One of my great passions has to be training. I love, in a very non-arrogant way, imparting information and experiences that I have and communicating those to others. There are some great resources available that can teach you great training methods and different  learning styles that you can use when instructing, training and teaching your team.

I want to quickly outline the three training methods that I believe will really assist you as a manager of a remote team.

 

Firstly, the demonstration.

This is one of the most obvious training methods available. You demonstrate a process or task to somebody that they can then duplicate. I’m sure you can list many practicalities of how you see this type of training method used throughout the world. In school our teacher would demonstrate a math equation on a board that we then practice it ourselves. In the workforce, the mechanic demonstrates how to do a particular repair on an engine to an apprentice. In the digital world, YouTube is full of this style of training.

How it relates practically to your team when you are operating thousands of kilometers apart, and even in different time zones, can be a little tricky.

As this is such a powerful way of training, I use video to present processes, skills and even thoughts to my team. There are so many advantages to this. Obviously, being able to demonstrate something in a visual manner is a very good way of communicating across time zones, language barriers and different experiences. The other advantage of using video that I have is the ability to archive it and reuse it.

Demonstrating can be often be difficult if you are not possessing the skills and experience that you need to be able to train someone. One resource that you can rely on is to look for existing training programs online. There are countless amounts of video based training programs on all different topics and skills that you could purchase or subscribe to for your team members to enhance their own skills.

 

The Second method, assigning a trainer.

One of the biggest mandates behind outsourcing to remote teams is staffing your weaknesses. This often means that if you recruit somebody to fill a weakness within your own skill set, then it is very difficult for you to train them when you don’t possess that skill. If it is already present in your team, for example if you are employing a second graphic designer when you already have one, then you can assign your new team member to your existing team member.

It is like a mini-apprenticeship – they can bring them up to speed not just on the skills of graphic design but how a graphic designer should operate within your team. If they were working in a physical office, they would sit next to each other so that new team member could use your existing team member as a resource and a well of information.

How it works practically is ensuring that those team members are well connected. Introduce them virtually; ensure that they feel empowered to contact each other via instant messenger and e-mail and instruct your experienced team member to be the point of authority for your new team member.

 

Thirdly, the watch and review technique.

I have my team members e-mail me at the end of each day with what they have completed and are currently working on from their task list. As we use the BasecampHQ collaboration system, and now I even use Wunderlist with some of my team members, I could actually go in and have a look at what each team member has completed.

So therefore, sending me an e-mail is not really an accountability report. It is more of a reminder for me to use the watch and review training technique for my members. I want to have a look at what they have completed so that I can look for opportunities to encourage them, but also to fine tune their skill sets for the tasks that they are doing.  In other words to provide positive feedback.

In a physical office environment or a work force, you would stand by the person while they completed their task and asses them on how they were doing. The same works virtually but of course we are restricted to using e-mail, instant messenger or other forms of digital communication.