It is an undeniable fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on businesses and professionals all around the world, and has presented newfound workplace challenges and hurdles. During these unprecedented times, the majority of companies resorted to adopting new trends, such as remote work, in order to keep up employee productivity and engagement.
According to a Bayt.com survey about the future of work in the MENA 2021, over 7 in 10 respondents believe that technological factors are most likely to change the nature of work in the future. Two years ago, many countries introduced lockdown restrictions and social isolation practices, which resulted in a shift from working in an office environment to working remotely, to adapt to the pandemic’s uncertainties. Therefore, good communication practices and overall leadership skills have become vital to the success of a remote team.
And to overcome the new sets of challenges posed by the shift to a remote work experience, we present to you some effective skills you need to master, in order to successfully manage remote employees with confidence:
Developing a clear, detailed realistic plan is crucial. As a manager, you should ensure that your employees know your goals and expectations and how to achieve them. First, identify obstacles, potential problems, and the needed toolkit and resources to overcome them. Engage your team with the plan and listen carefully to their ideas and expectations of the work process.
Your plan should comprise a meeting schedule, how employee productivity will be measured, working hours, and the means of efficiently reaching out for help or assistance. For the best results, make sure that you identify and set up several communication channels where your team will available during working hours. Focus on project outcomes and achievements, and not on the number of working hours. Keep your policy flexible; this helps to keep the work process updated to compensate for any possible alterations.
Different team members require different resources and upskilling methods to help in improving their performance. For example, content creators, designers, and developers can easily carry out their work remotely without much adjustment. All they need is suitable devices (equipped with the needed software/programs) and good internet connection.
On the other hand, sales and customer service personnel may need to be trained to use additional tools, software, and management system, in order to move their on-field meetings online; like receiving calls and scheduling online meetings with clients. For that reason, it’s your responsibility to present them with all the needed tools and software to facilitate their day-to-day processes and ensure that they are trained to use them properly.
While the pros of working remotely (less commute stress, cost-effectiveness, better work-life balance, etc.) has been evident in the past 2 years, so were its cons. These cons come in the shape of the missing natural operations workflow and human interaction that are normally present in the office. These cons can negatively affect their physical and mental well-being, resulting in reduced productivity levels.
To tackle these challenges, online communication channels will be your best friend. Try and enforce a communication policy, where you communicate with your employees transparently and frequently. Emails can be a great channel for professional and documented interactions, like task delivery, projects proposals, etc. Online chatting software like Slack and Google Chat, can be used for quick questions, feedback, and watercooler conversations.
Video conferencing can be used for urgent matters, daily team huddles, monthly feedback meetings, etc. These video meetings will not only enable everyone to stay informed, focused, and conversant with the team and overall company updates, but they also simulate physical interaction, where you will be able to touch base with your team.
Remote work with all the surrounding distractions can cause losing track of time, which will cause your employees to work even more hours to deliver the necessary outcomes, which will ultimately lead to feelings of stress and burnout. For that reason, developing time management skills for your team members is essential to keep up a healthy and productive work environment. Encourage team members to use time-tracking apps and software which can be great to help them stay focus.
Additionally, while meetings can be amazing for keeping communication channels open within the team, they can also be time-consuming if not scheduled and managed properly. For example, if you set a meeting on Sunday, at 8 p.m., everyone is expected to join in on time, stick to discussing the topics within the meeting agenda, and note exceed the time given to speak.
Alongside the increasing percent of remote work nowadays, there is a revolutionary growth in its digital tools and software that greatly support this new work experience. These tools are meant to enable employees to communicate, collaborate and handle work in tandem with their managers and colleagues, from wherever they are.
Make use of tools like Asana, Slack, Jira, Zoom, Trello, Google Chat, and others, to communicate with your team, hold meetings, create sales and marketing material, manage projects, schedule and track daily team tasks.
Working remotely can give employees a feeling of isolation, where they are out-of-the-loop and not aware of what is going in their team and company. And the secret to successful managers, is keeping close to their team and involving them in work process development.
Create a channel (maybe a Slack group chat, or a Google Chat space) to regularly post relevant company-wide news, hiring announcements, policy updates, birthday greetings, etc. Set a consistent system to receive employee feedback, brainstorming new ideas, asking for team opinions on the current workflow, what they prefer, how to improve the operations, and what can be done to increase their engagement and satisfaction.
Do you know of any other skills needed to manage remote employees? Feel free to share them by commenting below! And check out some of the latest tips to achieving workplace success.
