A common misconception about management and leadership of a remote workforce is that it differs greatly from that of a more traditional office-based team. However, you might be surprised to learn that this is not the case. With acquiring a set of tools to help ease your communication, managing your workers remotely might prove easier. At RemoteMore, we’ve often seen that it’s a good idea to start with your current working style and adjust accordingly. To help you with this crucial task, we have prepared a two-part post to provide you with useful tips. We will discuss the importance of communication as well as some misconceptions we have often heard in regards to remote teams. Also, we will share our personal experience and let you know what tools make our team function better! We hope you enjoy the topic and also share with us your thoughts and experiences.
Location, location, location
A very common question that people ask remote team managers:
“How are you sure that your workers are in fact doing their job when you cannot see what they are doing?”
An important point to make here is that most people have heard of others who go to their office job and when asked in the end if they have had a productive day, they would often respond that they did not get a lot done.
We have previously written about studies that show that remote workers are more engaged in their job and they tend to be more productive. An important step in building your team remotely is to learn to see results as the sole indication of your team’s productivity, rather than the amount of hours worked. In a fireside chat together with Bryan Helmig, he mentioned that this is the case for companies whose work is entirely online. This leaves space for more flexibility in how remote team member organizes their tasks, as long as they finish their tasks before the provided deadline.
Communication can make or break you
On that note, finding ways to communicate with your team is important in any work situation. It is even more crucial when building a team of remote workers. At RemoteMore we often state that:
- You can often feel like you are overcommunicating. More than likely, this means you are communicating just the right amount.
- On the more practical side, as a manager, you should ensure that you integrate your team fully into the communication and information flows in the company. That means encouraging a constant discussion between you and them (one-to-one communication) and among themselves (team communication).
- Borrowing from the more traditional office communication among team members, it is a good idea to create rituals for your employees.
What we have found works in RemoteMore is scheduling a morning call for everyone to discuss the plan for the day. In addition, once a week we make sure we discuss what has been working great during the week and what can be improved.
A bi-weekly one-on-one video call with all of your employees where you discuss performance is also a valuable management tool to ensure expectations are met.
Lastly, organising retreats where your employees can meet each other once or twice a year will provide more sense of community in the team. In addition, contrary to what many believe, it is a great idea to make sure your team is working in a rather traditional hour frame (such as 9am to 5pm). Just remember to switch off from work when the workday is over.
Building a great (remote) team starts with the hiring process
When considering whether or not someone meets your requirements for being a part of your team, keep several key points in mind:
- Not everyone is able to work remotely.
- Make sure you look for individuals who have strong communication skills, can work independently and possess a great deal of emotional stability.
