When we look back, sometime in the near future, we will see that how businesses operate and manage employees fundamentally changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time, as a result of the stay-at-home orders issued across the country, many workers began regularly working remotely for the first time in their careers. Business owners and CEOs who have been resistant to remote staff have been forced to reconsider the efficiency of allowing a remote workforce, and the need for large expansive office space has become increasingly moot. The costly overhead of providing an office space that must be powered, connected to the web and regularly cleaned seems archaic in today’s interconnected world. Yet, the same employee challenges that were in place before this shift have remained, that being effective day-to-day management of staff.
Specifically, managers who are not accustomed to managing remote staff are being challenged to effectively manage productivity and to keep morale high in an unfamiliar work environment. If this has been your experience as a manager lately, you are not alone!
One of the unique challenges of remote management is creating and maintaining a team atmosphere that works to counteract the feelings of isolation that are inevitably going to arise amongst workers who are new to working remotely.
To help you guide your way through this new world, here are a few tips to help effectively manage remote employees:
Set clear expectations and regularly review the work of your staff
This seems obvious, but clear expectations are often overlooked and neglected for in-office staff. In remote environments manager/employee interactions have to be enacted with intent, as there are less options for impromptu meetings that occur often in the office. When managers lose the ability to stop by an employees desk and check in periodically, setting expectations becomes even more crucial to the success of employees and the organization. Providing clear direction, setting expectations and reviewing the progress of employees' work needs to happen weekly with your direct staff.
At the same time, managers need to demonstrate good remote working practices through their actions. This means regularly communicating management related matters to staff as soon as possible. These communications should include items pertaining to policy or staff changes, company announcements and best practices for remote working (like this blog!).
Listen and be receptive
Successful managers are, first and foremost, good listeners. When we cannot be face to face, or in person, the skill of listening is that much more crucial to management success. Manager’s non-verbal behaviors foster an environment of trust and respect through the simple act of listening, but doing so must be done with the intent to hear employees - not simply pay lip service. This doesn’t mean conceding to every employee ask or request, but it does mean allowing for their requests, suggestions, and concerns to be heard and given thoughtful consideration. Your response may or may not be what the employee desires, but if it addresses their concerns your employees will feel heard. Always remember, if you're asking for feedback, you need to do something about it.
Track your workers' progress
Similar to setting clear expectations, tracking how your employees are meeting their goals is a regular expectation of good management practices. Yet, so many managers don’t regularly check progress and provide feedback to employees on their performance. In remote environments, ongoing check ins and consistent feedback is even more crucial to employee success. In addition, the morale of remote employees is often directly related to how connected they are to the organization and their leaders. At times, remote management can require more communication than when you are face to face in order to keep employees engaged and feeling like part of a team. Each employee is different and some may need these check ins more frequently, while others may be just fine preparing weekly progress reports and getting direction via emails.. Make sure to meet employees where they are at, and ask them what is and isn’t working for them.
Create and foster an environment of regular communication
It's always crucial for managers to communicate regularly with their staff, but for remote workers this is what keeps them part of the team. Typically a worker can learn about updates, changes and company related items from being around their co-workers. Yet, in a remote environment, employees may or may not continue having the work related social interactions they typically have within an office space. It is crucial managers keep employees apprised of deadlines, available resources, work-related challenges and management' expectations, including work schedules.
Build and create team rapport
Many workers new to remote work can have feelings of isolation or feel disengaged from the team and their leaders. The typical social interactions that occur during coffee breaks, lunches an d office happy hour events are still possible, although will look quite different. Be mindful with how you “curate” these events by discouraging work discussions and encouraging personal conversations. This doesn’t mean disclosing personal information for those of us who like to keep these matters more private, but it could be as simple as sharing an anecdote that relates to what we all are experiencing in our everyday lives. Maybe you discovered a new meditation app for the phone or you discovered a great new restaurant that delivers great lunches. It is important to spend time building rapport with each employee individually, but employees’ personalities and their interests differ so these interactions will vary and will be unique for each person on your team.
Don’t be a digital micromanager!
Hopefully you are not standing above your employee’s shoulders all day long when you are in the office, - or if you are, you should stop immediately - but you don’t want to be the digital version of this either. Scheduling regular one-on-one meetings with your direct reports helps to avoid micromanagement behaviors that may creep unexpectedly. Setting goals, whether daily or weekly, and checking on their status helps to keep a track of progress and provides your staff with the feedback and support they need to ensure their success. Have trust in your employees to do their work if they're communicating clearly and meeting goals and deadlines.
Rethink your meeting culture
For those of us accustomed to an endless stream of in person meetings, shifting to online meetings has not been easy. Lengthy meetings are exhausting, but online meetings lose effectiveness exponentially with each passing minute. Rethink how you approach meetings with staff to avoid meeting fatigues. Keep meetings short and have a succinct agenda that you stick to. The key is avoid meeting fatigue and to let your employees get back to working on their day-to-day tasks.
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