Successful businesses all over the world offer various benefits to their employees, in order to decrease the turnover rate and accomplish great results. Some offer unlimited vacation time, others offer gym memberships and free lunches, while some offer to work in remote teams.

Working in a remote team can be a fantastic experience, and it can result in success. However, if managed poorly it can affect the company and its employees in a completely negative way. That’s why it is important to build strong relationships in remote teams.

Even though it sounds easy, it’s much easier said than done. Working in a remote team means working with team members from all over the world who have different cultures and approaches to work. This can result in many misunderstandings, which eventually lead to the entire team falling apart and the company falling behind.

As a good business owner, and a good manager you must come up with various ways to keep your team members satisfied with their job position, and a big part of that is building strong relationships. You might just assume that these things will come naturally and that you don’t need to think about it, but often that is not the case.

If you have remote teams which get along perfectly, that’s a great thing. However, if you’re struggling with building strong relationships in remote teams, this article is definitely for you.

The most important thing you need to know is that good things take time, so this will not be a fast and easy process. It will take time, dedication, and hard work, but in the end, it will definitely pay off.

Use technology to your advantage.

We’ve been blessed with amazing technology, so why not use it to our advantage? Even though many say that technology can be a distraction, we care to disagree. Technology has huge potential, it just has to be used wisely.

When we say use technology to your advantage, we don’t mean spending hours every day looking at adorable cat pictures and browsing the internet endlessly. No, we mean that you should use the tools which have been given to us to connect your remote teams and build a strong relationship between them.

Remote teams cannot function if they do not have proper channels of communication. Sending emails from time to time is beneficial, but not that effective when you have an emergency going on. There is a variety of quality messaging apps out there. All you have to do is find one for your team.

Slack is a popular messaging app for teams. It brings all your team’s communication and files in one place, where they’re instantly searchable and available wherever you go.

Another great tool is Microsoft Teams. It is a platform that combines workplace chat, meetings, notes, and attachments. Perfect for remote teams.

There really is a sea of great messaging platforms for teams, but it’s up to you to choose the right one. Another thing you should be mindful of when it comes to choosing the right messaging platform for your remote teams is if they have good integrations.

For example, Vacation Tracker can be added to Slack. By doing that, you can use Slack not only for communication but also for leave management. It can increase productivity and save valuable time.

Team buildings are always a great idea.

There is a reason why businesses all over the world organize team building. It is because they work. They are important both for your team members and your company.

You have probably already heard that communication online is not the same as talking face-to-face. And that is completely true. When you are talking to someone online, you cannot be sure what they are really like. And while they’re communicating over messaging apps during work, your team members mostly discuss the projects they’re working on and the tasks they’re supposed to finish.

While that is great, they should also discuss life outside of work. Their interests, hobbies and so much more. That’s how strong relationships in remote teams are created.

Team members will also go through adventures together on the company’s team buildings, and we’ll have talking material for days to come. It truly is the best way for your team to get to know each other, and bond.

Another great thing about team building is that your employees will get to know the real you. Even though you are their CEO or manager, they’ll feel a lot more comfortable coming to you with a problem now that they’ve met you in person. And having employees who know they can talk to you when they have an issue is essential for a successful business.

Respect cultural differences.

As we’ve mentioned, working in remote teams means working with people from all over the world. People with different cultures. And this is an amazing thing. You get to learn about other cultures, and experience how things work in different parts of the world.

The most important thing you can do as a team respects each others’ cultural differences. Make sure you know which country celebrates which holidays and make sure you acknowledge them.

Having team members from different countries can sometimes lead to different misunderstandings, but it’s important to realize that every country has a different approach and work things out with understanding and patience.

If you are a part of a remote team, consider yourself lucky. It comes with great benefits, and you’ll get to learn so much. Every team might hit some bumps along the way, but it is important to understand them and deal with them the right way. In the end, it all comes down to one thing, treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Take care of your employees, make sure you’ve established the right communication channels and make sure you give them the opportunity to meet and build strong relationships. It’s the only way to a great and successful company with satisfied employees and happy clients.

Snigdha Gupta

An avid writer and aspiring marketer, Snigdha is a student at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business.