How to manage your team remotely

Are you facing the new challenge of managing a team remotely?

The outbreak of COVID19 has caused chaos and confusion across the globe. The UK continues to be in a state of lockdown with the majority of businesses either declaring temporary closure or remote working for staff.

All businesses are facing drastic changes in the day to day operations of their organisations. Many employees are working from home, meaning that team leaders are faced with a new challenge of effectively and efficiently managing their team remotely.

For some leaders, managing distributed employees might be completely new. The Absolute Personnel team are here to offer advice on how businesses and leaders can effectively manage remote teams.

1. Use video conferencing platforms

Face-to-face interactions play a large role in the running of most organisations. Whilst you may not be in the same building as your employees, you can still replicate a face-to-face interaction by using video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet. Favouring video conferencing over conference calls gives leaders the opportunity to engage and interact with employees.

2. Respect flexible working

During this global pandemic, all your employees will be facing different struggles when adapting to their new lifestyles. Some employees may face little change and will continue to work their normal hours. Others may be trying to manage small children throughout the working day. As a manger of remote employees, it is important you agree on and understand your employees working schedules. This way you can ensure all team meetings or workshops are held during everyone’s working hours.

3. Encourage communication

We would recommend scheduling one on one interactions giving your employees the opportunity to voice any worries or concerns they may be having. This allows you to facilitate open lines of communication. Do not forget to ask questions such as:

• What’s working well for you at the moment?
• Is there anything you’re finding challenging?
• Can I support you in any way?
• Do you need anything from me?

4. Create weekly team meetings

Working closely to your team in an office makes it easy to know which projects everyone is working on. This become less apparent when working remotely. Holding weekly or bi-weekly team meetings will allow your employees to express what they’re currently working on, what they’ve accomplished, what challenges they’re facing and if they need support from another member of the team.

5. Celebrate success

Now more than ever, it’s important to keep your team in good spirits. Ensure you make the effort to celebrate and recognise your employees. Frequent recognition of success will encourage action and increase productivity.

Adapting your daily schedule to fit in these few simple actions will help to manage your team effectively and efficiently. If you need any further help or advice, please contact the Absolute Personnel team on 01743 461 239.