9 Tips for Efficiently Managing Remote Project Teams in 2026

Remote teams are here to stay.

As a result, organizations continue to embrace work policies that facilitate employees to work remotely.

Given the growing importance of managing remote teams, the need for practical remote work tools is more pronounced than ever.

While many companies have transitioned to offering flexible working conditions, they’re still figuring out how to manage large teams virtually, impart an organizational culture, and motivate employees.

Below are some tips brands can use to manage remote teams in 2026.

1. Set clear expectations

Trust is one of the most critical prerequisites for managing a remote team. You must have faith that your employees will work diligently on their tasks. But to do so, they need a clear list of expectations from employers about how they want to communicate, how long they need to stay online, how often they need to attend meetings, etc.

For example, schedule a time during the day when the team can plan meetings, and everyone is available. Similarly, decide the communication channels employees should use in different situations. Build workflows that help employees be in the loop of their tasks and keep them on track even when they cannot communicate with their managers on an urgent basis.

With work-from-home teams, brands often take their personal time for granted, and you don’t want to follow suit. Make it a point that after-hours emails or messages are not expected to be answered and that there is a clear distinction between work and personal life. Setting these expectations helps employees set a work-from-home routine more effectively and manage their tasks.

2. Have remote management tools in place

Apart from communication and project management tools, you have special remote monitoring and management software that helps you manage service requests from remote teams. These tools essentially help IT service providers remotely monitor user endpoints, networks, and computers. An RMM can significantly help you manage your help desk calls and alert your IT support staff to potential issues so they can be addressed immediately before they disrupt workflow or schedules.

Remote management tools enable you to experiment with strategies to improve remote teams by leveraging emerging technologies and trends. Since employees are only connected virtually, you can have a secure tech database that quickly addresses help desk issues arising from remote teams.

If an RMM is too invasive, implement an employee time-tracking system that’s easy to adopt and train employees to use properly. Set expectations and timesheet policies in place.

3. Focus on outcomes over activity

There is a major shift in the way employees work. While working from the office, they’re clocked in, sit at their desks, and leave at an agreed time. It doesn’t matter how much the employee delivers but how much time they spend at the office. There is constant monitoring, and you know how much they can work.

They probably follow a more lenient schedule at home, where break times aren’t planned. So, focus on delivery rather than the time an employee spends sitting at a desk. As long as the employee can produce quality work at the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter how many hours they spent and what they did with their day.

Instead of trying to track every minute of your remote teams’ workflows, learn from past projects and focus on outcomes. This way, you can understand remote working issues and even make changes to address issues preventing staff from delivering their best work.

4. Have designated communication channels

A flow of communication in a remote setting becomes all the more important, considering that this string holds your remote team together. Effective communication can keep the smooth progress of workflows and even allow employees to get the feel of an office workspace.

For example, messaging tools like Slack allow teams to communicate instantly, create task-related groups, integrate Google Drive and other workflow apps, etc. Slack also integrates with popular project management apps, like Paymo.

There are video conferencing apps like Zoom that enable virtual meetings. You need to integrate these bare minimum communication tech stacks to facilitate remote team management.

Using these communication tools, you can host brainstorming sessions, schedule check-ins as needed, and call or check in with employees without micromanaging.

5. Practice virtual team-building

Many brands complain that there are no ways for employees to connect remotely outside of work. There are no breaks or lunchtimes when they can have informal discussions. Company values aren’t shared, and there’s no way to boost employee morale due to a lack of human interaction.

Virtual team-building sessions address these challenges. Various communication tools help you bridge gaps between team members and mitigate the impact of reduced in-person meetings. You can use Zoom to organize informal meetings and gatherings to support virtual team building. These sessions can be informal, where you can organize games, contests, and virtual escape rooms for employees to relax and enjoy with their fellow team members.

Virtual team building is essential if you want remote teams to stay productive and build brand loyalty. It allows you to infuse an organizational culture amongst employees and facilitate light-hearted conversations across teams.

6. Prioritize One-on-Ones

Employees are less proactive when working from home than they are in the office. They wouldn’t reach out to their supervisors in case of small queries, nor would they bother their colleagues for small help if needed. Communication isn’t always real-time, and there aren’t ways to know if your employees are having a bad day.

One-on-ones are necessary to gather valuable insights from employees about their experiences with other team members, communication, work challenges, and more. Have an agenda and listen to your team members. The one-on-ones are also great for gathering feedback. Ask employees about how you can improve as a company. You can also provide a brief performance review and communicate essential company policies.

Encourage employees to turn on their cameras during these meetings, as video helps build on verbal communication. It can eliminate confusion and instill trust among employees.

7. Roll out policies and processes

Employees are still adjusting to the concept of balancing a hybrid work model or an entirely work-from-home model. Some employees get onboarded remotely without knowing how to navigate their new workplace virtually.

All confusion is cleared when you have standard operating procedures and established processes for your employees. Update these policies and guidelines for remote work to align with your goals and strategies, and ensure team members have access to the updated information and resources.

8. Track performance and progress

Ensuring that remote employees meet their work goals can prove to be challenging. You don’t want to micromanage each activity, nor do you want the employees to take the flexibility for granted. Creating a good balance between the two influences your employee productivity and well-being.

The best approach is to set clear expectations for each employee without micromanaging. Some of the ways you can do that are:

• Using time-tracking software. Such software can help you assess how much work each employee completes throughout the day and where they spend their time.
• An open communication system. We’ve already discussed the importance of communication tools in remote work. Use them to gather honest employee feedback and assess how well they work remotely.
• Regular reviews. Don’t keep the review period too long. If employees cannot perform well in a remote setting, you can identify this in advance through your monthly or bi-monthly review process.

9. Organize Remote Employee Training and Provide Resources

After a strict daily routine of commuting to the office and working to the best of their ability, remote work may not come naturally to everyone. It can be hard to adjust to collaborating virtually and creating healthy boundaries. It is essential to create training opportunities and provide learning resources.

First, train your employees on best practices for remote learning before setting high expectations for delivery. Teach them how to manage time, avoid distractions, and follow schedules. In the future, these will also be useful for conducting job-related training virtually.

Training also requires providing sufficient resources to your employees. When employees board in an on-site setting, you provide them with learning materials, technological resources, and orientations. You don’t expect them to bring anything from their homes. And that shouldn’t change in a remote work setting. It’s unfair to expect employees to pay utility bills out of pocket or purchase new resources for their remote offices.

Provide the required allowances for work-from-home furniture, Internet access, and technological resources. This increases your company’s goodwill and makes it more appealing to employees seeking remote opportunities.

Wrapping Up

Remote team management is something brands must master if they want to operate in a post-pandemic world. Employee expectations are changing, and flexible workflows are their top priority when joining a new workplace. To appeal to the next generation of the workforce, the tips above can help you manage remote teams and ensure they perform at their best.