Managing and Leading Remote Work Teams in 2020 and Beyond Part One

The U.S. workforce was comprised 25% of workers working remotely from home prior to the pandemic. It is a wise to consider the advice, tips and strategies and best methods of managers leading teams of remote workers before the pandemic happened.

It would make sense to set down company policies and training for remote-work employees, but when problems arise, and circumstances change this may not be feasible. On a positive note, with the advent of modern management knowledge and techniques there are known actions company managers and supervisors can do, minus little to no trouble to enhance the daily actions and output of employees working remotely. The time to make these management actions to improve and maintain remote-work employee daily productivity is today.    

Widespread Task Productivity Issues

To begin, supervisors must know the issues that remote work makes particularly challenging and difficult. If these issues are not considered, top workers might start lagging in work performance and job commitment as remote work starts and then continues for the foreseeable future. This is particularly true if there is no planning or hands on preparation.     

These factors being the case a great proportion of committed companies are comprised of workers that are ongoing blatant or subtle uncommitted workers. Now take it one more step and consider employees with laisse faire attitudes becoming remote workers and think about how it will negatively affect their daily work habits, output, and commitment to the company’s goals.

Negative issues built into remote work are as follows:

• No direct in person manager observation
• Reduction of sources of important company data, information, and news  
• Working alone equals lack of socialization
• Negative impact of working at home and its inherent distractions

Steps Manager Can Follow to Improve Management of Remote Worker Teams

Despite the ongoing pitfalls and problems associated with remote work, there are steps manager can take that do not cost much to improve the change-over for employees working at home.

As much as remote work can be fraught with challenges, there are also relatively quick and inexpensive things that managers can do to ease the transition. 

Supervisors and managers of employees remote working at home should follow these steps:

Set up company calendar with a short daily meeting

Holding a meeting every day may come across as overzealous, but for both managers and remote workers for success to happen, these meetings must happen daily. These meetings establish and maintain a connection that cannot be replicated via text, phone, or email.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

On top of a quick daily meeting, communicating extensively all the time is a must about team daily tasks and duties, accountabilities, and company goals. When working in an office communicating can be difficult, but when remote working, it can be impossible, if it is not built into a managers and employees daily interactive routine  

Make the Most of 2020’s High-Tech Tools

Since the pandemic arrived in 2020, it has pushed most businesses to use today’s high-tech tools within days or weeks because of our circumstances now. On-line meetings are held daily using Google Meetings, Zoom, and Microsoft teams. Daily meetings and communicating all the time are breeze using theses tools.

Create Meeting Rules

Meeting rules are important because efficient effective use of time is critical if meetings and communication is going to be part of everyone’s daily routine. Remote work will be enhanced and gratifying when managers create meeting rules with respect to time, date, and meeting agenda. IM can be employed when communication must happen immediately, and daily meetings can be done using video conferencing when doing your short daily meeting. Share meeting info and even IM content when and where warranted.

Communicate Information and Belief in Outcomes

This is more important now than ever due to the current climate. Keep in mind company’s have had to change more now than ever. That means keeping everyone informed and getting commitment from staff about commitment by them on agreed goals and outcomes.

The steps described here are straight forward but not a piece of cake. They mandate time on your part, direct focus and sticking with each of them. Your remote work team will appreciate your efforts, they will enjoy their jobs and be more effective because you took the time communicate with them and stick with them through these difficult times