Leading a Virtual Team — A Guide for Business Leaders
Shifting to remote based work isn’t as simple as having a team work from home with their cameras and mics turned on. It requires making changes, from the top down and led by individuals who are responsible for teams of all sizes. While Covid-19 is forcing us to learn how to work remotely with each other, it also presents an opportunity for leaders to grow and develop new skillsets — ones which may prove to be invaluable, as remote work becomes more of the norm rather than a temporary fix.
There may even be a future where being able to lead a remote team is a cornerstone skill required for career progression, and is viewed upon as a must-have the way we look at basic skills today like spreadsheets, presentations and communication. Here are 4 areas you should focus on to become a better leader for remote based teams.
1. Keep The Fun Alive
Arguably the biggest thing you lose when working remotely is the comradery between peers. The water cooler talks, catching up on weekends, or sharing of puppy photos can create bonds and promote trust that lead to higher engagements of creativity during meetings.
While it is no doubt much harder to banter over a video conference, we nonetheless suggest managers to still make an effort. This can be something as simple as having people take turns sharing dad jokes every morning, or designating a digital happy hour to talk about last night’s episode of Westworld.
2. Create Guidelines, Enforce Rules
Working from home can be liberating, look at all the free time we have now! But your team needs to understand that work comes first, and everyone should be on the same page. Setting guidelines and rules early and upfront removes any confusion people may have about what is expected. Remote based work can be new for all parties involved, and rules may change over time as your team learns what works and what doesn’t — so keep an open mind, and adapt based on the situation.
Start with work oriented rules like checking into a team chat 15 minutes prior to the meeting, or ending the day with a daily report template filled in by 6pm.
3. Have Meetings On Purpose, Not To Seek Purpose
When you’re in a physical space together, meetings sometimes can be frustrating, time-wasting, and unproductive. But research has shown these negative feelings are amplified when you’re working from home because of an isolation factor. Suffering amongst a group is better than suffering alone with headphones on, staring at a screen. As the leader, it is your job to not only make sure people are prepared going into the meeting, but are also actively engaged during it.
This means you have to encourage introverts to speak more, orchestrate the discussions, and control the flow of the conversation. Make sure meetings are concise, on point, and effective — everyone should leave the video conference with new insights, instructions and a clear understanding of the next steps. You can also use note taking templates like the ones on Lark which automatically adds participants and grants editing permission for everyone involved so you can focus on the meeting, and not on the notes.
4. Emphasize Building Good Habits
As a leader, your job is to help people grow as much as it is to achieve results. It is much more difficult to keep an eye on everyone if you’re not in the same room together. This can make building a cohesive culture, and standardizing team operations more challenging. With everyone adjusting to a new work from home routine, it is therefore essential you emphasize the team build good habits — both individually, and as a team. A good way to start is by setting guidelines, and then enforcing them.
Some habits can be simple, like putting lunch time on your calendar so everyone knows when you’re not available, or making sure people use “@” when addressing individuals in team chats. These habits are the cornerstones to success, and in the new world of working remotely, it is the leader’s job to ensure a team builds the right habits.
