Remote work has been around for some time, and as more and more companies are embracing flexible work policies, it doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. Even before the recent pandemic, it wasn’t uncommon for people to work from home, but their number saw unprecedented growth once social distancing became a necessity. Of course, technology played a crucial role in making this shift as smooth as possible. Most office workers can carry out their daily activities with a laptop, reliable internet connection, and access to various communication tools that help them keep in touch with team members. Many also look to flexible office spaces that come equipped with everything professionals need for a productive workday. Still, there remain a couple of things that technology simply can’t provide, and this is where managers come in.
Employees rely on their supervisors for a sense of direction and support at work, but this becomes trickier to navigate with people that you rarely see or, in some cases, have not even met in person. Managing a remote team, then, comes with its unique challenges. Luckily, there are some tried and tested practices that can help you unify an otherwise geographically scattered crew.
The Challenges of a Remote Workforce
A lack of clear expectations and boundaries, feelings of isolation, burnout, and distractions at home are among the things that workers may experience when they switch from a physical office to a remote one. Some think that the employees who know what they’re supposed to do at the office will automatically know what’s expected of them at home, as well. In reality, the lines between work and home can easily become blurry, and your team members could end up doing overtime and reach burnout without even realizing it.
Similarly, face-to-face supervision will be missing, but perhaps the absence of casual interactions will be what affects your team more. Under the right guidance and with clear goals in mind, they could keep up an impressive performance even from home. However, without the regular chats by the water cooler or coffee breaks with coworkers, their morale might diminish. Not to mention how hard it is to spend hours on end in front of a screen without breaks that truly help them disconnect.
Confusion is another challenge that remote team management can pose. For example, we could be sending out carefully crafted emails, but sometimes they may not be as straightforward as we intend them to be, so valuable information could get lost along the way.
All of this goes to show that remote work management is a new provocation that requires new solutions, so let’s take a look at what managers can do to keep employees on track.
Five Key Practices for Managing Remote Teams
- Set clear expectations and productivity standards
Working hours, project deadlines, and meeting schedules are all things that supervisors need to address in a remote context. Perhaps you’ll introduce some changes to the virtual schedule or will want to frequently meet online – in either case, you will need to let the team know about your plan going forward. But let’s say that you wish to carry on with the regular 9 to 5 program or you intend to keep the same working pace at home. Even if you want everything to be business as usual, you shouldn’t assume that your employees will understand what’s expected of them without actually informing them. The circumstances are different, so it’s important to re-establish some ground rules to make sure that you’re all on the same page.
That being said, you’ll also want to consider how you convey these new expectations. Try to think about what it was like for you to transition from a physical office to a home office – did it affect your focus and productivity? If that’s the case, you’ll find it easier to resonate with your employees’ struggles, too. Learning from your own experience could help you set expectations that are more realistic and reasonable.
- Provide resources
From laptops and extra monitors to remote-friendly tools that enhance collaboration, investing in the right hardware and software is essential to your team working efficiently outside the office. For instance, tools like Zoom, Google Meet, Slack, and Microsoft Teams need no introduction. They allow you to conduct important business meetings as well as have laidback conversations, both of which are conducive to a seamless work experience.
Besides finding the most suitable communication channels, it helps to centralize all the resources your team needs in one location and make it easily accessible for everyone. Similarly, documenting work processes and operating procedures in clear, step-by-step guides can help avoid confusion within the team and make onboarding new hires easier.
- Overcommunicate and check in frequently
No one can really determine what the perfect amount of communication is, but everyone would agree: in a remote setting, it’s best to overdo it. Don’t shy away from repeating yourself and discussing topics you addressed in your emails during video calls, too. Let’s assume that not everyone reads the email, so double and triple-checking that your entire team understands their responsibilities and works toward the same outcomes will be worth your while.
More than this, regular group check-ins and opportunities for one-on-ones are paramount in a remote environment. Weekly calls with the team are a great way to clarify things but also to combat feelings of isolation. Ideally, these meetings remain professional but make room for light discussions and even jokes as a way to strengthen the team bond.
As for individual check-ins, they allow your employees to share struggles that they wouldn’t be comfortable discussing in front of a group. This way, you can make them feel heard in a more intimate setting and reassure them of your availability whenever they need support. Besides these, it’s an excellent opportunity to check in about their role and see if it continues to align with their professional goals and how you can help them succeed even more.
- Prioritize output over input
Gone are the days when a full day’s work was determined by the number of hours you spent sitting at your desk. In fact, expecting that your employees will be productive for 8 hours straight is no longer reasonable. Still, as long as you all commit to some clearly outlined weekly/monthly goals, it helps to give your employees the autonomy to capitalize on their most productive hours and develop a plan of execution to reach the desired results.
This should pay off in the long run – your team will appreciate your trust in their ability to finish tasks in due time without having to micromanage them. Plus, if you’re happy with the quality of their work and it also meets the deadlines you agreed on, there’s no real reason to intervene in the way they achieved that.
- Give feedback and shoutouts
Feedback, in general, plays a significant role in the workplace, but it becomes even more influential in a remote context. Constructive feedback lets your team members know exactly where they need to focus their energy in order to improve, while positive recognition may be just what they need to feel valued and appreciated, which, in turn, helps with employee retention.
One-on-one meetings are usually ideal for individual feedback, but giving someone kudos for a job well done during a group meeting can also go a long way. Similarly, don’t forget to celebrate team wins – it is proven to boost morale and is ultimately a testament to how well you all work together.
Ideally, managers do not only provide feedback but are also open to receiving some themselves. So, make sure to regularly check in with your team about their potential struggles. What is it that they find most difficult about virtual work and how can you help them build a good work-life balance? Here, you could even consider an anonymous option where they would feel more comfortable opening up about challenges.
Remote Work Management Takeaways
We’ve seen that skilled supervisors share some of the following characteristics: they empower their teams with the necessary resources, are good communicators and active listeners, and give credit where credit is due. They succeed in striking a balance between holding people accountable and being empathetic and understanding. Putting these techniques into practice, then, is the key to managing remote employees effectively.