In this 4th newsletter in our Crisis Leadership series I’d like to offer three other proven tactics for leading a remote team:

Understanding Your Employees’ Remote Work Environments

Establishing Clear Goals & Expectations

Taking Advantage of Virtual Meeting Options

Understanding Your Employees’ Unique Work Environments

A priority in leading a newly remote team can be identifying any obstacles that could prevent the team from performing to their capabilities:

 Not knowing how & when to communicate

Childcare & homeschooling issues

Feelings of isolation & anxiety

Workspace interruptions & obligations

Lack of familiarity with the technology

With so many employees having a new workplace, leaders are asking questions like: ‘What barriers or challenges are you facing that I should be aware of?’

Most employees will have children, spouses or others vying for their time & attention in the employee’s new workspace. Working parents may not feel at all isolated but may be finding it difficult to perform their jobs with their children home from school & their normal childcare options unavailable. And parents who are not used to working & watching their children simultaneously may find it difficult to balance those competing priorities. Since many employees are working in less than ideal home environments, leaders might consider – and employees would certainly appreciate - granting some latitude regarding project deadlines, hours of work, etc.

Establishing Clear Goals & Expectations

While employees’ workdays are very different their goals & deliverables are probably similar to those they had before this crisis. But because of the lack of face time virtual leaders might over-communicate their expectations with regular progress updates. For example:

When employees will need to be online

Which tools the team will use to collaborate

How to track & report their progress & results

A key element in leading a team of remote employees is establishing the most effective team communication practices. A useful tactic for communicating your expectations is to establish Work-From-Home Guidelines such as:

Responding to emails within 24 hours

Using text for urgent issues

Not making calls to team members outside of certain hours

Achievement expectations for the day & week including why they are important

And not expecting employees to work around the clock

Clarifying expectations & their rationale provides both motivation & hope

Taking Advantage of Virtual Meeting Options

Leaders can encourage connection & continue to build relationships by holding virtual gatherings that reinforce that the team is in this together. There are a variety of video platforms available that play to our natural visual strengths – with 50% of our communication coming from body language

FaceTime, Zoom & Skype enable teams to have highly interactive, visual meetings with breakout groups, poll questions & chat opportunities. And these can be more effective than conference calls because they make employees accountable for their attention. This audio & visual form of communication minimizes miscommunication

And it is important during virtual meetings that we maintain sound meeting guidelines:

Starting & ending on time

Having a clear set of objectives

Sharing the agenda prior

Everyone coming prepared

Seeking employee involvement & feedback

Following up with action items, accountabilities & deadline

Small doses of virtual team bonding during the week boosts employee morale. Using technology organizations are having regular, virtual team:

Coffee breaks

Social hours

Lunches

Chats about adjusting to the quarantine etc.

All with the focus being sharing & connecting

For some remote employees, this form of interaction may become a highlight of their week. My brother, who is an attorney in in DC & has been working remotely, told me about his church choir’s cocktail party where they talked & sang – while enjoying their beverages

Please share the tactics that you have found useful & let us know if we can help during this challenging period

Quote: “Homeschooling is going well. Two students suspended for fighting & one teacher fired for drinking on the job.”