How can I manage a remote team and how to keep them connected and productive?

With the technology today, you can reach out to anyone, anywhere. You can reach them through voice calls or better yet, video calls. But first, organise, you have to set the time and place to assemble your team to connect or contact them at once. This will become your conference meeting, everyone will be interactive and engage them to participate. Do this conference meeting weekly. You are doing this because it will encourage them to be productive, at the same time, you establish constant and formal communication to them.

You should be good in your respective business knowledge, communication skills, telephonic skills and E-mail corresponence, to manage a remote team effectively. 

- by having regular status or work updates

- having team meetings through conference call in a reguar scheduled intervals.

Again depends upon the nature of business as well.

My 2 cents. Thanks.

your question is leading to several dozen other questions like, what type of managing you are looking to? like how they doing progress in their work or you like to see their work progress from a remote place? what kind of remote place you are mentioning? is it in a forest or over a mountain or in desert or some place where no network connections are available? 

i think whoever puts a question here need to be very specific.

now lets think that you are simply looking for tools to keep communicate and update with your team mates. if it is the case, simply go for WhatsApp! i'm using it since it came in market.

or if it is in a office or office campus where network or intranet is available, use Skype for best result.

 

Thanks for invitation....I endorse answers given by colleagues &Experts

- Teams need to stay connected.

- Managers need to be proactive about sharing      information.

- Communication channels need to be kept open and    available.

- Managers need to take the initiative to keep in contact  with their remote teams.

- Focus shifts to outcomes rather than the number of  hours worked.

- Candidates need to be evaluated specifically for the  remote role.

- Informal virtual meet-ups are essential to building  relationships.

Easy.  Talk to them every day. 

In the medium term, create relationships between the remote team and relevant staff at the base.  Encourage frequent communication.

Communication is the key... interact with them short but periodically, understanding progress and making them see the goal is being reached. 

Since you are talking about productive management of remote team , Effective & Efficient Communication ( both verbal & electronic communication ) is of paramount requirement.

Be truthful while communicating with your team members. Otherwise you may not get full cooperation & accurate information.

While doing verbal ( & distant ) communication be aware of Pitch & Tone of your voice ( Para lingual communication ) to get your message across and to get the proper response from the team members.    

To ensure their productivity do not give them fixed salary contracts, try to connect their salaries with their productivity

Give them percentage of the profit to motivate them

Assign a target for them in a specific time with a specific price

Follow up them with a communication software

Use avanced daily, weekly or monthly reports

Thanks for the invitation, I  agree with all answers

Build a medium of communication. If you need team to be active, consider everyone equally in your conmunication. Make them oppurtunities to keep team active. Keep giving suggestions and equally appreciate team work. Assess weekly the progress to collect the work log. Balance the team by fair distribution of tasks. Your team will be active, advanced and productive.