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How To Set Your Remote Team Up For Success In 3 Easy Steps

ByAndrea Elibero

You FINALLY decided to get the help your high-vibe business so desperately needs. You’ve shaken off the initial letting go of control jitters. You’ve implemented my 6 easy steps to building a remote team. You’ve hired your first all-star team members. Congratulations! Now what? 

Now you have to nurture these all-stars. You have to get them on the same page so that they can make your life easier. It’s a bit of an investment of your time at first, but if you follow my 3 easy steps to setting your remote team up for success, it’ll be the best investment you make for your business (and sanity).

It took a couple of months to get my awesome new hires on the same page, but once I did, I was able to take my dogs on the long daily walks they deserved, treat myself to the two hour lunches I deserved, and pour the creativity into the offerings my business deserved.

Once you get your remote team off the ground, you’ll have the proper time to prepare a homemade dinner, knit your cat a sweater, and dance to the 1-hour version of babyshark in your living room (listen, I’m not here to judge, I’m here to support).

How to Set Your Remote Team Up For Success in 3 Easy Steps 

1) Train 

All aboard the train train (I had to). Training is the most time consuming yet essential part of the nurturing process. Good, detailed training sets your team up for success, and setting your team up for success sets YOU up for success. 

I urge you to not take this step lightly. This should be the one and only time you’re micromanaging. Pour your heart and soul into the training process as if your business depends on it–because it does.

SOPs

The key to smooth, effective training is Standard Operating Procedures, aka SOPs. I am SOPs #1 fan girl. I thank them for giving me the time to take a laptop-less vacation–as in a whole week without my laptop. And you can too with that SOP trained all-star team of yours.

SOPs are step-by-step instructions created to help team members complete routine tasks. SOPs streamline processes so that they’re clear and concise, which in turn creates consistent and predictable results. With an SOP in place, you can upload it to your project management tool (more on that below), tag a team member, and go about planning your laptop-less vacation. 

This is an example outline of an SOP I use for uploading blog posts:

  •  Under “posts” click “add new”
  • Type in title
  • On right side, insert featured image
  • Insert excerpt
  • Click “use Divi builder” in middle of page
  • Select “choose a premade layout”
  • Under “load from library”, and under “your existing pages” choose the most recent blog post
  • Hover over text until grey bar appears, click the gear icon “module settings” and insert new text and images in box that pops up
  • When done, click the green checkmark and green publish box and exit divi builder 

Ideally, I would walk a team member through the SOP above once, and have them use the SOP for all future blog post uploads. Read my “What are SOP’s and Why You Need Them In Your Life” blog post for details on setting up SOPs for your new team.  

2) Delegate

Delegation is defined as “the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person”. Key word, entrust. As in, confide in your remote team because you’ve taken the precious time to train them in your detailed SOPs. They’re ready to work for you!

Tools for Delegation

The biggest mistake I see new managers make is delegating via email. It’s the 21st century my friends. Let’s back away from the archaic torture device that is the constant back and forth runaround email. Let’s enter into the new paradigm of delegation: Project Management Tools. 

PM tools allow you to quickly and effectively assign specific tasks to specific team members. From setting deadlines to uploading important documents to tagging team members, you can delegate every little task on a PM tool.

My favorite (free) PM tools are:

  • Asana: My personal choice. I love Asana for its clean, user-friendly interface. 
  • ClickUp: A very popular choice for those teams growing faster than they can dream of. 
  • Trello: Excellent for visual learners and incredibly user-friendly.

For a detailed refresher on my favorite PM tools, read my “Entrepreneurial Essentials: Why Systems are Sexy”.

How To Delegate Tasks for Success in 3 Easy Steps  

A mini how-to within my how-to (I love me some easy steps). Once you’re ready to delegate, follow these three easy steps to get everyone on the same page.

  1. Who: Assign the person/people to the specific task. Make it clear who is working on this.
  2. What: Continue with the clarity and let them know exactly what you need them to do. Don’t forget those SOPs for a step-by-step guide on their tasks.
  3. When: Assign a due date.

You can complete all three steps on a PM tool–keep the entire process in one place. When everyone knows these 3 things, you set up your people for success–and remember what I said about success earlier:

Setting your team up for success sets YOU up for success.

3) Communicate  

Communicate. Communicate. Don’t ever stop communicating. Note: communicating is not micro-managing. When done effectively, daily communication can be as quick as a wink. 

More tools to add to your “set team up for success so I can vacation” toolbox. Like your chosen PM tool, a communication tool is a vital piece to your set up process. Again, we’re stepping away from archaic back and forth emails and stepping fully into effective, efficient means of communication.  

How to communicate with your team members effectively  

  • Use ONE platform to communicate. This is different from your project management tool which you use for specific tasks and projects. Your communication tool is for those quick, daily check-ins. 
    • Slack: It’s that new paradigm stuff I’m talking about. Say hello to instant messaging systems, discussion forums and private direct messaging all in one user friendly FREE place.
  • Set boundaries around communication. Let your team members know your office hours and when you are not available–and note their respective hours. Don’t expect them to respond on a Saturday if they clearly stated in their contract they are not available on Saturdays. Make sure your team members do not expect you to respond to 20 emails when you clearly stated that you only communicate via Slack. It might take a few reminders in the beginning, but be consistent and clear in your communication.
  • Effective communication is not always about talking–it’s often about listening. Once you’ve onboarded, trained and set up those SOPs, trust that you have done your part in preparing your team. Now it’s time to listen, guide and provide feedback. An empowered team that feels heard and seen is what dream teams are made of.

Hiring and nurturing a team is one of the most time-consuming, rewarding experiences you will have as a business owner. Take a deep breath, follow these steps, and get that eager all-star team excited to work for you. You’ve got this! 

Hi, I’m Andrea, and my zone of genius is team building. Yes, there is someone out there that can help you hire your perfect team, train them, delegate tasks, and manage projects. I would love to be the person that brings your high-vibe team to life, so that you can thrive in your zone of genius and let your business scream “WE LOVE WHAT WE DO!”

In fact, I created a mini-course specifically for entrepreneurs who want to build a high-vibe team to give you everything you need to set your team up for success (even if your “team” is you and a VA ;-)), so check it out to start building your own high-vibe virtual team! 

If your hiring needs are more urgent, I invite you to my exclusive Team Building VIP Day where you will leave SUPER clear on:

  • Your business goals and priorities: What are 3 things you want to accomplish?
  • Current team structure: Who is on the team and what do they do?
  • Activity inventory: your workload is broken down into what you love, like, and really want to get off of your plate.
  • Exactly who your next team member hire will be (accompanied by a detailed job description for them AND you).
  • Hiring/interview process: Logistics of creating an application and where to post job opportunities along with resources of what to ask and what to look for in your next hire.

Plus follow-up calls to support you through the hiring process and specific resources (for instance, where to post your job opportunity, interview questions, etc) and deliverables (like a team organizational chart and role descriptions) delivered the next day.

Let’s hop on a call to see if a Team Building VIP Day is right for you!

P.S. If you want more of my never-ending how-tos and honest attempts at making systems sexy, let’s be internet friends!

Whether you’re a high-vibe virtual assistant starting out and wanting a roadmap to build your business, a soulpreneur in need of an online business manager to hire and setup your remote team, or you want a discount on my favorite business tools, check them out here!