2021 the year that  remote working teams continues? 

2020 was the year that fast forwarded remote working for many. Many of us have craved greater flexibility. Whilst remote working technology isnt new, in many organisations, there was   reluctance to embrace these flexible remote working practises. For some leaders, its about being stuck in the mindset, if you are here, you must be working.  After all there are lots of positives of working in an office. Networking, interaction, the ‘quick’ meeting, water cooler conversations and socialization. These are all great reasons, However the genie is out of the bottle. Workers have discovered that they can work remotely. Some have enjoyed increased productivity. Others have enjoyed spending less time and money on the commute. So… how do you put the genie back in the bottle, and do your workers really want to?

Did you know that in 1979 IBM was making headlines by becoming one the worlds first fortune 500 companies to allow employees to work remotely? That’s right around 42 years ago the corporate giant adopted this modern outlook to work. In fact, IBM found the practice to be so successful, that by 2009, 40% of their circa 390,000 employees worked remotely. In 2017, before the Convid 19 explosion, IBM directed their employees back to the office, with the view that working collectively in a physical team environment would drive innovation and productivity. (That infrastructure investment must be hurting CFO about now). In  2021, we find ourselves continuing to work remotely. What does this mean for your leadership style?

Four years later, organisations globally and now actively scrambling to embracing ‘work from home’  enabling business’ to continue, in a time of unknown outcomes. (Chances are, so is IBM.)

Changes are occurring thick and fast. In Italy, fashion shows are being conducted via video. Global conferences are being postponed or changed to virtual meetings. In Switzerland have banned gatherings over 1000 people resulting in the cancellation of the Swiss motor show and France have banned gatherings for over 5000 people. A decision has yet to be made about this years Olympics in Japan.

As countries scramble to manage the Convid 19 outbreak, many organisations are now embracing remote working as a way to reduce the risk for their people and their bottom line.

So, is working from home, really less productive than working from a traditional office? According to a recent Gallup report,  remote workers put in longer hours and are more productive than their non-remote peers.

Remote working isn’t going away. So why are we still debating this?

The truth is, for all the benefits, remote working, can still have its challenges. Typically, these include forming relationships and career progression. But the reality is that remote working will increasingly become the norm Convid19 virus or not.  It has a greener footprint, it’s cheaper for businesses, and most of all, it has an increasing appeal to workers seeking balance and flexibility.

But perhaps the issue with remote work isn’t with remote employees. It’s how we work and engage with remote employees. For leaders to build successful relationships with remote workers, they must make changes.

No one likes to feel that they are in the dark, so set expectations early. In the absence of frequent and clear communications, people tend to fill information gaps, regardless of whether it’s true or not.

Clear and honest communication and feedback are more important to remote workers than those in a localised environment. Remote workers do not have the luxury of swinging by your desk to ask you a question in person. So, be sure to schedule frequent communication points both virtual and face to face, such as one on one meetings, coaching, team meetings and celebrations.

Pick up the phone, message and video call. Where possible, use a video call, to enable you to connect and read the body language of your team member. The more you use video calls, the more natural they will feel for you and your team.

Create opportunities with your team to build connections.

This can be as easy as having a theme day of the week.

• Meme Monday,
• Virtual coffee Tuesdays
• Riddle Thursdays etc
• Virtual knock off drinks Friday
• To using the first 10 minutes of the team meeting to share personal and professional updates from team members.

Use technology to your advantage from sharing screens and video team meetings. Don’t forget that these can be made interactive by the use of virtual whiteboards and polling options.

You can not expect your team to follow the rules and or company values if you do not model these behaviours yourself. This includes increasing the frequency of communication by at least 20% and engaging with your team to identify how new initiatives or programs can be adapted or applied to your remote working team.

Have trust and confidence in your remote workers engage your team member to create a standard of expected behaviours, such as:

• from sharing documents on a shared drive every day,
• flagging when they are free to chat, versus ‘head down, bottom-up busy activity’ where they do not want to be disturb.

By engaging your team in the creation of these, they are more likely to adhere to them

Have trust and confidence in your remote workers.

You can start by leading by example. Remember, just being in an office does not mean that a team member is productive. Additionally, remember some team members may work better in the am, others in the pm, or they may be deadline-driven.

Be sure to consider this when creating your virtual team culture, as for many, the flexibility of working remotely, is what keeps them engaged and motivated.

Provided that they are producing quality outcomes and internal and external stakeholders are happy, does it really matter that they are not logged in at 9.00 am and logged off at 5.00 pm?

Be sure to schedule a regular one on one personal visits and meetings to increase rapport and respect with your team further.

For new team members, it is essential to ensure that their onboarding to their new role includes meeting time at your location and meeting other teams and service departments.

Additionally, the investment into face to face team planning day or team hackathon will result in team connection, engagement and ultimately, productivity.

Lastly, be generous by your public praise and acknowledgement – often remote team members can feel invisible. Celebrate team achievements, birthdays, even have virtual Friday night drinks, if that is your thing. Where possible, engage with other senior leaders to acknowledge and praise achievements.

By changing your leadership and communication style can result in a successful remote team and business outcomes.

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For more information, checklists, and references to assist in the transition to working remotely for team members and leaders will be posted in the following days.

What tips and insights can you share to assist in the transition – be it permanent or short term? Let us know in the comments below.

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About the author: Colleen Condon

Colleen likes to keep things creative in all that she does, often using marshmallows as a source of inspiration.

Everyone knows that ongoing learning is essential for both personal and professional success and yet, for many, this means hours of attending dead boring training or completing’ losing the will to live’ eLearning modules. Colleen’s mission is to end tedious professional development while ensuring targeted outcomes for learners and businesses.

Colleen has honed her skills over the last 20 years across multiple industries and locations. Her previous role saw her overseeing the training and development needs of over 60, 000 employees across 13 countries in the APAC region.  This enabled her to hone skills that celebrated diversity and understanding human commonality through learning, and that in the absence of a common language, flip charts and coloured markers helped her to overcome most challenging situations.

After taking a ‘go away package’, in 2019, Colleen founded her own business, Facilitated Training, harnessing her global learning experiences and sharing them through ready to use learning resources, specialising in leadership, mentoring, guest speaking, creative problem solving, filling the gap of high quality, customisable training resources and tools.