5 Easy Ways to Lead a Remote Team Successfully

Leading a remote team to success is not as easy as doing it in person. Whether your company has been forced to switch to remote working recently due to the global pandemic or you’ve always operated that way, it’s more challenging than you realize. Here are some actions to take to get better results. 

1. Keep in Touch with the Team 

Providing regular support and communication with team members is a vital part of managing them. Whereas it may have previously been possible to swing past their desk and just ask them how it’s going, that’s no longer possible. Therefore, it’s necessary to do it digitally. 

Microsoft Teams or Zoom are two apps that have become extremely popular to allow video communication between two or more colleagues. Use them to perform check-ins every workday – or less frequently if so desired – to see how each remote worker is doing. 

2. Expectations Need to be Clearer

Without as many body language cues and a reduced level of communication due to its virtual nature, being clearer about what’s expected is more necessary. Otherwise, the clarity comes from in-person meetings and confirmations along the way. 

Set clear deliverables for work, explain the scope of each task, and when it’s due. That way, the worker can be left to complete the task without needing to be micromanaged. 

Also, when results fail to meet the desired level, then look at how miscommunication could be the answer. Discuss it to see what they heard and whether there was a gap between what you thought had been successfully communicated and what they received. Then derive a way to avoid that in the future. 

3. Build Flexibility into Every Plan

When experts coach their clients on business management, they often stress the need for flexibility within plans. Otherwise, managers will likely come up against resistance to their ideas. Also, building flexibility into every plan allows for the unexpected along the way. Similarly, being adaptable to changing situations is key to getting the best outcomes.

To learn how to adapt things better, it’s always a good idea to discuss your ideas and problems with your service industry coach. A coach who’s able to provide you scalable and flexible business tips to help your managers make better plans and succeed in all situations. 

4. Be Good at Communication

You might already know that you must be regular in communication with your team. One of the toughest things about work from home is the feeling of loneliness and working in isolation, especially if you’re used to your office environment. In fact, that’s correct that many people are practicing social distancing. 

5. Expect Technology Problems

Every remote worker’s technical knowledge is at a different level. They usually don’t work in IT and aren’t technology specialists. For some people, they suddenly found themselves having to adapt to working from home and felt a little adrift from a technology standpoint. 

Expect problems with IT hardware, software issues, cloud access snafus, and other internet-related issues to come up. There are a lot of things that must go right for them to deliver their work well and on time. Sometimes, life happens and they’re not always the right person to fix it. So, there will inevitably be some delays and other surprises. Anticipate this rather than letting it be a source of frustration for you.  

Managing remote workers is different from dealing with people in an office environment. They’re at a distance, can feel isolated from the rest of the team, and yet they’re trying to deliver what’s required of them. With enough support, they can still be a valuable member of the team. 

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has led thousands of companies and businesses to let their employee’s from home and made major changes in the workplace. And the biggest among them is to shift towards remote working or work from home.

Leading remote teams may seem hard or daunting at first, but it ain’t. Once you get familiar with managing remote teams, you’ll find that they can be just as effective as they were in the physical workplace. Use the tips mentioned in the article to easily move your remote team towards success!