7 Steps to Successfully Lead a Remote Team

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Dr Lepora Flournoy, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

7 STEPS TO LEAD A REMOTE TEAM SUCCESSFULLY!
Right now, leaders across the world are frazzled trying to figure out how to lead a team effectively in a remote environment. Concerns range from lack of good technology and lack of operational processes to lack of trust and team engagement.
Despite concerns, there are ways to effectively lead teams remotely. In fact, there are companies and teams that have been doing it successfully for several years now. Yes, there are elements that should be in place and steps that should be taken. However, it is doable, and the rewards can be significant for the organization.
Benefits to organizations have included:
• Saving on facility and utility costs,
• Ability to apply remote work option to a compensation package that offsets direct costs, as well as a
• Direct increase of productivity from team members.
• A more obvious benefit to leaders in today’s era is decreased liability due to employees being more vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus.
Benefits to team members have included:
• Decrease of wasted time in commute
• Fewer cube and water cooler distractions
• Increased productivity
• Healthier work-family alignment
• A more obvious benefit for team members in today’s era is decreased risk of contraction of the Covid-19 virus.

Given that information, 7 Steps to Effectively Lead Teams Remotely include:

1. Encourage Regular Face to Face interactions through video, while providing multiple modes of communication.
Face to face interaction is always going to be the best way to connect with others. It enhances connection, understanding and other elements of effective communication. However, in global operations, face to face may not always be conducive to all team members simultaneously depending upon factors including time zones, technology capability and other influencing elements. Therefore, the more modes of communication available, the better the likelihood of increased participation. Such modes include videoconferencing, telephone, chat/ IM, e-mail, etc.
Among other sessions, Structured Daily Check- Ins are also important. Working remotely, those impromptu meetings at the water coolers, etc., may be taken for granted. So, it’s especially important to ensure that there is a daily time that everyone has the opportunity to touch bases with each other to ensure effective collaboration for the day.
2. Ensure a Comprehensive Shared Knowledge Database. While many of us have used SharePoint onsite in corporate offices. Many operations have not reached 100% reconciliation between knowledge on individual computers vs. shared databases. Now is the time to ensure that there is a shared knowledge database that does not just include finished products, but also works in progress. This facilitates effective iterative and agile collaboration as well successful knowledge transfer when needed.
3. Engage Your Team, Socially. Yes, it is important to engage your team regarding work getting done. However, its also important to engage your teams socially, even or especially when working remotely. As a leader, you can set up online social communities for your team, host virtual happy hours and promote more personal sharing in conversations. These are ways to facilitate and maintain connections across the team.
4. Set up Rules of Engagement and Respect Them. This could be the first step; definitely an especially important one. Be sure to set up the proper rules of engagement and ensure that the rules are mutually owned by the group. This may include appropriate times to contact each other, what constitutes an emergency, or times that all will ensure that they are available, etc. Once these rules are established, as a leader you must make effort to respect them as well as enforce them.
5. Offer Encouragement and Emotional Support and remind your team of such availability. As a leader, you are not a counselor. However, you are a human being leading other humans. Be sure to use empathy and understanding with your team. Some matters your team members may deal with will exceed your capacity and that is when you ensure that they are aware of EAP or other external emotional support resources.
6. Manage Accountability through Objective Tracking. This step is especially important in ensuring that leaders are comfortable that their team members are doing what they are supposed to do off-site. Sometimes, leaders are distrustful of team members because they do not know how to track for outcomes effectively. Now is the time to ensure that you understand the goals that you have set for your team, respective team members and why they are important to the organization. When a leader can track against the right goals with a predictable cadence, then assessing the appropriate contribution of the team member becomes easy.
7. Build a Sustainable Plan for Your Team. Finally, build a plan that is going to be sustainable for your team. One size does not fit all. The job function make-up, global location make-up, culture and value system will vary depending upon your team and organization. Therefore, ensure that your plan is one that enhances the identity of your team and organization and is sustainable for long- time success.

If you find this information interesting or helpful, please share it with others.

If you need coaching or know someone who does, do take advantage of a complimentary consultation with me to explore fit for leadership transformation.

Have a great day!
Team Dr. Lepora