Remote working is on the rise. As businesses everywhere adapt to the trickling effects of the pandemic, remote working has transformed from a mere option to a necessity—literally overnight. Between 2012 to 2016, the Us saw 43 perfect of workers who reported spending some of their time working remotely, according to a Gartner report. This number will only continue to grow as we navigate the pandemic. Now that things have slowed down, businesses—small and large—face a new challenge: keeping remote teams thriving and morale and productivity high. This is no easy task. But with the right steps, this can be done. The following are 3 remote working strategies that you can implement for your business today to efficiently manage your remote team. 1. Empower staff with the proper technology to thrive There is an abundance of collaboration tools that businesses can use to equip their team members with the right tools to achieve maximum productivity. According to Gartner, employers should, at a minimum, consider the following factors/questions to ensure their staff can thrive in a remote working environment. Devices: are employees equipped with laptops to work from home? Do they have a VPN for remote access? Collaboration Tools: are employees provided with applications that support remote working? Do these applications help facilitate effective communication and collaboration? Video conferencing: are employees provided with technology for video conferencing? How do employers solve the issue of slower connections? Ongoing technical support: is there an established protocol to properly support remote workers? And if so, what does that strategy look like? (i.e. is there a team of IT professionals taking turns with a help desk or is it one person responding to support all staff?) Resource scheduling: does the employer make it streamlined for remote workers to book rooms or rent equipment when and if they visit the office? 2. Establish the three A’s: authority, accountability, and affiliation Good management is a must, whether in the office or during remote working. Managers who set three key working styles and relationships from the outset will be much better off than managers who don’t. These tangible working styles and relationships include authority, accountability, and affiliation. Here’s how these three intangible working styles can truly boost your team’s remote working productivity. Authority: the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. Management who utilizes this theme for remote team management allows employers to decide when and how they work, schedules meetings (if needed) to help them overcome any challenges, as well as equips them with reliable technology for completing day-to-day tasks. Accountability: the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility. Management who utilizes this theme for remote team management measures performance by the outcome, rather than time spent. They address any potential bias against remote workers – especially if remote working is new to them. They also foster support and sharing amongst remote workers for effective knowledge sharing. Affiliation: the state or process of affiliating or being affiliated. Management who utilizes this theme for remote team management fosters human connections between remote workers and on-site/office workers. These managers equally support career goals for remote workers and even offer remote workers special projects to boost visibility. This is such a vital management theme, as remote workers are 50 percent less likely to receive performance-based promotions than traditional workplace employees, according to a Randstad study. Many variables contribute to this fact, most notably that remote workers face a lack of visibility (i.e. face to face interactions with senior management) within an organization, which are typically an interaction that leads to more opportunities. 3. Assess performance fairly Management who takes a different approach to measure the performance of remote workers will improve how their team operates. As remote working grows in light of the pandemic, traditional methods of measuring employee performance are no longer working well for employees who are in the office—let alone those working remotely. Management must set clear objectives and define exactly what great results look like, as well as document them so that expectations are understood for both parties. Manage your remote team effectively today Ready to start managing remote teams effectively? Implement the three above strategies today to see how you can improve the way your remote team operates and communicates. Just because you don’t get to see each other in-person does not deter you from fostering a high-performing team. Pandemic or not, we’re all in this together for the long run, so we may as well make it an effective one.
