As workplaces around the world close due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are experimenting with remote working for the first time. Though employees have to learn what it means to work remotely, managers too are faced with the task of keeping their teams on track and motivated—from a distance.
This can be challenging for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that it’s often difficult to manage yourself when working from home, let alone manage other people (especially when you haven’t done it before).
Drawing on the experiences and learnings of telecommuting teams, here are five things you can do to successfully manage your teams remotely:
Related article: Latest news and updates on COVID-19
Don’t just say it; do it for real. As a manager, you have to be able to trust your team, irrespective of whether you work with them in person, or remotely. This trust becomes even more important when working distantly and should be one of the top things a manager prioritises.
This means:
Communication is key for all teams, but one of the biggest differences between managing an in-person and a remote team is how you communicate. Writing—rather than speaking—needs to become the primary form of communication when working remotely. Making this shift can be tough, since your instinct may be to communicate verbally, rather than writing something out.
Successful remote managers understand the need to switch and are diligent about writing clearly and precisely to communicate with their teams on a daily basis. Using instant messaging platforms, such as Slack, can be helpful to stay in touch.
Lead with empathy and assume positive intent in your interactions.
While doing this, make sure to explicitly let your team know what you’re thinking or about questions you may have. To prevent the constant stream of messages from getting overwhelming or all-consuming, it helps to put in a system for how communications are handled. For example, specify which messages—and what kind of messages—go into which channel of communication (instant message, email, or call), along with agreeing on an appropriate time-frame for responses.
Lastly, lead with empathy and assume positive intent in your interactions. Instant messaging opens up room for miscommunication, so it’s important not to assume the worst, overreact, or take the tone of a particular conversation personally.
No communication is also a form of communication—and an important one when working remotely. With both time and attention being at a premium, you don’t want to constantly have people looking at their messages.
Create blocks of uninterrupted time for everyone, a few times a week.
While this may appear to directly contradict the point on over-communication, it doesn’t have to. Being available on instant messenger all the time is not an indicator of whether a person is working or not, and as a manager, it’s important you don’t see it this way.
Make sure people don’t feel compelled to respond instantaneously, trust your team, and allow them to put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ message to get focussed work done, since it’s likely you will want to do the same.
Try to create blocks of uninterrupted time for everyone, a few times a week. Keep yourself accountable by asking your team when was the last time they had an uninterrupted block of time to work.
Related article: The social sector response to COVID-19
When working from a co-located office, it’s easy to chat with team members, catch-up with them over lunch, or notice when someone is feeling ‘down’ and talk about it. You rely upon a number of audio-visual cues such as body language and tone of voice, and in the absence of these it can be hard to find spontaneous moments of connection.
As a result, feeling disconnected from the people you work with ends up being one of the biggest challenges of working remotely. It goes without saying that you will not be as connected to your team as you would be in person.
Building and maintaining this sense of social connection both within team members and between you and your teams, is one of the hardest parts of managing remotely, and therefore you need to be more intentional and proactive about it.
There are a number of ways to do this, some of which include:
Make it clear to your team members that your top priority is their well-being, even if it comes at the cost of productivity. These are uncertain and stressful times, and it is important to exercise empathy both towards yourself and your team.
Be mindful that people may have additional caring responsibilities, they may be experiencing heightened anxiety, they may feel worried, or demotivated—all of which may prevent them from performing at their best.
Use regular one-to-one check-ins as an opportunity to talk about any concerns your team may have. We don’t know how long we’re going to have to work remotely and creating a supportive environment for your team, will allow them to continue to perform and contribute in a sustained manner.
Tanaya Jagtiani contributed to this article, which draws on insights from Know Your Team’s ‘A Guide to Managing Remote Teams’, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review.
—