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How To Manage A Remote Team + Keep Everyone Happy

Apr 25, 2019 | Leadership Mindset, Online Resources, Team Effectiveness

"How To Manage A Remote Team + Keep Everyone Happy" Global team connection concept showing paper-cut figures holding hands around Earth, symbolizing remote team collaboration and employee engagement.

“I have no idea how to keep my remote team connected and motivated consistently. Zero,” my client sighs over her coffee.

We’re sitting in the corner booth of a cozy coffee shop in San Francisco on a rainy Tuesday, catching up on her business, her team, and life in general.

“My product manger is in Dubai, so we’re always asking him to take conference calls late at night. Some people hate Slack, some people love it. The email chains are 15 emails long and by the time I get to the end I forgot what the original question was. Maybe I should just go back to an in-person, only-in-this-zip-code team.” She rolls her eyes and groans.

I’ve had this conversation more times than I can count. Years ago, I’m sure I was saying these things myself! These conversations are becoming more common because over the past 12 years, we’ve seen a 115% increase in people working remotely. In 2018, 3.9 million Americans were working remotely.

over the past 12 years, we’ve seen a 115% increase in people working remotely. In 2018, 3.9 million Americans were working remotely.

It’s likely that number will only increase. Remote work can lead to more efficiency and productivity, boosts morale, and lowers overhead. On the other hand, it’s harder to manage communication and keep people aligned on priorities when the whole team is working remotely.

If you’d like to bring on more remote workers or are struggling with the ones you have, read on for six of my best learned-the-hard-way tips for managing a remote team.

Curious how remote leadership differs from in-office management? Explore our Leadership EDGE course to build communication, clarity, and influence across virtual teams.


6 Tricks to Managing a Remote Team

1. Have exceptionally clear systems and processes in place

Of course, effective systems are always important, but they’re even more important when your team is spread all over the world. Make sure everyone on your team knows what steps to take, with whom, and when. To build an internal knowledge management system, you may want to consider using AskSpoke.

It’s equally important that your team knows where to find that information—and hopefully it’s not you! The best-run teams rely on each other before they escalate to their leader. Or they reference available video training, resource documents, or their onboarding training before they come to someone with questions. A good tool for process documentation to check out is process.st.

As leaders, we don’t want to be the center cog in the system that keeps everything running. We want to lead a team that can function and excel on its own, without constantly flooding us with basic questions or manageable concerns.

2. Schedule team video calls every Monday

Seeing each other’s faces and hearing each other’s voices is a great way to start the week. It’s a good reminder that there are actual humans on the other end of those emails. When we communicate exclusively through email, a lot of tone gets lost and miscommunications are more common.

A weekly check-in video call reduces those miscommunications, increases understanding, and reminds us that Chris in marketing has a sarcastic sense of humor and we don’t need to take those emails too seriously. It seems simple, but I often see leaders using video too infrequently. Getting on a regular schedule where everyone connects creates consistency in communication.

Weekly team touchpoints are powerful—but only if your leaders know how to lead with presence. Learn how in our Leadership EDGE coaching cohort.

3. If your team is spread across time zones, alternate meeting schedule times

If your team is split between New York and L.A., your west coasters don’t appreciate the 9 am EST meetings. Likewise, your New Yorkers could do without the calls at 5 pm PST on Friday night. It’s even harder if you have team members all over the world!

It’s not always possible to schedule meetings at the perfect time for everyone, but we can at least alternate. Make sure that your meetings aren’t scheduled at a time that consistently inconveniences the same team members.

4. Take the time connect + catch up before you dig into logistics or tasks

As tempting as it is to skip the small talk, it’s more important than ever to spend the extra five or ten minutes to chat with your remote team members before you get down to the proverbial brass tacks. Taking the time to talk about your vacations or your shared affinity for that one TV show can make a huge difference in morale.

When we work with our team members in person, these conversations happen naturally. We talk about our weekends in the lunchroom or share a joke at the vending machine. It’s harder to build that camaraderie over email chains.

The truth is, we’re more likely to help and support colleagues we like, and we’re more inclined to like a colleague when we know they love James Corden as much as we do. So take a few extra minutes at the beginning of your calls to chat and build your relationships. Your company’s retention rate will thank you!

5. Create opportunities for your whole team to get together

There’s no hard and fast rule for how often remote teams “should” meet in person. It depends on you, your team, and everyone’s needs and personalities. But pretty much any remote team will benefit from getting together at least once or twice a year. So make the effort to make it happen.

This could look like quarterly, half-day meet-ups if you live in the same state or a two-day retreat someplace special. Team members could all attend the same yearly conference to learn new things and catch up in person. Two birds, one stone!

Regardless of how it looks or how often it happens, find a way for your team to spend time together in ‘real life.’ It will improve communication, deepen relationships, and make operations run more smoothly.

6. Use the right technology

The right software can make team connectivity a breeze, no matter how many time zones it’s spread across. Here at Meritage, we love the project management platform Redbooth. Remember from tip #2 how important clear systems are? Redbooth is where my team knowledge shares their process templates, how-to steps, task status, and FAQs to fix issues—all online—and without involving me. Of course, we love Google Apps for sharing documents and editing them together in real time. Loom makes it easy for us to do quick screen share tutorials with each other or send video responses, which are sometimes more time effective than a string of emails or trying to find time for a phone call. Dropbox is perfect for sharing and organizing big files.

Is there a learning curve to managing a remote team? Of course. But the benefits of hiring remote workers—lower overhead, higher morale, better productivity and efficiency—dramatically outweigh any challenges.

If you’d like to bring on more remote workers or are struggling with the ones you have, read on for six of my best learned-the-hard-way tips for managing a remote team. 6 Tricks to Managing a Remote Team

We help leaders build greater connectivity, trust and efficiency in their teams (remote and local).  Help is just an email away. . .

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Ultimate Delegation Guide | Meritage Effective Leadership Consulting

“I have no idea how to keep my remote team connected and motivated consistently. Zero,” my client sighs over her coffee.

We’re sitting in the corner booth of a cozy coffee shop in San Francisco on a rainy Tuesday, catching up on her business, her team, and life in general.

“My product manger is in Dubai, so we’re always asking him to take conference calls late at night. Some people hate Slack, some people love it. The email chains are 15 emails long and by the time I get to the end I forgot what the original question was. Maybe I should just go back to an in-person, only-in-this-zip-code team.” She rolls her eyes and groans.

I’ve had this conversation more times than I can count. Years ago, I’m sure I was saying these things myself! These conversations are becoming more common because over the past 12 years, we’ve seen a 115% increase in people working remotely. In 2018, 3.9 million Americans were working remotely.

over the past 12 years, we’ve seen a 115% increase in people working remotely. In 2018, 3.9 million Americans were working remotely.

It’s likely that number will only increase. Remote work can lead to more efficiency and productivity, boosts morale, and lowers overhead. On the other hand, it’s harder to manage communication and keep people aligned on priorities when the whole team is working remotely.

If you’d like to bring on more remote workers or are struggling with the ones you have, read on for six of my best learned-the-hard-way tips for managing a remote team.

Curious how remote leadership differs from in-office management? Explore our Leadership EDGE course to build communication, clarity, and influence across virtual teams.


6 Tricks to Managing a Remote Team

1. Have exceptionally clear systems and processes in place

Of course, effective systems are always important, but they’re even more important when your team is spread all over the world. Make sure everyone on your team knows what steps to take, with whom, and when. To build an internal knowledge management system, you may want to consider using AskSpoke.

It’s equally important that your team knows where to find that information—and hopefully it’s not you! The best-run teams rely on each other before they escalate to their leader. Or they reference available video training, resource documents, or their onboarding training before they come to someone with questions. A good tool for process documentation to check out is process.st.

As leaders, we don’t want to be the center cog in the system that keeps everything running. We want to lead a team that can function and excel on its own, without constantly flooding us with basic questions or manageable concerns.

2. Schedule team video calls every Monday

Seeing each other’s faces and hearing each other’s voices is a great way to start the week. It’s a good reminder that there are actual humans on the other end of those emails. When we communicate exclusively through email, a lot of tone gets lost and miscommunications are more common.

A weekly check-in video call reduces those miscommunications, increases understanding, and reminds us that Chris in marketing has a sarcastic sense of humor and we don’t need to take those emails too seriously. It seems simple, but I often see leaders using video too infrequently. Getting on a regular schedule where everyone connects creates consistency in communication.

Weekly team touchpoints are powerful—but only if your leaders know how to lead with presence. Learn how in our Leadership EDGE coaching cohort.

3. If your team is spread across time zones, alternate meeting schedule times

If your team is split between New York and L.A., your west coasters don’t appreciate the 9 am EST meetings. Likewise, your New Yorkers could do without the calls at 5 pm PST on Friday night. It’s even harder if you have team members all over the world!

It’s not always possible to schedule meetings at the perfect time for everyone, but we can at least alternate. Make sure that your meetings aren’t scheduled at a time that consistently inconveniences the same team members.

4. Take the time connect + catch up before you dig into logistics or tasks

As tempting as it is to skip the small talk, it’s more important than ever to spend the extra five or ten minutes to chat with your remote team members before you get down to the proverbial brass tacks. Taking the time to talk about your vacations or your shared affinity for that one TV show can make a huge difference in morale.

When we work with our team members in person, these conversations happen naturally. We talk about our weekends in the lunchroom or share a joke at the vending machine. It’s harder to build that camaraderie over email chains.

The truth is, we’re more likely to help and support colleagues we like, and we’re more inclined to like a colleague when we know they love James Corden as much as we do. So take a few extra minutes at the beginning of your calls to chat and build your relationships. Your company’s retention rate will thank you!

5. Create opportunities for your whole team to get together

There’s no hard and fast rule for how often remote teams “should” meet in person. It depends on you, your team, and everyone’s needs and personalities. But pretty much any remote team will benefit from getting together at least once or twice a year. So make the effort to make it happen.

This could look like quarterly, half-day meet-ups if you live in the same state or a two-day retreat someplace special. Team members could all attend the same yearly conference to learn new things and catch up in person. Two birds, one stone!

Regardless of how it looks or how often it happens, find a way for your team to spend time together in ‘real life.’ It will improve communication, deepen relationships, and make operations run more smoothly.

6. Use the right technology

The right software can make team connectivity a breeze, no matter how many time zones it’s spread across. Here at Meritage, we love the project management platform Redbooth. Remember from tip #2 how important clear systems are? Redbooth is where my team knowledge shares their process templates, how-to steps, task status, and FAQs to fix issues—all online—and without involving me. Of course, we love Google Apps for sharing documents and editing them together in real time. Loom makes it easy for us to do quick screen share tutorials with each other or send video responses, which are sometimes more time effective than a string of emails or trying to find time for a phone call. Dropbox is perfect for sharing and organizing big files.

Is there a learning curve to managing a remote team? Of course. But the benefits of hiring remote workers—lower overhead, higher morale, better productivity and efficiency—dramatically outweigh any challenges.

If you’d like to bring on more remote workers or are struggling with the ones you have, read on for six of my best learned-the-hard-way tips for managing a remote team. 6 Tricks to Managing a Remote Team

We help leaders build greater connectivity, trust and efficiency in their teams (remote and local).  Help is just an email away. . .

Let’s be honest: if you’re waiting for things to “settle down,” you’re going to be waiting a long time. 

Disruption isn’t a phase—it’s the backdrop of modern business. Market volatility, supply chain issues, AI-driven competition… The only thing certain about the future is that it’s uncertain. 

So why do some leaders thrive in this chaos while others struggle to keep up? 

It’s not luck. It’s resilience. 

Resilient leaders don’t just react to disruption. They anticipate, adapt, and make bold moves—even when they don’t have all the answers. They don’t get stuck in hesitation or overwhelmed by uncertainty. 

If you want to be the kind of leader who guides your team through disruption with confidence—not the one scrambling to keep up—start strengthening these five traits today. 

75% of employees with highly empathetic managers report being committed to their jobs, compared to just 33% of those with less empathetic managers

1. Adaptability: Pivot Without Losing Focus

Here’s the truth: rigid leaders get left behind. 

A McKinsey study found that companies that adjusted their business models quickly during the COVID-19 crisis saw 30% higher revenue growth than those that hesitated. That’s because adaptability isn’t just about surviving change—it’s about staying ahead of it. 

The best leaders make adaptability part of their strategy, not just a last-minute scramble. 

organizations promoting collaboration are 20% more likely to outperform their peers.

Try this: 

  • Create a “Rapid Response” Team. Who’s your go-to group when unexpected challenges hit? In private equity, this might be specialists who stabilize newly acquired firms. In tech, it could be a cross-functional team monitoring AI-driven market shifts. 
  • Run “Pre-Mortems.” Before launching a new initiative, ask: “If this fails, why will it fail?” This helps you identify blind spots before they become real problems. 
  • Use Scenario Planning. Instead of betting on one outcome, map out multiple possibilities. How will you pivot if market conditions shift faster than expected? 

Great leaders don’t get stuck in outdated models. They stay flexible and keep their teams moving forward.

 

2. Clear Workplace Communication: Bring Order to Uncertainty

 

Uncertainty breeds fear. And when people are scared, silence from leadership is the fastest way to lose trust. 

But too many leaders either communicate too little (leaving their teams confused) or too much (burying them in irrelevant details). 

Gallup research shows that employees who trust their leaders are 61% more likely to stay with their company. That trust is built through consistent, clear, and confident communication. 

 

Try this: 

  • Use the 3-Point Messaging Model every time you update your team:  
  • What we know – Provide facts, not speculation. 
  • What we don’t know – Acknowledge uncertainty rather than making empty promises. 
  • What we’re doing next – Outline the next steps, even if they evolve. 
  • Follow the “5-15” Rule. Five-minute high-level updates keep teams informed, while 15-minute deep dives should be reserved for when they’re actually needed. 
  • Master Radical Candor. Be direct and empathetic. Teams don’t need sugarcoating, but they also don’t need unnecessary panic. The best leaders strike that balance. 

Resilient leaders bring clarity when everything else feels chaotic.

 

3. Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Stay Steady Under Pressure

 

Ever walked into a room and immediately felt the tension? 

That’s leadership energy at work. Whether they mean to or not, leaders set the emotional tone for their teams. 

If you’re panicked, your team will be too. If you’re distracted, they’ll feel unmoored.  

A Workforce Institute study found that 1 in 3 employees feel their manager doesn’t recognize the emotional impact they have on their team. 

Accountability isn’t about micromanagement—it’s about trust.

Try this: 

 

  • Know your triggers. When do you get defensive? When does frustration creep in? Self-awareness is step one to self-regulation. 
  • Read the room. Pay attention to signs of burnout or disengagement. If energy is low, it’s time to reset expectations and reinforce support. 
  • Listen first. Instead of jumping straight to solutions, ask, “What do you need most from me right now?” 

Resilient leaders don’t just manage operations—they create stability in uncertain environments. Developing emotional intelligence is a core pillar of modern executive coaching and high-performing team dynamics.

 

4. Decisive Leadership: Make Bold Calls Without All the Data

 

Ever heard someone say, “I just need more information before I decide”—and then… they never actually make the call? 

Waiting for perfect data is a great way to miss an opportunity. 

In fast-moving industries like technology—where AI and cybersecurity risks shift overnight—executive leaders must decide fast or get left behind. 

 

Try this: 

 

  • Use the 70% Rule. Make decisions when you have 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for certainty, you’ll be too late. 
  • Apply the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act). This military framework helps leaders move quickly in uncertain environments: 
    • Observe – Gather what intelligence you can.
    • Orient – Analyze the situation with your best available information.
    • Decide – Make the best call with what you know.
    • Act – Move forward, adjusting as new data emerges. 
  • Trust your expertise. The best leaders recognize when a decision is “good enough” to move forward—and refine later. 

Case in point: Microsoft’s Satya Nadella bet on cloud computing before the market fully shifted. His bold decision doubled Microsoft’s valuation. That’s the power of decisiveness over hesitation.

 

5. Forward Thinking: Anticipate Disruption Before It Happens

 

The best leaders don’t just react to disruption—they see it coming. 

PwC’s CEO Survey consistently finds that leaders who prioritize strategic foresight outperform competitors during downturns. 

They invest in resilience before they need it. 

 

Try this: 

 

  • Build a Leadership Pipeline. Private equity firms restructuring companies often develop future leaders early—so they’re not scrambling when a key executive leaves. 
  • Use Predictive Analytics. AI-driven forecasting helps healthcare and tech executives spot market shifts before competitors react. 
  • Foster a Culture of Proactive Problem-Solving. Encourage employees to anticipate challenges instead of reacting in real time. 

Companies led by forward-thinking executives are 2.8 times more likely to be industry leaders in five years. Those who prepare today win tomorrow. 

 

Resilience Isn’t a Trait—It’s a Leadership Skill 

 

The best executives don’t just get through disruption—they use it as a competitive advantage. 

Strengthening these five traits requires deliberate effort: 

  • Adaptability – Build flexibility into your strategy before you need it.
  • Communication – Bring clarity and confidence to uncertainty. 
  • Emotional Intelligence – Regulate stress and keep teams engaged. 
  • Decisiveness – Move fast with limited information. 
  • Forward Thinking – Prepare for the next disruption before it hits. 

Resilience in the workplace isn’t about survival—it’s about positioning yourself for long-term success. 

Accountability isn’t about micromanagement—it’s about trust.

Ready to Lead With More Resilience? 

At Meritage Leadership, we offer executive leadership development programs that help executives build resilience in the workplace, foster accountability, and lead high-performing teams with clarity, confidence, and impact.

If you’re ready to build resilience into your leadership strategy, let’s talk. 

➡ Learn More at www.meritageleadership.com 

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Download How to Free Up 8+ Hours a Week: The Ultimate Guide to Delegation and free up eight hours from your work week.

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