How to Manage a Remote Graphic Design Team Successfully
Right now a lot of us are finding ourselves working remotely, learn how to manage your remote graphic design team effectively.
For some companies, the ongoing pandemic has become a transformative force for their teams, pushing them to switch to remote work and collaborate on a completely different level. What you’ve used so far as your go-to methods might not work all that well in the virtual realm, but some strategies will pan out better than others.
Some teams might make this transition more smoothly, while others might require some help to keep things seamless and hopefully painless. For your graphic design team, it might be a little trickier to get on board with the whole remote idea.
Although the job itself is easily completed online and from their homes, the collaboration aspect of this department has a strong influence on how your projects develop.
Instead of your typical brainstorming sessions around a single whiteboard with a bunch of colorful markers, you need to create the same inspiring atmosphere online and help your graphic design team stay on top of their tasks remotely.
Here’s what you can do to help them!
Get your team involved in the decisions
Graphic designers have specific needs, just like your IT department, your marketing team, and your content creators. In case you’re not a graphic designer yourself, you might not understand the workflow entirely to make the best decisions for your team while they work from home.
That’s why it’s best to actually keep them in the loop while you’re switching to this new model of operating. Set up a dedicated meeting to ask them about their preferred tools, necessary working conditions, and other issues that might come up and help them be more productive in the next several months.
Choose a set of reliable tools
Remote work is all about setting up the most productive digital environments for your teams. Many organizations first need to understand the differences between task management vs project management in order to make an informed decision that makes the most sense for their teams. These tools evolve fairly quickly and offer a wide array of different features and functionalities that aren’t limited to your design projects and tasks, but can be applicable for the entire business.
PM tools and task management tools are both great solutions that ensure your graphic designers can exchange files safely, get notified whenever there’s a new assignment to handle, and above all, when they need to communicate with other team members seamlessly.
Move your brand’s docs onto the cloud
You’ve likely already used the cloud for some level of storing sensitive data and giving access to your employees so that they can get to know your basic brand guidelines and stay informed on business news. However, this is a great chance to expand the use of the cloud for your business and turn it into the main platform for storing documents, simplifying onboarding even during the crisis, and empower creative exchanges among your designers.
By adding and managing design projects on the cloud, your graphic design team can work seamlessly on the same document in real time and without any setbacks. Plus, managers can keep an eye on the progress or alternatively ensure privacy in document collaboration for specific teams to give them more creative freedom.
Regular meetings are essential
Weekly get-togethers online are vital for every team you have within your business, but your design team will also make use of these opportunities to get organized. Go over your weekly task pool, make sure everyone’s on top of their responsibilities, and spot any bottlenecks that you can resolve early on and prevent delays.
Your graphic designers can share their early suggestions on video calls with you, which will also contribute to a healthy discussion and exchanging ideas. Video conference calls will also help you graphic designers talk to your other teams, which will in turn help your employees work more effectively in the future.
Enable daily chats for better collaboration
Emails are fine, and regular meetings, as we’ve established, are essential, but there’s also something about those casual chats that your employees have at the office that keeps them close, minimizes misunderstandings, and keeps your brand culture alive and well. To preserve the health of your company culture and values, it’s time to break out the chat.
Yes, you already have a messaging option within most project management tools, but they should be reserved for business-related exchanges. Otherwise you risk swamping everyone’s inbox with email notifications whenever someone posts a bicep emoticon. A dedicated chat tool is a far better option to keep these conversations alive, and more importantly, safely away from your business PM tools. You can take this further by integrating Slack with CRM, which provides your team with customized notifications and seamless communication.
Occasional setbacks and problems are to be expected, and it’s only natural that your team will need some time to adapt to this new situation. What you can do, however, will make their lives a lot easier in the long run, help them manage their projects more easily, and make the most of collaborating remotely for as long as necessary without hindering your overall business goals. These are some of the most effective steps any business needs to consider, so add them to your own management strategy for improved team-wide collaboration!
