Managing remote employees can be difficult as a supervisor is not physically present in the office. However, with the right tools and strategies, it is possible to effectively oversee staff who work from home. This article will discuss tips for communicating with, motivating, and collaborating with remote employees.
Facilitate Open Communication
Clear and open communication is crucial for managing remote employees. With employees working in silos from home, communication breakdowns can easily occur. As a manager, you need to establish expectations and processes to keep everyone connected.
For real-time communication, tools like Skype and Zoom are essential for video calls and conferences. Slack or Microsoft Teams are great for instant messaging and creating topic-based channels.
Just be wary of over-relying on instant messaging, as it can fragment conversations and lack the clarity of voice discussions. Set guidelines on when to use chat vs. video/voice communications for different situations.
Schedule regular team video call “stand-ups” for quick updates and bonding. Encourage self-organization through chat channels for specialized roles, projects, or social topics.
When implementing new tools, provide training resources and etiquette guidelines. Monitor usage and be open to adjusting approaches to optimize for your team’s needs and assessing potential of employees.
Use Project Management Tools for Managing Remote Employees
Without seeing each other at the office, it’s harder to stay updated on the status of projects and assignments when managing remote employees. Using project management software centralizes all tasks, timelines, and communications in one place.
Tools like Trello, Asana, and Monday.com allow you to create project boards with cards representing tasks that can be dragged through workflow pipelines. Assign tasks, set due dates, attach files, and comment with questions.
Integrate the project management tool with your other platforms like Slack so updates across tools sync automatically. Check project boards regularly to identify blockers early. Daily standups focused on reviewing the board keep everyone aligned.
For companies without specialized project requires, even simple shared docs or spreadsheets can work. The key is having a single source of truth for task tracking for remote employees.
Collaborate Visually with Remote Employees
When strategizing new ideas and workflows, visual collaboration enables greater creativity for managing remote employees. Digital whiteboarding apps like Miro replicate the experience of an in-person brainstorming session.
Have everyone join a virtual whiteboard to brainstorm ideas, map out processes, wireframe products, or design campaigns together. With sticky notes, shapes, and free-drawing, remote teams can collaborate creatively in real-time.
Whiteboards also facilitate more interactive meetings, trainings, and workshops when working with remote employees. Instead of passive slide presentations, have participants actively engage on the board.
Work asynchronously by saving versions and embedding whiteboard images into other doc types. Switching to visual remote collaboration improves engagement and possibility thinking.
Conduct Effective Remote Interviews
Interviewing candidates remotely requires adapting some of your techniques, but can work very effectively when managing remote employees. Use video conferencing instead of phone calls whenever possible to enable better rapport and communication.
For group panel interviews, schedule overlapping time slots and coordinate handoffs between interviewers. Share the candidate’s resume and establish common questions ahead of time.
Use a structured interview format with specific competency-based questions and rating criteria. Take notes and share impressions with other interviewers before making decisions.
Discuss next steps and timelines explicitly before ending the call. Follow up quickly with your hiring decision and paperwork to keep candidates engaged.
Offer Flexibility and Trust to Remote Employees
Providing autonomy and flexibility is key for high remote team productivity and effectively managing remote employees. Avoid micromanaging through excessive monitoring systems.
Set clear goals and deadlines, then give people space to manage their workflow and hours. Emphasize output and achievement rather than time spent working.
For employees struggling with remote work, have open conversations on challenges and experiment with solutions like establishing home office spaces or adjusted schedules.
Trust your team, but verify progress periodically through check-ins. Provide timely feedback when issues arise to maintain accountability with remote employees.
Enable Social Connection Among Remote Employees
Remote work can feel isolating without fun social interactions from the office. Foster team bonding through virtual channels to improve morale and unity when managing remote employees.
Allocate time for casual conversations before or after meetings. Organize remote social events like cooking classes, trivia nights, or public online multiplayer games.
Create chat channels or email lists for nonwork topics. Start friendly team competitions and celebrations of milestones. Send care packages and gifts on holidays or birthdays.
Encourage peer recognition and shutouts when colleagues help each other. Model work-life balance and self-care yourself. A little fun and connection goes a long way in distributed teams.
Conclusion
The strategies above require some trial-and-error to implement smoothly. Assess what works best for your management style, company culture, and team dynamics when managing remote employees.
Focus on open communication, project visibility, and collaborative tools. Provide the flexibility and social connections vital for remote employee happiness and retention.
Managing remote employees takes some adaptation but pays dividends in increased productivity, cost savings, and access to talent. Embrace these tips to effectively lead high-performing remote teams.
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