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Remote work, while often desired, comes with its own set of struggles. Trying to work remotely while balancing work and your family, worrying about financial stresses, and taking care of your mental health is a feat that everyone should be proud of and acknowledge.
Now, add the responsibility of managing a team full of individuals all with unique challenges and differing circumstances. Managing a remote team is difficult and requires a higher level of commitment and consideration. The following tips will help you manage and motivate your remote team while enhancing your leadership abilities.
Changes and reassurance
Openly talk with your team about your expectations. That could be related to work tasks, priorities, home situations, or anything else. As a leader, you are setting the tone for your team's remote work environment. Let them know you are working for the betterment of the company, your team dynamic, and them individually. Let your team know you are here for them, ready to help and willing to listen.
Develop a schedule
Within a normal workday an employee might be required to clock in at 8 a.m. and clock out at 5 p.m. with an allotted lunch, but working from home comes with completely different challenges. An employee might be sharing a workspace with a spouse, roommate, or child.
You can help by setting core work hours (maybe 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.) and then allowing for flexible work hours throughout the latter half of the day. Maybe you have a set time for a daily check-in or require people to be available and check email during a certain time block. Develop a schedule that works best for your team. Whatever your decided schedule, definitely enforce a “hard stop”, allowing your employees to relax and recuperate away from work responsibilities. Working remotely makes it difficult to separate work from home life and can cause feelings of resentment towards and burnout from their job.
Communicate often
Phone or virtual meetings are imperative, emails are important, priority lists are necessary, and taking notes on everything is essential to ensure your team is on the same page. Once a plan is decided, make sure your team has access to a clear priority list.
Trust and support
By positively reinforcing good work ethic and making it abundantly clear you trust your team, you are strengthening their confidence in themselves and their team and fostering a productive and trusting work environment. Your managerial support can be shown through having an open channel of communication, providing necessary work equipment and software, and being understanding of each team member’s current, unique situation.
Empathy with limited context
Speaking of understanding, recognize that the context behind communication is not as apparent while working remotely. In an office setting, you would be able to see your fellow employees throughout the day and hear updates on their lives and workdays. You won’t have the face-to-face interactions that allow visual cues and insight. So, be empathetic and don’t take all communication at face value or read into any meaning behind blunt emails. And be mindful of how you as a leader come across and the tone you set.
Better employees = Better business
Motivate your team by taking an interest in their professional development. Expand your employees’ skillsets by offering or encouraging them to take online classes or participate in virtual training. This is an added bonus if you are trying to keep employees but need different proficiencies and skill sets for new company initiatives. Instead of letting go of current employees and finding new candidates, you can help develop your current employees by diversifying their professional portfolios and keeping them employed. Classes don’t have to be all about professionalism; encourage mental mindfulness lessons, exercise or meditation classes, or a course that fosters creativity.
You and your team are not only working remotely–you are working from home while balancing home life. Managing with this in mind will help you become a better leader and strengthen your team. BBB encourages you to help build trust by managing and motivating with open communication, trust, and empathy.
BBB of Western Virginia contributed to this article.