Due to the unfortunate circumstances from the ongoing pandemic, many workplaces, on a global level, encourage or oblige their employees to work from home. However, even before COVID-19, millions were already working remotely. As the concept of working from home grows popular, everyone should learn to become acquainted with it. Although working from home grants us more flexibility and freedom, productivity can often be a point of weakness, especially when you are in charge of a whole team. To ensure that no one is slacking off and that everyone is working productively, we are here to tell you how you can effectively manage a team while working from home.
Check-In Daily
Your team can find it hard to stay up to date or understand exactly what is expected from them when working remotely. Miscommunications can occur through texts and email, so it is important that you verbally communicate with your team. You should host a video, meeting every day until you feel like your team is settled. Then, you can start gradually spacing them out or hosting just 2-3 meetings per week.
Video meetings help maintain a human connection and will make space for collaborative decisions and brainstorming sessions. Besides, it will be easier for you to communicate work agendas, feedback, and resources this way. Video meetings will also keep your team motivated and keep them from developing a lazy attitude. Since working remotely is more flexible than being at the workplace, employees can find it hard to keep their personal lives from bleeding into their work lives. Daily video meetings and check-ins can promote a healthy balance between work and personal life, to an extent.
Communicate Regularly
You should still communicate with your team, even if you have already held your video meeting for the day. Remind them that they can still refer to you if they’re facing any issues and show them support. Use an online workplace communication tool or platform and labor management integrations to keep everyone engaged. They are far better than your average texts and emails and make it easier to interact with all team members. Try to maintain a positive attitude on the online workplace platform. You can use emoticons and gifs often; you’ll receive better reactions and improve the quality of engagement. Besides, non-verbal communication can be misleading, sound more aggressive, or less impactful than intended. Using gifs and emoticons can help show how you feel about something.
Let your team members know when you are online and when you are available to take their calls or get back to their inquiries. The best way to do that is to dedicate an hour each week for your remote employees to give them one-on-one opportunities. This is efficient because it will cover topics and issues that they may need to go over individually. Make sure to get their feedback as well. Ask about what aspects of working remotely they like, and which can improve, whether they are facing difficulties and if they feel included in team discussions.
Oversee Expectations
Set expectations for yourself and your team. These expectations should be attainable and relevant. They should be communicated to your team so that they understand exactly what is expected of them. Also, you are supposed to explain to your team why these tasks are important; it helps them appreciate the work and perform it diligently. Set deadlines and parameters in which they can work. Explain to them when and how you will be reviewing their work. They should also know how you plan on measuring success.
Prioritize the Outcomes
Working remotely makes it very hard to monitor your team’s activity and every other aspect of the work. It can be very hard to work within a certain timeframe while at home. So rather than focusing on every aspect of your team’s work, like what time of day they are working or how they get the work done. As long as they stick to the deadlines, of course, focus on the outcome and the quality of their work. This is your opportunity to show your team that you trust them and assess their reliability and responsibility. Let them know that you are trusting them with completing quality work on schedule.
Managing your team from home can be very challenging. You need to make sure your whole team is on board, while you, yourself may be having trouble adjusting. If communication is off, then you will not be able to manage your team. This is why you need to make use of all available resources and effectively connect with your team. To make this process less challenging, use the tips we collected above and adjust your systems accordingly.
