Free Remote Tools to Help Managers and Their Teams Remain Connected & Productive

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As more and more companies are opting to have their employees work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, what can you as a manager do to remain connected with your team? Communicate, communicate, communicate! When employees are remote or disbursed amongst different offices (especially during times of uncertainty), frequent and clear communication is critical. Fortunately there are many available tools to help you and your team communicate & collaborate effectively.

Below we’ve provided information on several tools available in each of the following areas: video conferencing, messaging, project management, note taking and password management.

Video Conferencing:

Compared to audioconferencing, video conferencing is much more effective & engaging. As an added benefit, it removes the feeling of distance and/or disconnect that remote employees at times feel.

  • Zoom

    • Under Zoom’s basic plan, you can host virtual meetings for up to 100 participants. Please note meeting length is capped at 40 minutes.

  • Google Hangouts

    • Google offers advanced video-conference capabilities that you can access through your gmail account. If you do not have a gmail account, you can sign up for a free account.

  • Cisco Webex

    • Cisco offers a personal plan which enables you to meet with up to 100 participants. Meeting length is not capped with Webex.

Messaging Tools:

Internal instant messaging tools such as the ones outlined below have become commonplace in many organizations as a way to communicate & collaborate with colleagues. These tools are particularly important when working across multiple offices and with remote team members.

  • Slack

    • Slack’s free version gives you & your team access to their basic features including 10k searchable messages, 10 apps and integrations, 1-to-1 video calls, and two-factor authentication.

  • Microsoft Teams

    • Teams includes both unlimited users and messages. Additionally, you’ll have access to collaboration tools such as file sharing and Office documents.

  • Facebook Workplace

    • The Essential plan is designed for teams and includes up to 50 team/project groups, chat capabilities and video calls for up to 20.

Project Management:

Project management tools such as Trello, Airtable and Asana foster collaboration, delegation and accountability especially in a remote working environment. By utilizing these tools, team members can easily see what they are responsible for, track project progress and identify roadblocks.

  • Trello

    • Trello is a project management software that uses boards to organize upcoming priorities, daily tasks, roadblocks and completed tasks. Their free version includes up to 10 project boards and an unlimited number of users.

  • Airtable

    • Airtable combines the features of a spreadsheet and a database to enable you and your team to organize projects, customers, ideas, etc. With their free plan, you can have an unlimited number of databases & users with up to 1,200 records (rows) per database.

  • Asana

    • With Asana’s basic plan, you and your team can manage your tasks & personal to-dos collectively. This plan is limited to 15 users.

Note taking:

Simply put, using a note taking app will help you stay organized. You can save all of your notes in one place, sync them across devices and share them as needed.

  • Evernote

    • Evernote’s free plan includes the ability to organize & sync notes across all of your devices and share them with team members.

  • Microsoft OneNote

    • While Microsoft is not free, if you or your company have Microsoft Office, you can use OneNote to digitize and share your notes.

Password Management:

If you're still hiding your passwords on post-it notes in your desk drawer or under your keyboard, there’s no need. Protect yourself by using a password management tool such as the ones listed below.

  • LastPass

    • With their free version, you’ll have access to a secure password vault that syncs across all of your devices, saves and auto-fills your passwords.

  • Dashlane

    • Dashlane’s free plan enables you to safely store up to 50 passwords on a single device.

Please note that the above is not an exhaustive list of resources. There are 100s of available tools focused on increasing team collaboration, communication & effectiveness. However knowing that time is of the essence, these are a great starting point to ensuring your team remains connected & productive while working remote during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

**Prior to implementing any of the above tools, we recommend that you obtain internal approval.

Erin Brown