As a leader, you may find yourself leading a team in a large office building or around the world. Circumstances like COVID-19 may cause your team to begin working at home, meaning you may need to change some of your leadership tactics and styles. No matter if remote work is normal for your business or you are just dipping your toes into it, there are a few secrets that will help you find success.
Here are five tricks to help you lead a remote team.
1. Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!
When managing a remote team, two-sentence emails will likely not work. Your employees will rely on you to provide detailed information. When employees have questions or concerns, they cannot enter your office to discuss it. Rather, they will rely on the information you provide in an email, telephone call, or another form of communication. You will want to be available during business hours for your employees to ask these questions as a delayed response could mean a delayed project or deadline.
2. Be Flexible
Everyone’s homelife is a little different. Some of your employees may be juggling children on top of their workload. Others may live on their own and are extremely lonely. Keep the circumstances of your employees in mind as you work with them. Be flexible if your employees need to take a short break during the day or if they prefer to work unusual business hours. Work with your team members to create a schedule that works best for everyone.
3. Implement the Right Technology
It is important that you work smarter and not harder as you lead your remote team. One way to do this is to implement the right technology into your job. There are dozens of applications that can help you organize projects and assignments, communicate, and even track time. You should also consider various security applications to ensure that all data is protected and nothing falls into the wrong hands.
4. Consider Virtual Team Building Activities
Just because your team members do not sit next to one another, it doesn’t mean they can’t get to know each other well. Take some time each week to conduct various virtual team building activities. This could be something as simple as sending out weekly emails with fun questions for your team members to answer or video conference lunch breaks, which gives your employees a chance to socialize. Find fun ideas that will make your employees love working on your team.
5. Make One-on-Ones a Priority
When you are managing a remote team, you want to make your one-on-one meetings a priority. When in an office setting, you have more opportunities to discuss problems, weaknesses, accomplishments, etc. When working remotely, some of these discussions are rare. Schedule regular one-on-one sessions and make them a priority in your workday. You may also consider holding these meetings more than once a quarter to give your employees more frequent feedback.
At Diary of an Entrepreneur, we want you to be the best leader you can be. We offer a community of powerful female leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs to help motivate and support you. We also have a large collection of resources to help you become an effective and powerful leader. Come and check us out today.
