5 Tips for Excelling at Virtual Project Management

John Allen, Director of Global SEO at RingCentral talks about how remote project management comes with many challenges but also offers unique advantages. Virtual projects can draw on the expertise of a diverse number of individuals from all geographic locations. 

The working environment has changed significantly. The employees of today need to excel at all virtual working practices – including managing projects remotely. 

A virtual project manager needs to be adept at marshaling newly remote teams to keep projects on track and profitable. Doing so means being responsible for tracking progress and workflows, as well as managing expectations. 

Success in virtual project management involves having a well-defined system that supports online collaboration in the workplace. This will ensure everyone has clear goals, and an understanding of their individual responsibilities. 

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In this post, we’ll look at five ways to excel at virtual project management:

1. Onboard the Best Communication Tools

Having the right communication tools available to your virtual team is essential, especially if the team is widely dispersed geographically. There are plenty of highly effective online collaboration tools to choose from, meaning less need for endless email threads between team members.

Tools to make communication easier include teleconferencingOpens a new window , instant messaging, project management, and cloud-based storage and sharing solutions. 

Using cloud-based digital asset managementOpens a new window tools, anyone working on a project can quickly and easily share files and folders. That’s at any time and from any place. These kinds of instant communication tools create a transparent environment where teams can quickly get answers to questions and provide solutions to problems. 

When you’re introducing new technology, it’s essential to get all team members up to speed with the software’s features. Also, pay attention to security around your communication software – set protocols and permission levels in accordance with company policy. 

Learn More: How eCommerce Businesses Can Benefit from VoIPOpens a new window

2. Create a Supportive Environment

You can have all the best communication tools in the world, but if  team members don’t feel they’re in a trusting environment, you won’t see positive results. It’s essential to build strong relationships between team members so that they can work together productively. 

Research indicates that revenues for companies with engaged employees are 2.5 times higher than those with disengaged employees. That’s alongside many other advantages. 

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If employees become disengaged with other members of the team or their team leader collaboration becomes difficult. Virtual project managers need to find ways to motivate virtual teams with team-building exercises. It’s important to encourage the team to interact on a social basis, rather than simply talk about work. 

In a face-to-face environment, where employees naturally gather around the ‘watercooler’ or in the canteen, there are plenty of natural social moments. Try to recreate these moments by setting aside time for social chats. Or, set up discussion boards where people can share their personal and professional interests or make suggestions and comments. 

Learn More: 6 Ways Technology Can Improve Collaboration and How to Implement ItOpens a new window

3. Optimize Virtual Meetings

It’s now possible to host highly productive virtual meetings in the cloudOpens a new window , where teams can evaluate the progress of projects and set priorities. By conducting meetings over video conferencing software, team members can get to know one another and feel more connected. 

Virtual project managers need to schedule meetings and run them carefully so that everyone is focused on specific tasks and topics. When identifying a video conferencing solution, the ability to screen shareOpens a new window is a helpful feature to have. Especially when it comes to presentations and brainstorming sessions. 

Aim to hold at least a weekly status meeting and weekly internal meeting. It may be a good idea to hold longer monthly or quarterly project review meetings, too. That can help you to get a higher view of projects. The more status updates, discussions, and project health updates, the better. Regular meetings will also help strengthen team relationships and eliminate frustrations. 

If you’re working across several time zones it’s not easy to find a meeting time to suit everyone. Unsurprisingly, team members will be disgruntled if you ask them to work outside of business hours on a regular basis. 

In this scenario, you could break up the tasks of a project so that team members working on similar things are located close together. Or you could change the meeting times to ensure everyone shares the inconvenience equally. 

Learn More: Remote Working Revolution: What’s Next for Tech Marketers and ITDMs?

4. Make Team Members Accountable for their Work

Virtual project managers need to make sure everyone is pulling their weight. If a team member is not following through on their commitments, it makes it difficult for the rest of the team to do so. The manager should set an example as well as establish clearly what’s expected of the team. 

As ever, communication is critical when it comes to setting deadlines, and virtual managers need to check in on the team regularly. 

Learn More:  7 Reasons Why Unified Communications (UC) Can Save Your Small Business Time & Money

5. Use Time-Tracking Tools

While you need to ensure staff are using their time productively, it’s important that they don’t feel ‘micromanaged’. By using assessment toolsOpens a new window to track work hours and completed tasks you can understand each team member’s efforts and results – without causing undue stress. 

Virtual project managers need to monitor working hours in order to ensure employees aren’t working too few or too many hours. Plenty of remote employees cite unplugging after work as one of their biggest challenges. 

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Establishing a healthy work-life balance is just as important for a virtual team as it is for a face-to-face one. Encourage staff to switch off when they’ve completed their tasks for the day, and advise them to leave work behind until the next morning. 

Ensure no-one is overloaded with work, and encourage the team to speak up if they’re finding it difficult to cope. 

Remote project management comes with many challenges but also has lots of advantages. Virtual projects can draw on the expertise of a diverse number of individuals from all geographic locations. Technology has made it possible to run projects with teams spread across two or more continents. 

Technology on its own, however, can’t provide the solutions to all the challenges that come with remote project management. It’s up to the virtual project manager to motivate team members and forge connections. They need to be proactive by identifying and eliminating issues before they become problems, ensuring that projects stay on track.

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