10 Tips for Managing Remote Teams
Being the manager for a remote team might seem like a daunting task, especially if you are accustomed to managing employees in person at a physical location. But, managing from afar does not have to be complex. If anything, it can be more simplified than usual.
In today’s world, managing remotely has become more popular and could continue to increase as time goes on. Once businesses see the cost savings they achieve with workers at home, there could be more remote management in the coming future. Or, there could be another crisis. Either way, it is best to become familiar with this effort as soon as you can, and here’s how to do it:
- Start Singing – Ever watch the movie Frozen? The most popular song of that movie, sung by little kids everywhere, is “Let it Go.” Managing remotely requires that you view results differently, and that will take some letting go. You are not going to have the kind of face time you are used to having. You are not going to have the attendance you are used to with actual bodies in seats. You are not going to be able to walk around and supervise work. It will be different. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not achievable. It will require you to let go of how things used to be. If you can get over this hump, the rest of the steps will be a lot easier.
- Different Results – The biggest success factor of remote management is to understand that physical management often looks for different results. Those results alter with remote work. It will be results, themselves, you need to focus on the most. Are your employees completing work? Do you have production? Do you have a product? Physical managers can be known to measure results by how much they see an employee working. They look for butts in seats. They estimate how much they engage with employees when they walk around and interact with them. But, using metrics like these can be deceiving. Workers are typically distracted at work. They spend a considerable amount of time away from desks and managers often do not even realize it. Even if employees are at their desks, they are often engaging in non-work-related conversation while appearing to work. Instead, measure the results you get (this could be for physical location and remote work). If work is getting done, go with that, even if that means they are doing it in their pajamas at home.
- Tool Time – As a manager, it is your job to make sure your people have the tools they need to complete their remote work, as well as making sure you have what is required. Do they have the capacity to get into needed systems? Do they have the right kind of software? Do they even have a computer? That last one might sound silly, but your people need the full capability to do their job and they might not have it. They also might not know what to ask for, so you cannot fully rely on them to make sure they have the tools they need. That’s your job.
- Visual Face Time – You might not be getting face time with your employees, but that doesn’t mean you can’t Facetime with them. There are countless virtual meeting solutions out there that can be found with a simple Google search. Zoom is a popular one among many organizations, especially for large scale meetings. For smaller groups, Microsoft Teams might be a better option. Get that face time in with your people at least once per week, digitally. This reduces the remote aspect of remote working and brings some humanization into the mix. Don’t forget the small talk. Don’t make it all about work. Casual discussions increase trust and respect among managers and employees, as well as among employees themselves (that’s why they do it so much in the workplace, other than to reduce monotony).
- Updates – Speaking of getting some face time with your people, keep them up to date with whatever the latest happening is within the company and with projects you are assigning. Many of your people have probably never worked remotely before and, just like you, will benefit by having routine updates about what is expected and what is going on in the company. This goes for what your expectations are for projects. For company news, you could get away with weekly updates, but no less than that. For project-related updates, it might be best to check in each day or at least every other day. This can be done on the phone or in chat and does not always have to be a virtual meeting.
- Outside Information – If your team is working remotely due to a crisis in the world, your people are going to be concerned about the latest news. Make sure they have it, so they can later focus on work. Set up alerts for them and let them know where they can get more information or ensure someone else has already done this for you. Even better, ensure they are receiving information related to how the company is responding to what is happening in the world. There should be a continuous line of open communication on this issue, sent by you or human resources (depending on how big the organization is) as often as possible and this can be easily accomplished with a simple email newsletter.
- Sharing is Caring – Ensure that documents and files produced by your employees have a central location that other employees can access and edit, if need be. If more than one person needs to review, comment, or concur with the product, passing it around on email is not going to fly. That was the last decade. As noted earlier, there are plenty of meeting solutions and they often include file sharing capabilities. Make it easier for your team to coordinate with you and each other.
- IT Support – This is an important one. Ensure your staff can deal with technical issues they cannot fix themselves or cannot be resolved by you. They need access to IT support. Your IT department hopefully already provided a means for them to be contacted, but if they didn’t, you need to make sure your people have that tool in their kit. If your staff is the IT department, get your information out there so workers can be supported.
- Consider Geographical Distance – Some remote managers might need to consider geography. In the case of a multi-national organization, employees could be in different parts of the world. If that is the case, you should already be aware that time zones are something to manage when expecting deliverables or making contact. In times like a pandemic, some workers might have traveled to other locations to be with family members and such. Make sure you know where everyone is and work accordingly for that zone.
- Schedule Individual Time – Many recommendations involve team communications, but make sure you schedule time with your people, one-on-one. You need to make sure each person is doing okay in this environment. Make an opportunity to talk about it with them and make it just you and that one person. If you have a large team, delegate this to your supervisors and then meet with them, one-on-one. Video chat is the best bet for this, to enhance communication as much as possible. Additionally, evaluations do not cease. You will still need to provide evaluations to your employees and scheduled, individual time is how you should do it, just like in the real world.
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