Leading a team in a remote environment

 

Leading a team in a remote environment is something that few leaders ever thought they would have to do.  However, the recent world events have thrust this environment upon many leaders. Adaptation is key to survival both in the wild and in the workplace.  Those leaders who are able to accept this new environment and manage change will find much more success than those that cling to the old way of working in-person.  While in-person meetings will still be an important part of business working remotely is likely to become the norm and full in-person office work is going to continue to fade away.

Many leaders are struggling with the move to remote work, because of habits that have been ingrained in them after years of in-person work.  They feel comfortable being able to walk to their teams desks and ask a question.  They like being able to book a conference room and have a chat with their team about a project they're working on.  Team meetings feel better when the leader can look at their team and understand their meaning by reading their expressions.  All of this makes sense, both from habits built by working in-person and by the natural way that people interact with each other. The good news is that all of this is achievable with a remote team as well and may actually improve your team's performance.

The right attitude

The total of this article talks about leading a team in a remote environment.  It doesn't say managing a team, getting a team through it, begrudgingly working with a team in a remote environment.  Teams look to their leaders for inspiration.  They are looking for how to react to a situation based on how their leader reacts. For that reason, how you appear to feel about remote work will have a profound impact on your team's ability to work successfully in a remote environment.  If you appear apprehensive or make comments about how much having to work in this environment is a challenge, or that you can't wait to return to the office, you may accidentally make it harder for your team to function successfully.  While you may be blowing off steam about your personal frustration, your team needs to see strength and confidence.  Regardless of any personal struggles you may have with working remotely, it's important to project that you are comfortable with and excited about continuing to perform at a high level.

Show empathy

Your team may not have been ready for the remote work lifestyle. While some of your team may have been more prepared others may have been caught off guard. They may be struggling with distractions at home, not having a dedicated workspace or feeling disconnected from the rest of their team. As their leader it's important that you let your team know that you understand that this change may be challenging and that you have confidence in their ability to adapt and continue to perform at a high level. You don't need to lower performance standards just provide the encouragement to your team that you know they will still be successful. 

Staying connected and encourage communication

Staying connected to your team in an in-person environment is very easy.  You can physically see each other, speak out to each other or walk to their desk. This is all achievable in a remote environment as well.  To stay connected in a remote environment you will need to work differently.  Schedule regular team meetings with your team.  Make sure that you have agenda's and plans for the meetings so they feel intentional. Do the same with regular individual sync conversations.  It's important to stay connected to your team's work so that they know you're still invested in their success and that you feel confident in the progress they're making. This will help relieve anxiety some leaders have about teams not being as productive when working remote. Occasionally reach out to your team at random. While this may happen naturally as a new project or task comes up, be sure to connect with each team member as a one off conversation each week.  Ask them generally how their work is going, any challenges they're facing and what you can do to help. Ask them how "everything else" is going and make that personal connection.  This will help them feel connected to you as their leader during this time.

Digital tools

Digital tools have come a long way and the current world events have caused technology companies to accelerate the roll outs of new features making these tools much more powerful than they have been in the past.  Chat and messaging apps like Microsoft Teams or Slack have allowed teams to have chat rooms and quickly share ideas, files or project work as if they were in the room together. These often also allow teams to do things like have direct messages with each other, or make audio/video calls too. This helps replace those impromptu meetings or water cooler talk that is key to helping people feel connected and spark innovation.

Conference calls have moved from a simple phone bridge to fully on multi-person video calls over the last several years but have rapidly moved to on camera calls in the last 9 months. Now services like Zoom, Webex and Microsoft Teams allow large groups of people to have in-person meetings at a moments notice.  Teams are able to schedule their regular weekly team meetings online and be able to have that face to face communication that was a natural part of in-person office work.  These tools allow you to see the nuance of someone's communication that only comes through in their non verbal communication when they are on camera.

Closing the loop

Oftentimes seeing a person in the office or at their desk would remind you of an important task or project that you needed to connect with them on. This is an important part of staying on task and making you team or clients see that you are engaged and working on their behalf. This also must continue in a work environment, but you won't have the visual cues of seeing your peers to remind you about that important thing you wanted to talk about.  Having a system in place to remind you of what you need to complete is key to staying on track. For some folks this may be writing to-do lists in a paper notebook and checking them off as they complete them.  Many prefer storing digital notes that they work through. Digital task management solutions have become very popular in the last few years and all of the major tech companies offer a version of them. 

I have found a combination of these tools works best for me.  During meetings, I like to take. a note with a pen or paper(Pencil with an iPad works great as well).  After capturing notes during a meeting I like to retype them into my notes app.  This helps reinforce the information I captured while also allowing me to organize and outline important ideas. For capturing important to-do items, I like to use Microsoft To-Do for tracking pure tasks. To-do is great because it has a simple straight forward interface, but lets you a little deeper by adding reminders, due dates etc. 

Track progress and accountability

As a leader it's your job to keep everyone on task.  As a remote leader you will need to flex your project management skills.  Be sure to record commitments and follow-ups. While everyone should be managing their own work successfully, some team members will benefit from having an organized leader that helps keep them pointed in the right direction.  You may want to incorporate a cloud based project management solution, like Teams, Google Docs etc to help keep all of your projects organized and in one place.  Whether you go digital or physical, beside to track each project and have regular touch bases with your team to ensure that they are on track to meeting performance targets.  This will not only make you feel better about the likely success of your projects it will help keep your team motivated to achieve that next performance target.

Celebrate the wins

While you may not always be able to see it, your team is still working hard. They want to be successful and proud of their work. Be sure to find ways to recognize the hard work and the success your teams are having. A combination of different ways to recognize the wins your team is having can help them feel more than just a routine as well.  Instead of only recognizing their wins during your regular team meetings, also consider occasionally calling them and saying something like "Just wanted to give you a call to let you know I saw the report you put together and it looks great.  Really good work.", or send them a cheesy ecard, or a personally written email message.  

If the entire team was successful at completing a project consider having a virtual team party. This may sound cheesy and that's because it is, but it's also a way of showing your team that you care and you're proud of their work.  Schedule it at the end of the work day, encourage your team to have refreshments and be ready for some fun.  Come up with a few fun games that your team can do, but don't forget to thank them verbally for all their hard work and success before wrapping up.  Your team may also think it's silly to have a virtual party, but the fact that you did it and brought them along will help them laugh and smile and appreciate the gesture. 

Leading and working in a remote environment has been the norm for some and brand new too many in the last year. How have you managed during this time? Have you found yourself more or less productive? Did you and your team seamlessly switch to remote work or have you had to work at it?  Tell us below!