Tips for Successfully Managing A Remote Team

Not too long ago, working from home was a perk that only the trendiest of companies offered their employees (yes, I’m looking at you, Silicon Valley.) Flexible schedules, foosball tables, napping pods, and nitro-cold-brew coffee bars at the workplace were all the rage.

After all, something as simple as collaborative work could become a challenge when managing virtual teams. So, to help you get over this new hurdle, here are some tips for working remotely:

When managing virtual teams, it is imperative to make sure that everyone in the group knows how their work affects the rest of the team. Just because they are alone at home, doesn’t mean that they should work in silos.

The dynamic should be like that of a hot potato game, where people must exercise restraint by limiting themselves to just the very high-level key points. This way, everyone is aware of what everyone else is doing, allowing them to reach out directly to a specific team member should they have a question about a particular challenge.

Managing employees who work from home also requires scheduled, recurring one-on-one meetings to ensure that everyone on your team is doing well, to go over performance, to manage expectations, and to assist should any team member have a specific challenge. This also demonstrates that as a manager, you are engaged and concerned with your team’s well-being. It is essential to see these as an opportunity to listen to your team and allow for feedback to be able to offer resources if your team members are in need. These touchpoints should not turn you into a micromanager. Focus on building rapport and connecting on a more personal level to keep the employee motivated and engaged with the company’s mission. It is imperative to make sure everyone feels appreciated and valued, even more than usual. After all, the absence of face-to-face interaction may affect some remote employees differently than others. While some people report that working remotely allows for more freedom and empowerment, others feel that the idiom “out of sight, out of mind” comes into play, that their contributions to the business are not as valuable as they once were when working on-premise, or that they are not as valued as other colleagues who do not work remotely.

A study from Harvard Business Review states that “a lack of close contact with people inhibits the formation of trust, connection, and mutual purpose—three ingredients of a healthy social system,” (Maxfield et al., 2018.) And these challenges go beyond affecting your team’s relationships and morale. If not managed properly, employees working from home could affect your business’s bottom line by impacting productivity, results, costs, deadlines, and employee retention.

Although it may seem like this topic was already covered above, when making a list of tips for working remotely, this one cannot be stressed enough. Constant communication is imperative when managing virtual teams. A virtual open-door policy should also be established; and as a manager, you should make yourself available to the team during business hours.

Through digital communication platforms, it is effortless to keep your team connected. From Microsoft Teams, which works seamlessly within Microsoft’s Office Suite, to Google’s G-Suite Essentials that includes Meet Video and voice conferencing, there is a wide range of options to promote a collaborative environment. Other tools such as Zoom and Skype will also help your small business get some needed face-to-face communication at little cost. There are other more business-specific software options, such as Monday.com, Basecamp, Wrike, or Zoho Projects, that also incorporate project management tools that can be tailored to your team’s needs. These have more robust platforms to integrate your team’s communication with the daily workflow and could help your company develop efficiencies such as automating processes and templatizing tasks.

When it comes to managing virtual teams, it is essential to be clear and realistic about expectations. When you are explicit with your intentions, you provide your team with attainable goals making for happier employees who can live up to those expectations. By talking to your team, you can work together to establish realistic expectations on both parts. When managing employees who work from home, it is crucial to set the team up for success by providing them with a purpose. Explain the “why” when you assign work; this way, you make sure they understand what is expected as a result of each task.

Attempting to micromanage your remote employees will only lead to resentment, unhealthy anxiety (on both parts), and increased staff turnover (Paycor, 2020.)

Trust is key when managing virtual teams. There is no way to know exactly where they are or what they are doing at any given moment, and that is ok. Remember Tip for Working Remotely number five? Focus on outcomes. Trust your team to do what needs to be done to deliver quality work on time every time. Keep in mind that managing a team who works from home is in no way a babysitting job. Give them the flexibility to accommodate their hours around a schedule that works best for everybody. Let your employees work freely in whatever way inspires them the most and makes them more productive. Of course, there may be situations where flexible schedules will not work for your organization. In certain industries or corporations, it may be imperative that the entire team maintains the same working hours in order to collaborate with team members in other locations. In these cases, ensuring that your team understands your expectations at the outset will minimize issues going forward. Remember, you hired the best team members for the job based on their expertise and professionalism. Now let them do their thing and trust the process.

According to research done by McKinsey, “80% of people questioned report that they enjoy working from home. 41% say that they are more productive than they had been before and 28% say that they are as productive” (Boland et al., 2020). One of the main fears that business leaders had with remote work was that they felt that it would take a toll on teamwork and collaboration to have everyone in separate locations. But now that many businesses have been obligated to adopt technologies for videoconferencing and other forms of digital collaboration (such as Microsoft Teams and Slack), most are surprised by how quickly and effectively these were adopted by their teams. And for many, the results have been better than imagined. As it is, Ernst & Young believes that the pandemic has made obsolete the older, traditional model of physical workspaces; where global, virtual workspaces will be the new normal. In many cases, the workforce has proven that working remotely can be done, and asking someone to make a long commute, to sit at a cubicle for eight hours a day, to accomplish the same work that they could do more comfortably from home, could cause a loss of talent from companies that do not adapt to this new way of life (Verbeemen & D’Amico, 2020).

It is entirely understandable if you feel that managing employees who work from home can be scary, especially if you have never had to manage virtual teams. A key to small business success is maintaining the flexibility that comes with little infrastructure. Being nimble is going to help you adapt quickly to new trends or changing times. With many people being forced to work from home for the first time, many are quickly becoming accustomed to this new normal. Allowing your team members the flexibility to work remotely, even after it is no longer a necessity, will be essential when it comes to talent retention. Once you master these tips for working remotely, you will notice that your talent pool will become limitless, allowing you to recruit the best talent from all around the world to help you take your business to the next level.