If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that as business leaders, we have to learn to adapt constantly. The businesses that survived and thrived during COVID have been the ones that were able to pivot quickly to the necessary changes during the pandemic. One of these changes was giving employees the ability to work remotely. While this had been an option for some, most people did not have a flexible work-from-home schedule before COVID. While a remote work environment can have many benefits, it can make leading your team a challenge. Read on to learn some tips on how to manage your team well, even if they’re working remotely.

5 Tips to Lead Employees Remotely

1. Schedule Regular Check-Ins – It’s essential to check in on employees regularly when in a remote work environment. While email, chat, and phone conversations work fine, video conferencing allows you to have that personal one-to-one connection often lacking in the remote world.
2. Calibrate Support and Challenge – For each team member, ask yourself: “Does this person need more encouragement or greater accountability at this time?” There will be times that they need a more personal connection and support from you. At other times they will need to have deadlines and other accountabilities clarified. A savvy leader knows calibration needs to adjust from person to person or depending on their projects or workload.  Learning to calibrate support and challenge well can empower your team and liberate them to greater productivity.
3. Leverage Technology – There are many incredible tech tools that you can use to leverage and stay connected with your remote team members. Software like Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and others allow you to communicate with your coworkers regardless of their location.
4. Outcomes are Most Important – As a society, we need to move away from the assumption that time physically in the office equates to productivity. Instead, we should focus on the outcomes of the work employees are producing. Thus moving the focus more to actual results and less on the amount of time worked.
5. Promote Virtual Social Interactions – One thing you lose with remote work is the casual conversations that happen naturally throughout the day in an office environment. You can still foster these types of interactions remotely with virtual social events. These can sound corny, but they help to keep employees engaged and fulfilled in their roles.
6. Seek Help – Managing a remote team takes a different set of skills which often aren’t natural for many leaders. Leadership training focused on managing a remote staff can be helpful to ensure you’re leading in the right way to produce a productive workforce that’s not only happy but effective as well.

Interested in Learning More About Managing Remote Teams?

If you’re interested in learning more about becoming a more effective manager of remote teams, don’t hesitate to reach out to Jeff Dorman of Breakthrough CTC today. Jeff can be reached by phone at (651) 324-8592 or if you prefer you can choose a time for a complimentary consultation. Or keep reading to learn more about Breakthrough’s Coaching, Training, or Consulting services.