How can I manage my remote team effectively?

Dear Caroline,
I work for a publishing company. Owing to the disruption as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, management decided to have some sections working from home. I manage a small unit of about eight staff. How can I supervise them effectively when they are working from home?
Abednego
 
Hello Abednego,
Managing a team is difficult at the best of times. Having to suddenly adjust to managing your team as they work remotely from home is even more challenging.
The number one priority must be to maintain good communication with your team members.

Provide several forms of communication, assuring your team that you are available to them and clarifying when to use each communication form. It is crucial to establish frequent, longer one-on-one meetings with each of your team members to track their work progress and check in on them.

During this turbulent time, keep in mind each of your staff are likely to have a lot going on in their personal lives. Offer them additional encouragement and emotional support; this could be as simple as asking them how they have been finding remote working so far.

Maintaining consistent communication with individuals within your team ensures that the whole group meets together virtually. During such meetings, leave time at the beginning or end for a non-work chat; this may seem like a waste of time amid busy schedules, but this is essential in maintaining group relations and combating loneliness and isolation within the team.

During this time, it is imperative to set and prioritise expectations. Provide the team with specific, result-focused objectives. As staff work remotely, it is more difficult for them to ask you or other colleagues for advice or further guidance on tasks. Therefore, tasks must be communicated clearly from the onset.
As well as establishing what you would like your team to do, you must highlight why their tasks are valuable.

As employees spending less time at office with colleagues, it can be easy to feel disconnected from the organisation. Therefore, it is essential to show them the bigger picture, emphasise how their work connects to the greater mission of the organisation, and be intentional about celebrating success.

Caroline Mboijana,
Managing Director, The Leadership Team (U)  [email protected]