Are you a manager at a distance?
Leading a team that works in whole or in part in different places has its challenges. How do you make each employee feel seen and appreciated? And how do you work on the team feeling when you are not seen at the coffee machine every day? Here are eight tips along the way.
Working life is becoming increasingly limitless and it is becoming more and more common for the manager to be in a different place than his or her employees, who in turn can be scattered in several different offices or work from home. With today’s technical solutions, such as e-mails, Skype, video conferencing and web conferencing, it is often excellent to communicate and jointly solve tasks without meeting in physical reality. In a survey conducted by the magazine Manager, 76% of the managers surveyed stated that they lead employees who work in whole or in part remotely.
Advantages and challenges of teleworking
Greater freedom of choice, cost savings, increased productivity, less time spent on travel and a better environment. The benefits of telework are several. But what are the challenges for the manager? What are the specific requirements of distance leadership compared to more traditional leadership? One keyword is clarity – at every level. Clear frameworks and roles are important success factors according to the experts. Similarly, the rules for how and when you communicate must be clearly defined. Another crucial difference is that distance leadership requires other strategies to build trust and create a sense of belonging among employees.
Eight tips for the distance manager
How, then, do you go, more specifically, to create clarity, trust and team spirit in the distance-based team? And how do you handle the important talk? Here are eight practical tips.
Clear roles and duties
Of course, clarity is crucial in all forms of leadership, but as I said, something that is extra crucial for you who lead at a distance. After all, your employees can’t match things in the same way with you in the corridor. This means that there is an increased risk of uncertainty and misunderstanding in the distance-based team. Therefore, it is important that you as a manager constantly work for a clear structure with clearly defined roles and tasks, so that every employee feels secure in what is expected of him or her.
Release the control need
Trust is the foundation of all good relationships, and research studies have shown that what distinguishes just successful distance teams is a sense of trust and trust among members. But the way there is not very easy. It can be a challenge for the manager who leads remotely to let go of the control need and trust that the employees do their job, not least if the team works completely or partially from home.
As a manager, it is important to focus less on how and when the job is done and more on actual results and deliveries. By setting concrete, measurable goals and following them up, the boss doesn’t have to feel like a control freak. Focusing on results and goals also makes employees less frustrated and more motivated and it becomes easier to create a climate free of suspicion, prestige and competition.
Common guidelines for communication
In order for the collaboration to work as smoothly as possible, you need to agree on how and when to communicate. What channels should we use for what? Should we have reconciliation daily or once a week? A standing contact time one morning of the week when you as a manager promise to be available to employees if needed? Find the solution that suits you and the business best. Also, discuss within the team the extent to which emails and phone calls outside of office hours are OK.
Don’t mess with the email
The e-mail is an important tool for all managers, but especially for those who work remotely. What is important to remember is that the way you as a manager handle e-mails from the employees is of great importance for both work results and relationships. Of course, being constantly available on the e-mail is an impossibility for most managers, but the risk of procrastinating pushing to respond to e-mails is that the employee feels unimportant and invisible.
Of course, it is of particular importance that employees receive reasonable answers to direct questions in a timely manner that would otherwise risk stopping work, but you should also not underestimate the importance of regular feedback on the job that the employee has delivered. A simple “Thank you” or “Good job!” Can make a big difference.
Physical meetings at regular intervals
No matter how fantastic the digital opportunities are, you do not come from the fact that employees sometimes need to have the opportunity to meet their manager face to face. You should also make sure that employees get to meet each other once or a few times a year. And when you see you, make sure to use the time wisely. Avoid spending valuable time on clean information and focus instead on dialogue, training, workshops and fun activities that enhance team spirit.
Nurture relationships
As a manager, it is your job to make sure that all employees feel seen and heard, that they feel comfortable and that they have the tools they need to perform. Without those daily spontaneous chatting, it is, of course, a difficult task – but it is far from impossible. One way might be to bet on regular individual calls where you tune out of the situation.
Then use video calls to avoid losing body language, looks and facial expressions – important puzzle pieces when trying to understand what our interlocutor really means. Another tip is to invite you to joint digital meetings when you want to congratulate someone on their birthday, greet a new employee or thank an employee who quits. Small things that can make a big difference to the relationships in the team.
Have virtual coffee breaks
Coffee breaks and small talk mean a lot to job satisfaction and community and is something most people don’t want to be without. And with a little creativity, you can get the snack even if you are not seen face to face. A simple tip: when you have a video meeting, do not turn off the technology when it’s time for a break, but pick up coffee and keep talking to each other, though about something other than the job. Or why not create a channel in your chat tool for the purpose that you call, for example, the “coffee room”?
Think wisely in the tool jungle
Trello, Projectplace, Skype, OneNote, Planner, Slack… There are a plethora of digital tools for collaboration and communication online and the problem is hardly to find a tool for the tasks you need to solve, but rather to screen and opt-out of all options. It may be tempting to jump on the latest flashy technology, but be sure to choose your tools with care and let your needs control. Three good rules of thumb are: each tool should have a clear purpose, it should be easy to use and it should work well with the other parts of your digital toolbox.
Another way to facilitate collaboration in the distance team is to utilize all the smart features that a cloud-based personnel system can offer, such as those you find in Flex HRM.
Smooth digital flow for time reports, absenteeism applications and travel bills. Clear deadlines for certification and certification keep the system in check for you. You don’t have to waste time on paper jams and sending out reminder emails.
Both the manager and the employee have full control over schedules and work sessions and can quickly communicate with each other about who can move in with illness and the like.
Create assignments with deadlines for your ongoing tasks and let the system push them out to those responsible so that nothing important falls between the chairs.