Finding yourself in a leadership position is never easy, especially when it comes to remote team management. Not only do you have to think about achieving project goals, but you also have to keep tabs on everyone’s wellbeing and motivation to avoid burnout.
According to Business 2 Community, 90% of employees stated that remote work flexibility has contributed to morale, being 20-25% more productive than their office colleagues. Whether you manage a content strategy with your remote team or work on a specific UX design project, there are challenges to tackle. Let’s take a closer look at several steps which you can take to make the management of your remote UX writing team seamless and objective-oriented.
The Challenges of Effective Remote Leadership
Remote work management is more impersonal and distant by design – you don’t have the benefit of physically seeing eye-to-eye with your team. It has its perks, but we should first address the main pain points and challenges you are bound to face as a remote team manager. Judging by Small Biz Genius, 75% of people work remotely because it provides fewer distractions, with 86% of them doing so because it reduces stress.
People who tend to prefer remote work conditions are often introverts or family people with children who want to spend time at home. You need to take these things into account and have an understanding for your team members’ private lives instead of pushing for rigid work hours. This is where a good team statement can come into play, as it can help set ground rules for your future collaboration. However, the most common challenges associated with managing a remote writing team, UX or otherwise, extend to:
- Challenge of being a team leader, project manager, and coach
- Social isolation and feeling of loneliness
- Lack of up-to-date information from everyone
- Home office or freelance hub distractions
- Potential for conflict which can stay unresolved
- Difficulties synchronizing everyone’s work hours
Effective Leadership Solutions for Remote Work Management
- Centralize your Workflow Early On
Even though your work might focus on UX writing specifically, you will still need a centralized remote management platform to work on. Luckily, project management platforms come in a variety of scales, business models, and feature sets depending on specific teams’ needs. Some of the best options on the market you should consider are:
- Asana
- Trello
- Jira
- Basecamp
- Podio
Managing remote workflow without a centralized hub to rely on is bound to cause issues with communication and duty delegation. Using one of the above-mentioned tools is a must if you intend to work with a remote team for extended periods. Make sure to check each platform out and see how it fits with your team’s workflow.
- Set Clear Objectives & Expectations
Naturally, everyone on your team will have a different set of expectations, professional goals, and skill sets. It is your job as a project manager to find a silver lining among them. Before any concrete work is done, you should set aside some time for a semi-casual remote meeting to discuss objectives and expectations.
Creating a UX brief is just as important as the actual writing you will do, so take the time to set clear KPIs to track going forward. Each member of your team should have an opportunity to state what they expect from others and how the team should function in their eyes. While you can’t expect everyone to become friends, you can respect each other and focus on a common goal, which is to write UX content.
- Assemble your Writing Stack
Given that you will all work on the same projects simultaneously, it’s good practice to create a list of tools and resources for everyone. This will ensure that no compatibility issues crop up during UX design and that you can all collaborate easily. The tools commonly associated with UX writing and editing are as follow:
- Evernote – cloud-based note-taking and writing platform with cross-platform functionality
- Power Thesaurus – word repository used to find synonyms and related terms for writing
- Hemingway Editor – tool used to improve text flow and general readability of your content
- Google Docs – suite of content management tools useful for file storage and sharing
- Sketch – UX prototyping tool which you can use to test your UX writing without any coding
Yvonne Riley, Content Writing Specialist and UX Writer, spoke on the topic of writing stacks recently: “Syncing up your team’s tool set will significantly speed up the process of creating and publishing content as a group. It’s good practice to keep a custom essay writing service review platform handy if you need to outsource any writing or editing on a tight schedule. Whether you work on UX content, articles, or SEO, do your best to line up the toolset everyone is using to make the writing seamless.”
- Resist Micromanagement – Trust your Team
Micromanagement is the bane of remote work as it can drastically impact your relations with others on the team. Instead of trying to create micro-goals and look over their shoulder while they write, learn how to trust them.
The people on your team are there for a reason, and they undoubtedly know what to do with the work you’ve delegated to them. Failing to trust them and checking in constantly will have an adverse effect on their motivation and overall work quality. Be there in case of emergency or if anyone has questions on how to proceed with their work. Otherwise, focus on your own part of the UX writing project and have faith in your team members.
- Make Time for One-on-One Coaching
Since remote work conditions are inherently more distant and often lead to the feelings of social isolation, you should make time for coaching. Coaching represents the process of checking in with each member of your team individually and talking about their professional goals and place on the team.
You can tackle different subjects during your coaching meetings depending on how open your team members are. Make it clear that anything they say during coaching meetings will stay between you and them to avoid misunderstanding. Simply speaking to each person on your team will vastly improve their agency on the project and boost their motivation to work more. Likewise, it will help them identify with what you do more clearly and open the door for better interpersonal communication with others on the team.
- UX Writing Analysis as a Team Effort
Finally, as your UX writing project comes to a close, you should evaluate the finished work as a team. Don’t judge everyone’s work behind closed doors and offer no feedback on their work. Instead, organize a remote team meeting and go through everything that’s been done up to that point.
This will allow everyone to pitch in and offer comments, suggestions, and personal thoughts on how successful your UX writing process has been. Similarly, it will make the evaluation a learning process, as each person will learn a little bit more about their work for future reference.
Being an Effective Leader Remotely (Conclusion)
Leading a team of individuals with different mindsets and goals is already a tall order, not to mention when remote management is involved. However, the digital age has made it possible for project managers to successfully engage with their teams through a variety of tools and resources.
Make it clear to everyone that you are available both for personal and professional consultation despite the remote work conditions. UX writing is inherently creative work, and you want to make sure that everyone is at their best at all times. Do your best as a leader, professional, and friend, and the quality of your team’s UX writing will reflect those efforts adequately.