What are 3 tips to managing a remote team well?
[Summary] For the first time for many, employees are learning how to be productive from home while managers of remote teams are discovering that leading a team remotely isn’t as easy at it looks. Fortunately, HappyTeams Organisational Psychologist, Annie Aargon has pulled together three insightful and actionable tips to help those managing a remote team be successful. Watch the video below:
Tip #1:
- Don’t be afraid of over communicating. When team members work remotely, communication is their tool to keep connected. Scheduling short one-on-ones weekly to review progress made, acknowledge team wins, and simply to check in, helps reduce the silo-effect that can come when being physically apart from one another.
Tip #2:
- Provide training on digital tools. If there was ever a time for remote teams to thrive, it’s now. With the availability of communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams to Zoom to employee engagement tools like HappyTeams, there’s no way remote teams can’t thrive. However, it’s important that managers provide training on the digital tools being offered. It’s quite wrong to assume that because we live in this digital age, we all are savvy enough to pick it up and run. Give space for training, especially if there is an expectation to use a tool that employees may not be familiar with.
Tip #3:
- Assess your teams engagement. Engagement is linked to productivity and happiness. A few signs to recognize possible disengagement within your remote team:
1. Inconsistent quality throughout their work.
2. Inactivity during live meetings or camera’s consistently turned off.
3. Increased response times to direct messages that can’t be explained by workload or other factors.
And while changes in employee behaviors will often go undetermined, it’s vital as a remote team manager to perform well-being checks. Many leaders incorporate the use of pulse surveys such as HappyTeams—a tool to help leaders remove the guesswork from managing teams and get real-time employee insights.
Are you a leader that has installed HappyTeams? Check out this blog on how to effectively roll HappyTeams out to your team.
