In a survey of more than 500 tech companies, a study showed that remote work is a rising trend that will grow as we move toward the next decade. Attitudes among executives about how work can be accomplished have shifted. The mentality that employees must “come to work” and be in the same building as managers and more have changed. Moreover, these transformations in how things are done began before the Coronavirus pandemic struck worldwide.
Now, 70% of all business founders say they’ll allow employees (some or all) to work from home as part of a virtual team.
Related: Transforming Work Where People Matter: Covid-19 and Beyond
Promoting Productivity
Create a Rhythm in the Work Day
When employees work from home, separate from others on their teams, it’s easy to treat work as a hobby. Without the routine that most employees have become familiar with when at the office, for some, it is not easy to maintain self-discipline. A fix for that issue is for managers to help their employees by creating a new “work from home rhythm” for the workday. For example, each week, managers can schedule regular, virtual meetings through Zoom, Skype, or Facetime.
Managers need to ensure those meeting agendas are set well in advance with clear information about when meetings begin and end. If you have issues with employees working in different time zones, make sure to rotate meeting times to ensure that they’re spread across time zones in the most equitable manner possible.
The Virtual Water Cooler
You know how people like to catch up with each other before meetings start? There’s usually an informal conversation with team members talking about their significant others, their kids, and life. It’s where the cliche of co-workers taking a break and hanging out at the water cooler comes from. It’s an opportunity for employees and managers to connect on a personal level. Because, after all, life is more than work.
When working in virtual teams, if there isn’t an effort to foster informal interactions between everyone involved, meetings can be excessively task-oriented. Without the shared social bonds between individuals, managers risk the cohesion of their teams weakening. A great way to counteract that risk is to do a “check-in” at the start of meetings. Ask each participant how they’re doing, allowing each team member to talk about both good and challenging things happening in their lives.
Additionally, managers may wish to consider the idea of injecting some light-hearted fun into meeting sessions through virtual team-building exercises.
Establish One on One’s
Remember to check in personally with each virtual team member. One on one interactions provide you with the chance to see how that employee is doing and to provide feedback etc. It also allows you to keep that valued worker deeply connected to a sense of purpose, vision, and their role in making projects, etc. flow smoothly.
Related: Parenting, Remote Work, and School Closure During Covid-19
Interested in one-on-one executive coaching in areas such as working with a virtual team and conducting virtual meetings while engaging and inspiring employees? Contact Reverb today and talk with one of our team members!
Simplify and Clarify Tasks
Because it can be challenging to ensure that everyone is on the same page when team members work from multiple locations, managers need to make sure that roles, responsibilities, and goals are clearly and simply iterated.
Streamline everything as much as humanly possible. Try to ensure that tasks are given to small groups of two or three people. Layout in clear terms precisely who is responsible for what aspect of work completion and set a deadline. Touch base with your team members. There’s no need to micromanage; however, you should let employees know there will be periodic “after-action reviews.” You’ll want to assess team members’ progress quickly and whether adjustments need to be made, etc.
Have the Best Communications Technology
“Bigger, better, more” doesn’t equal “best” when it comes to the technology you choose to use for virtual teaming. It also doesn’t mean using a platform with the most features, or that’s the newest. Instead, think about reliability. Think about how robust the technology is. Think about using a platform that everyone on your team can use to collaborate without difficulty.
If your team already uses Google or Microsoft for business, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams are excellent features that make virtual communication a dream. They both offer reliable, easy-to-use video conferencing that allows you to screen share, upload files, and collaborate with up to 100 participants.
Zoom is a similar communication platform that has completely taken over the video chatting world, and thankfully, it’s free to download! So you can host meetings or present webinars with ease. Ubers Conferencing Line is another free resource that allows you to do conference calls with your team.
Lastly, Slack and Discord are two platforms that allow you to message your team whether you’re on your desktop or on your phone. It also lets you create channels so that individual departments can text each other. It’s truly incredible how there are so many communication technologies for businesses to turn to for virtual work!
Commit to Rules for Communication
You should ensure that there are clear rules for communication. Team members need to understand and commit to behavior standards when it comes to side conversations, background noise, listening and paying attention, speaking clearly, allowing others to speak, etc.
Promoting Engagement
Promote Health and Wellness
Remember that your virtual team members are people. Their health is essential not only to ensure that they can function at the highest levels but simply because they’re human. No one likes to be considered merely a resource because they’re not. With that said, when you encourage team members to look after their health, you are helping to make sure your team operates at optimum efficiency.
Some ideas for encouraging employee health in a virtual environment are things like suggesting healthy meals, leading by example, and talking about exercise programs you’re participating in from home. Other ideas include being open about mental illness and making suggestions on preserving mental health, talking about proven stress relief techniques, and more.
Finding more ways to connect with your virtual team, discussing their health, and offering ideas on how to improve it, shows that you care about their entire person, and not just for how much they’ll provide the organization’s bottom line.
Make Sure Employees Feel Heard and Valued
Try to ensure that you find small, easy ways to connect with your team members outside of work. Easy ways to do this include finding out when your employee’s birthdays are and then adding them to your calendar. When their birthday rolls around, send an Ecard! Remember also to recognize the accomplishments of individual team members and praise them publicly during virtual meetings.
Also, ensure that each virtual team member can contact you directly. Make sure you find time to respond to them in a timely manner. Whether it’s a concern or a question, you’ll want to ensure your virtual team can always come to you. Finally, if an employee is trying to communicate with you, ensure that you pay attention to what’s being said and then do your best to help address concerns, answer questions, or take action when you’ve been confided in.
It’s all about showing you care.
Keep Communication Open
This may appear a bit repetitive, but it’s crucial to keep communication lines open. Remember that not everyone may work the same hours. Virtual team members might be in different time zones. When that happens, they may feel it’s challenging to reach out for support when they need to. However, if employees know that a response is assured, it can lessen anxiety by knowing they do not have to go it alone.
At Reverb, we believe that managing virtual teams and keeping communications open is part and parcel of dealing with modern trends and shifting the executive mindset. It’s part of our world’s new reality, and Reverb is committed to helping organizations engage and inspire employees even when working remotely.
Closing Remarks
Managing a virtual team and ensuring each member is productive even from home demands practices and goals that weren’t even considered several years ago. However, these are changing times, and managers must be flexible. Remember that your virtual team can reach its potential with empathy, the right expectations, structure, and tools.
Related: Running Effective Online Meetings: Covid-19 and Beyond
Ready to give your virtual team hands-on experience and the practical tools needed to develop themselves as leaders? Discover Reverb’s customized, interactive workshops!
