How to manage a remote team?
Since the health crisis in 2020 and successive confinements, teleworking or “Remote” has become widespread and is now an integral part of employee habits.
There advantages of telework . Indeed, it improves the quality of life of employees (more comfort, less journey time, less stress, etc.), which stimulates their motivation and their productivity.
Today, many employees say they are ready to give up a job offer if it does not include a possibility of teleworking. The “TT” having become a central asset of the employer brand, today we must deal with this new reality.
This increasingly common practice questions us about the best methods for remotely managing.
How to supervise your team at a distance? How to allow everyone to take advantage of the advantages of telework without affecting the productivity of the team? How to take advantage of the advantages of telework on the employee's innovation and commitment?
Marvin helps you find the best solutions to manage your team remotely in a benevolent setting.
The many challenges of remote management
To better understand how to adapt your management to remote work, and develop your management style and leadership in all circumstances, Marvin helps you identify the main management difficulties linked to the implementation of telework and its generalization.
Communication
Communication has a key role in the operation of a team and its productivity . Indeed, so that the various employees manage to actually work in a team, especially from a distance, communication is often the key.
Good communication allows managers to better understand their expectations vis-à-vis their employees and better distribute tasks and missions within the team.
Transparent communication also makes it possible to more easily bring up any friction points which could disrupt the work of the team and to set up the actions necessary in time.
When the team is on telework, communication is hampered : while in face -to -face it is easy to spontaneously contact a colleague (in an open space, during a break, etc.), the telework involves sending an instant message, taking an call or sending an email.
Getting the slightest message through email or instant messaging can also cause misunderstandings and bad interpretations. A message that wants to be direct to be more effective can be perceived as cold or authoritarian, where non -verbal face -to -face language dispels this risk.
Coordination
In teleworking, rhythms and working hours can vary compared to a traditional working day at the office.
Indeed, if your employees have no journey time, perhaps they prefer to start their work day earlier to finish earlier.
Teleworking also makes it possible to reconcile professional and personal tasks , and it is therefore that the working day is more “chopped”. By period, it may also be that some of your employees in teleworking are on a different time zone.
The face -to -face work of the whole team allows better coordination of working time, facilitates impromptu meetings and other ad hoc points. From this point of view, and if it is not effectively supervised, telework may put a grain of sand in a well -oiled cog, and therefore requires rethinking the management of the team.
Confidence
Like communication, confidence is essential for quality management and good interpersonal relationships within the same team. However, it can be undermined by teleworking.
On the one hand, for fear that his team will benefit from telework to work less and carry out domestic tasks, the manager may be tempted to set up a stricter working time control, or even check the activities of his employees.
Use infantilizing management methods will have the deleterious effect of deteriorating the quality of the working relationship, and of wasting the manager a lot of time.
On the employee's side, the messages received from the manager can be misunderstood or poorly perceived. They can make believe in a lack of confidence and thus participate in a deterioration of the working relationship .
If these cases may seem caricatured, they nevertheless represent the way in which confidence between a manager and the members of his team can be marred by poor management of telework.
Productivity
In the long term, all the difficulties set out above can affect the productivity of the team and its ability to deliver qualitative work and coordinated over time.
If it should not be fell into the trap of shots on telework , it is still necessary to ensure that it does not weigh too much on the productivity of the team and of each and each.
To meet these management challenges imposed by the evolution of our working methods, a manager must today develop new skills to adapt to a world of evolving work.
What are the key skills to manage his team remotely?
You will understand, to be a good face -to -face manager, but also from a distance, you must therefore manage to overcome the difficulties related to telework. Here is an overview of the skills to be acquired for a remote managing .
- Communication skills : to avoid any misunderstanding or any tensions related to a poorly perceived message, it is essential to adapt your communication to the context of telework. Communicating well from a distance also makes it possible to communicate expectations and objectives to be achieved precise and clear to each of your employees.
- Organizational skills : To coordinate the work of the team and the different telework meetings, an effective manager must have increased organization and anticipation capacities . In teleworking, it is also necessary to adapt to the growing requests for flexibility on the part of employees.
- Technological skills : Many innovative tools and software make it possible to considerably facilitate teamwork remotely (Slack for instant messaging, concept to pilot teamwork, AirTable to manage its database, etc.). There are many innovations in this field, but you still have to know how to take advantage of it.
To recruit well remotely, you must therefore have suitable technological tools . To help you recruit the best candidates, using a collaborative ATS is essential, like Marvin Recruiter.
- Relational skills : Preserving an atmosphere and a team spirit is essential for the quality of life at work, and retaining your talents. If teleworking is frequent in your team, you must maintain convivial and informal exchanges . You must also know how to identify and dispel the misunderstandings linked to digital communication.
Some good practices for fluid remote management
Establish clear expectations
To avoid misunderstandings and waste of time, well -managing remotely involves formulating clear and precise expectations . A good practice may be to ensure that the manager and the employee are aligned on the objectives set following a video exchange for example.
Communicate regularly and effectively
One of the risks of teleworking is less to request his colleagues and managers than in face -to -face. To remedy this, you can establish regular and effective exchange times to evoke specific points and ensure the smooth running of a mission.
Use the right collaboration tools
Software, instant messaging, shared spaces: there are many tools to facilitate remote management . Take the time to identify your needs and the best tools to meet them, you will gain then in efficiency.
Make flexibility
One of the advantages of telework is to be able to more easily reconcile professional and personal tasks , and employees are often asking for more flexibility . As a manager, you must therefore adapt to modified hours and to the chopped rhythm of telework, as well as to new expectations of your employees.
Promote confidence and commitment
To ensure a climate of confidence, do not hesitate to be transparent towards your teams. Remember to regularly renew your trusted brands. To ensure a pleasant work context and re-engage the employee in his missions, try to preserve informal exchanges, and authorize him to get your head out of the handlebars from time to time.
Conclusion
Well -managing remotely therefore requires developing real skills. With ATS Marvin, recruit the best qualified profiles to manage a distant team.
Our intelligent recruitment solution allows you to weigh the profiles directly on LinkedIn, and then allows you to centralize on a single interface all potential candidates and then filter the profiles according to your expectations. With Marvin, make your life easier and streamline your recruitment process . Contact us today to ask for a demo.
