3 Effective Ways New Leaders Can Motivate A Remote Team
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Working from home is no longer a privilege, rather the new normal. However, it remains a polarizing issue across workplaces today. According to Global Workplace Analytics, 4.7 million U.S. employees work from home on a part time basis. Despite the increasing number of remote workers, leaders face great challenges when it comes to managing their virtual team.
Managers reported feeling burdened with the added responsibility of keeping their team engaged and productive. While it’s easier to blame a disconnected team on remote work, Alison Green, founder of Ask A Manager, asserts “too many managers don’t know how to manage well regardless of where their staff is located.”
Darko Jacimovic, co-founder of What To Become, said companies are reluctant to hire remote employees because they feel it prevents effective communication and hinders productivity and engagement. He went on to say a remote team is proven to be just as effective as in-office one, but it “requires the team to be managed a bit different to achieve the maximum result.”
Leaders, both new and tenured, need to continue honing their virtual leadership skills so each team member feels valued and motivated. The biggest mistake leaders make is assuming what works for them is what works for their team. This is problematic because each individual is motivated by and requires different things.
Here are three ways new leaders can effectively manage and motivate their remote team.
Maximize Potential With Coaching And Feedback
Despite what many think, expectations and goals should be touched upon during recruiting. This gives potential employees an idea of what’s required of them and if they’re capable of carrying out the responsibilities of the role. Many new hires struggle with knowing what’s expected of them. As a result, they’re unable to work effectively and produce great work consistently.
Edward Sturm, director of marketing for Reverb, advises new leaders “to pay super close attention to new team members to make sure they can keep up with the workload.” Setting clear expectations and providing regular feedback helps individuals reach their goals faster.
Expectations should be established around response times, availability, deadlines, individual responsibilities and team goals, to name a few. Conflict on teams is largely a result of poor communication. It’s easy to misinterpret emails and feel isolated when team members don’t hear from their manager.
New leaders often get wrapped up in their day to day that they forget to check-in with their remote workers. To avert this, leaders should have routine one-on-one coaching sessions scheduled for each individual. Ideally, these should occur on a weekly basis. However, for larger teams, this might not be feasible.
Coaching is crucial in developing employees to their fullest potential and helping a team succeed. When leaders provide regular coaching to their employees, they can identify potential gaps and focus on improving the skills for each individual. In turn, the leader helps develop trust with their employees resulting in a more engaged and motivated team.
Turn Conference Calls Into Video Collaborations
Video conferencing helps remote workers feel more connected by humanizing communication. Participants can see the body language, facial expression and engagement of other members. A Gigaom report found “87% of remote employees feel more connected to their team when using video conferencing.”
It’s the leader's role to lead meetings, but the remote team members should be running it. This gives everyone a sense of responsibility. A common challenge most teams face is knowing how to start off and navigate team meetings. Lost meeting productivity costs companies between $70 to $283 billion.
Structured meetings require some planning. To get the most out of meetings, leaders should create and send an agenda with meeting goals in advance so each team member can prepare. This helps to engage participants before the meeting so they don’t spend time during it trying to think about what they can contribute.
To help participants settle in and feel relaxed, leaders should begin the meeting with some small talk. Taking the time to ask about the weekend, a recent holiday or anything mentioned in the days or week prior helps make employees feel connected. The goal is to make everyone feel comfortable sharing challenges, successes, solutions and ideas.
Video software tools can be used for more than just meetings. Amber Vilhauer, marketing strategist, has found using Loom to record a video instead of writing out a long email keeps her team engaged and productive. Leaders can also use them for their onboarding or trainings as well.
Leverage Technology To Enhance Communication
Communication is one of the main challenges leaders and remote teams face. Employees who are not in the office are often neglected and forgotten about. New leaders take the “hands-off” approach for fear they’ll come off as overbearing or untrusting of their team members. However, remote workers crave consistent communication with frequent check-ins and reminders that their leader is there to support them.
It’s equally important for leaders to reward, recognize and engage their team often. Simon Hansen, founder and blogger at Best Sports Lounge, believes the best method to motivating a remote team is by showing constant appreciation. Hansen said “letting words compensate for the limited ways you can keep them motivated and always encouraging your members to do more has a greater impact on productivity and creative ideas.”
Communication is more fragile when technology serves as the middle man. The right tools can enhance communication and strengthen relationships while the wrong ones can create a greater disconnect. Instead of relying on email, leaders can utilize tools such as Trello, Slack, or Google Hangouts to keep communication fluid. Even with the right tools in place, leaders need to lead communication efforts.
Some ways they can do this is through weekly virtual team meetings, individual one-on-one’s, delivering praise, sending status updates, frequent check-ins, asking how they can help and reminding the team they’re there for support. The key is to communicate early and often, show up consistently and to keep employees at the core of every decision.
Originally published by Heidi Lynne Kurter at https://www.forbes.com.