Trends reveal the shift to virtual work arrangements will continue as the rate of remote workers in the U.S. increases.
Roughly a quarter of Americans will work remotely by 2025, according to the Future Workforce Pulse Report, with 68% of hiring managers stating remote work is getting easier. Instant Teams, a talent marketplace, was ahead of the curve in providing companies with virtual talent by utilizing those who are always on the move: military spouses.
“We always want to have the ability to offer employment to military spouses all over the globe, and for them to be successful and contribute to their career and family — no matter where they are located,” Briana Pruitt, Instant Teams’ vice president of people operations, said.
Mostly partnering with insurance or medical types of companies to provide military spouse talent for open positions, Instant Teams has been managing its own remote cadre of employees since 2016. Despite not being in the same office — or even time zone or continent — there are methods and tools for the military-connected entrepreneur to effectively oversee geographically dispersed teams, Pruitt said.
“Have major forms of communication, then set up your expectations from there,” said Pruitt, who is married to a submarine ordnance officer. “Set up parameters and expectations around the communication tools you use with employees.”
The best place to start? Slack, the cloud-based team communication platform that took off in popularity amidst Covid lockdowns. The tool isn’t just instant messaging; it is also offers a customizable experience along with extras, like AI assistance for each workplace. Instant Teams, for example, uses Slack for immediate chatting between teammates, divided into different channels and groups and searchable by keyword for later recall.
North Carolina-based Instant Teams also uses common tools like Zoom, email, phone calls, Google Suite and ClickUp for project management. Between this wide array, Pruitt said that there is no management problem that Instant Teams cannot handle. The technology tools are out there — military-connected entrepreneurs just need to discover and master them, then create clear expectations surrounding its use.
RELATED: Father-son who both served in Air Force now run small business together
“We can keep track of things and hold people accountable that way,” Pruitt said. “We know Slack is for instant communication so if I have a quick question I need to ask, I can just Slack someone real quick, and the expectation is that they’ll acknowledge or respond in a certain amount of time.”
Another important tip: having work hours that overlap the CONUS time zones. That way, employees can be flexibly spread across the map but still have some working hours in common.
“I think having those core working hours is great, because you know your teammates or whomever you’re partnering with will be on the same page at the same time,” Pruitt said.
Even so, “having a really strict, stringent schedule is a pitfall. It might be off-hours when the employee is able to complete their work, so give them that flexibility to be able to do their job on not such a strict schedule.”
The most successful military-connected entrepreneurs should also take different personality types amongst their team into account. Any type can be successful on a remote team, Pruitt said, but the best managers will study their employees. What makes them tick? When do they feel trapped on a project? What are their passions?
“You tend to have to adapt to all of those answers, but having clear communication and expectations, asking for participation — that will really help in managing people remotely,” she said.
Last year, Instant Teams put these recommendations into practice as they implemented a new performance evaluation practice. Pruitt watched her leadership team completely buy in and then seek out feedback from everyone. That commitment from the top-down was key, she said, and a good demonstration of how teams can be effectively managed across locations.
“I think we show that anyone can do this successfully,” she said.
Visit the Instant Teams website for more information working with military spouse talent.
