Being a remote business takes away one very important method of building relationships: being face to face. We’ve talked at length about different tools to bring staff and clients together, but those are just tools. The real key to successfully growing a remote business is transparency.
How We View Transparency
While a great value for any business, Transparency needs to be a core philosophy in any remote company. With staff scattered around without a central location, it’s important that everyone be on the same page and have a good understanding about how the business is being run. Celebrating the big wins is great, but staff need to know about the pitfalls and missed opportunities as well. You never know who’s going to have the right solution next time.
Transparency is an even bigger deal for clients! After all: they’re trusting a major facet of their business to us and we need to show that we’re responsible and accountable. Being transparent with them builds a crucial trust that’s necessary for any working relationship, not just one that happens in face to face meetings.
How We’re Transparent with Clients
One of the ways we’re transparent with clients involves our task management system. We use Asana to keep track of all of the work we’re doing for each client, and each client has access to their own section of Asana. That means that at any given time they can see what work we’ve completed, what’s outstanding, and what’s on the horizon. This asynchronous communication is key to building trust with clients that we don’t get to see every day face to face!
How We’re Transparent with Staff
Keeping staff on the same page is key to running a business, but it can be trickier with a remote company. Our transparency and the way we communicate during meetings is key to keeping everyone motivated and engaged.
We have two weekly meetings. Our weekly planning meeting on Monday involves sharing our major tasks for the week with each other, as well as a rundown of the status of the work we’re doing for each client. This helps us be more engaged with each other and we can bond when we can help each other out when we get underwater.
