How to competently manage remote teams

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Emotional literacy is essential for a leader to benefit from telecommuting.

Don't divide employees into two categories

The most difficult thing is, perhaps, when part of the team works remotely, and part - in the office. In such a situation, managers need to be especially careful so as not to deprive someone of attention and not make remote employees feel like second class.

For example, if you are hosting a meeting and at least one remote employee must be present, ask absolutely everyone to connect remotely so that everyone has an equal opportunity.

In addition, telecommuters often have a fear that their careers will not be promoted. According to the survey, executives are 25% less likely to discuss career prospects with them than with their colleagues in the office. Do not forget about this and discuss with remote employees on a quarterly basis about their progress, professional goals and development prospects.

Try to establish trust, not control every step

Micromanagement is a problem for managers who want to control all processes in the company. But it does not increase the productivity of employees, it only makes them stress. Teamwork must be based on trust. If you don’t trust the people you work with, then the problem is not with remote employees.

Many managers mistakenly consider delegation of responsibilities to be trust. Although simply giving a task to a subordinate is not the same as entrusting him with a task that he will successfully cope with on his own.

To build trust between you and your employees, try to understand them first, understand the context of their work.

Don't get hung up on what the team members are doing at any given moment. Instead, ask yourself how they will feel about your goals. Are they afraid of difficulties? Get inspired? Confused? And then think about how you yourself influenced the occurrence of such a reaction.

Trust usually starts with personal contact, and with remote teams it is always more difficult. So make sure to take the time to get to know your employees better. Randy Rayess, founder of the VenturePact marketplace, said that once a week he interacts with remote employees not only on work topics, but also on personal ones. Discussing hobbies and family stories helped them build trust and strengthen relationships.

Learn to listen and ask more questions

In a normal office setting, it is easier to notice if an employee is dissatisfied with something and is considering quitting. Naturally, with remote workers, things are more complicated. Without personal communication, you can miss alarming signals and not understand that a person feels disconnected from the common cause or disappointed.

Listening and asking questions will help you get the information you would get in person in the case of office workers. Therefore, during regular meetings, do not limit yourself to short questions about recent projects. Ask employees what is especially important for them now, what difficulties they face. Don't expect them to bring up these topics, ask yourself. This will help you understand their motivations better and make them feel appreciated.

Don't avoid difficult conversations

Expressing criticism and preventing conflict is always difficult, but it is especially difficult to do it remotely. However, do not shy away from such conversations. If you are always afraid of hurting someone's feelings or provoking someone's dissatisfaction, an artificial sense of calm will arise in the team, which can ultimately lead to serious problems.

To avoid this, take precautions. For example, if you've assembled a new team or moved into a new phase of a project, host a meeting dedicated entirely to conflict resolution. Ask each participant how they behave in conflict situations. Imagine the issues on which disagreements might arise. Then, during the work on the project, there will be no unpleasant surprises.