5 Ways to Build High-Performing Remote Teams: Tools, Talent, and Tactics

What's the secret to building a successful and profitable business?

Contrary to popular belief, it's not just about developing the best solutions in the market. Nor is it a million-dollar marketing strategy. Instead, the key to accomplishing positive results and facilitating the growth of your brand is putting together a high-performing team.

The issue with this, however, is that most startups (and even well-established businesses) have serious budget constraints. They're either unable to hire sufficient manpower or forced to hire remotely, which can be exceptionally challenging from a leadership and management standpoint.

This guide provides an overview of the best practices for building high-performing remote teams, along with suggestions on how to choose tools, find talent, and develop management tactics that yield results. Let's get into it.

Attracting the Right Talent

Unfortunately, the process of compiling a superstar team of remote employees isn't as simple as publishing a job posting and hoping to attract the right candidates.

Instead, you have to know where to look for people whose expertise and experience align with your needs. Moreover, it's crucial to cover all the technical and legal bases of the hiring process, which can be quite challenging if you're looking for remote employees.

With this in mind, you have two options.

On the one hand, you can work with a remote staffing agency, which is the ideal choice if you have a hiring budget and want to find the best candidate for your needs. What's great about this option is that you get a ton of support during the hiring process, while still enjoying the perfect-hire guarantee that most reputable agencies offer.

On the other hand, you can attempt to DIY the process by posting on job forums and joining relevant communities. There are numerous skill-specific talent platforms and freelancing websites — like Fiverr and Upwork — online. So, depending on what type of workers you're looking for, you can choose the right platforms and begin the candidate selection process.

Hire for Culture Fit — Skills Can Be Learned

Regardless of whether you're trying to build an in-office or remote team, when prioritizing performance, pay attention to culture fit.

Goal and mission alignment is one of the best ways to ensure your team members are invested in their work. In fact, there are several reasons why being on the same page with your employees yields positive outcomes.

According to research, finding the right culture fit automatically boosts employee engagement, job satisfaction, and productivity levels. Furthermore, it reduces work-related stress. Plus, it can lead to a healthier work-life balance.

With this in mind, one of the best ways to build a high-performing remote team is to hire candidates based on culture fit.

This means that you want people whose values align with your organization — this is crucial, especially considering that 68% of European professionals want to work for companies that share their beliefs.

Furthermore, prioritize hiring candidates who share the same vision and mission as your brand and who are comfortable with the way work is done within your company.

Give an Advantage to Autonomy-Oriented Candidates

Maintaining productivity when working with a remote team can be quite challenging.

A Stanford study discovered that working exclusively from home led to a 10% drop in productivity (while hybrid options didn't affect output). And, considering the following data, that's not too much of a surprise.

According to SurveyMonkey, 46% of remote workers multitask while on a work call, 46% complete household chores, 33% run errands outside the home, 20% take naps, 17% watch TV or play video games, and 4% work another job during their work hours.

So, if you're looking to build a high-performing remote team, you want employees who will be genuinely dedicated to their jobs, not just doing the bare minimum to get by.

One way to achieve this goal is to prioritize hiring autonomy-oriented individuals. These people will have a strong work ethic and be more dedicated to pursuing organizational goals. They'll also have better intrinsic drive. That's a crucial element of continuous productivity, especially as people naturally experience ebbs and flows in their motivation levels throughout the work week.

Prioritize Results Over Presenteeism

One of the biggest challenges of leading a remote team (and doing so in a way that facilitates business success) is overcoming the perception that remote work isn't as efficient as on-site employment.

In fact, if you look at data from HBR, you'll find that managers see work-from-home as less productive. Yet, employees strongly disagree, with many feeling the flexibility remote work offers results in 10% to 35% higher productivity levels.

So, if you're looking for tactics to build a high-performing remote team, it's essential to learn how to differentiate presenteeism from productivity.

While the former does seem like an automatic way for your employees to accomplish more during the day, its consequences are, in truth, the opposite of what you'd want for your team. The effects of presenteeism include decreased productivity, higher chances of burnout, poor mental health, and lower morale among your employees.

With this in mind, it's essential for you, as a leader and manager, to stop demanding presenteeism from your employees. It's just as crucial to emphasize the importance of rest, encouraging deep work, minimizing distractions, and effectively setting attainable work goals that won't force your employees to push themselves beyond their limits.

Note That Management Style Affects Performance and Productivity

When discussing employee performance, most resources focus on finding the right candidates, equipping them with the right tools, or recognizing work strategies that can lead to productivity gains.

But here's the thing. Your team's productivity doesn't just depend on their habits, characteristics, or workflows. It's just as much conditioned by how they're being led.

That's why it's crucial to hire managers who are fit for the job they're doing. This is, naturally, easiest by using project manager recruitment agencies that specialize in finding high-quality talent.

However, if you're putting on the management hat (like so many entrepreneurs do), then it's key to understand the following things about effective leadership:

Fostering trust, transparency, and honest communication is key to effective collaboration.

Draw clear boundaries early in the hiring process. That way, team members will know exactly what's expected of them as well as what they can expect from your business.

Checking in often and with an open mind is one of the best ways to identify potential productivity obstacles before they grow into issues.

Accountability is important. But support and encouragement are far more effective at inspiring stellar work.

Giving your employees sufficient autonomy won't just make them feel more valued. It will also empower them to work in the way that's best for them, likely resulting in better outcomes than forcing them to fit an unsustainable mold.

Asynchronous work is challenging. But it can be a huge advantage, especially for global brands. Don't hinder it, but explore creative ways to make it a key component of your brand's success.

Final Thoughts

Building and leading high-performing remote teams may differ from what you'd typically do as a business owner. But it's not that complicated.

Essentially, it's all about implementing a few core strategies:

Hiring employees who are a strong cultural fit for your organization.

Encouraging autonomy.

Preventing presenteeism. And;

Basing your management style on trust and feedback.

Plagiarism checker screenshots (note that it's flagging two short sentences). The last two sections were checked separately due to word count constraints.