Communicate Often and Set Daily Contact Time
Make sure information is frequently communicated. Email is great but shouldn’t be your only communication channel. Stay in touch with remote members of your team, set up frequent meetings with each employee to sync up and keep the connection strong.
Let your team know how and when they can reach you throughout the day. Those on your team who are off-site won’t be able to swing by your desk to ask questions or get feedback, so setting time aside where your employees can get in touch is especially important.
Meet With Your Employees Regularly
Set a daily or weekly meeting to check on your team members and ensure all work is on schedule and answer any questions or address concerns. Consider asking for a daily or weekly email update from each member of your team, or you may prefer that people provide updates another way. Figure out what works for you, and make sure everyone knows how to keep information flowing.
Clearly Explain What Needs To Get Done
When a team starts working remote when they used to work from office, it’s important to think about how to accomplish their tasks and ensure that deliverables stay on track. Include all your remote workers in a meeting at least weekly to make sure that they’re aware of updates and the big picture. It will also help them prioritize work and manage their time better. All members of your team should know what deliverables they and the team are working on, and how these deliverables will be met.
Make Sure You’re Available
Being available to your employees and easy to reach when important issues or questions come up ensures your team can stay productive. Make sure your team knows how to reach you if they have an urgent situation or questions that must be answered quickly.
Use Video Conferencing
Video is very important to keep a team connected and replace that in office interaction. Tools like Microsoft Teams and Webex Meetings are great for this. Utilize chat and collaboration tools to facilitate remote communication and keep the team engaged, scheduling time for a weekly social chat so employees who used to work in office together can catch up is also important to keep morale high!
Provide Support
Especially for those who are not used to working from home, it’s helpful to offer advice on how to work from home effectively. Ideas could include how to organize their day, how to ensure they stick to working hours, and how to set boundaries about their work time with any family that may be home too.
Recognize Great Work
Take time to recognize your team, write a “kudos” email when they’ve done something worthy of noticing, a little praise and recognition goes a long way! You can also call out their achievement in your group chat or on team calls too. Remembering to recognize our teams when they aren’t sitting in front of us is just as important as when they are.
Check out this article and others on my blog at: https://www.clauren.com/blog/tips-for-managing-work-from-home
