

Other colleagues I have spoken to do use financial incentives. As projects are completed they provide a financial bonus to their staff on top of their normal salary. Incentives in any form, financial or otherwise will help you get your work done and never miss deadlines.