Remote working is no longer a trend now, but a necessity for businesses all over the world. Managers who relied heavily upon physical interaction to keep track of employee productivity and project management now have to remotely lead their teams.
To lead successfully, we have rounded up some of the best tips to help you.
We cannot emphasize enough the importance of communicating effectively. In a remote work structure, the efficiency and punctuality with which your remote team has completed the tasks depend entirely on how well and how often you communicated with them.
If you merely pass out instructions and then disappear until the deadline, it creates isolation and disconnection among the virtual team members. Managers must continuously interact virtually with their teams to encourage them, boost their productivity, monitor them, and smooth confusions and concerns that surface when working remotely.
Technology has provided us with every facility possible, and so remote working now seems like a piece of cake. In truth, communication has never been easier. With tools like zoom, skype, video calling, cloud applications, and much more, you can easily email, text message individually, hold group meetings, and manage projects efficiently. Microsoft teams and Slack have also made group communication and collaboration very convenient and accessible.
Some examples of project management tools include, Asana, Trello, Monday and Scoro. These management tools combine different features such as team collaboration, reporting, billing and contact management integrations that will come in handy when executing a following-up with a project.
The success of a remote team depends large on delegating correctly. If you underutilize or over-utilize your team members' potentials, you will damage their productivity, and business will suffer.
It is essential to delegate wisely and correctly, so you must ensure you select the right individual for each task. You must know each team member's strengths and weaknesses and assign those tasks in which they will excel.
If you have to delegate at short notice and quite unexpectedly, you must take the time to explain to the employee why you are giving them this responsibility, the expectations and the growth possibility for them in the task.
Provide detailed and accurate instructions so that there remains no ambiguity but also refrain from micromanaging. You want to direct your team members on the right path but not restrict their creativity and skills.
If you have not had a remote team previously but have had to rearrange due to the global changes, the chances are high that many team members might not have the right tools. As a manager, you must ensure your team member has the necessary tools such as laptops, internet connectivity, right software, etc.
Despite being a manager, you must realize that you do not have the right to dictate your team members' activity. It would help if you tried not to control each aspect of your team's work. You must also remember that your remote workforce spreads across different locations, and it is not wise to try and micromanage their activity.
Instead, please focus on the team's outcome for measuring purposes, not on their hours worked and their practices.
Whatever tool you use for collaboration, it is necessary to check-in with your team daily and one-on-one. You need to see your team daily just as much as they need to see you. It is a simple way to establish your agenda and provide your team members with the resources and feedback they need for enhanced performance.
The work culture has undergone a rapid change in the past months. From boardroom conferences to coffee meetings, the focus is now leading a team through technological tools. Despite the challenges, a simple and organized strategy of leading your remote team will ensure success.