Working from home? Here are 10 top tips to effectively manage your team remotely.

We all know about the benefits of building a high-performing team that delivers quality all the time. But how do you do this at a time of crisis surrounded by high stress and uncertainty? Here are 10 top tips to managing a team remotely.

1. Be there for your team

Managing a team throughout major change and disruption means being there for them every step of the way. Ensure you touch base with your team on a regular basis where you can whether this is a quick phone call to check in or a regular weekly one to one video meeting. Have a conversation about how they are travelling and be a listening ear.

2. Ensuring effective communication at all levels

Maintaining an effective and continuous communication at every level ensures that everyone is on the same page. This is critical in uncertain times where there is constant change around us.

3. Empowering your team

Empower your employees to make decisions about their workload based on flexibility. Consider assigning incremental ‘micro’ project tasks that will enable your team members to feel a sense of progression .

4. Setting clear goals for your team

A big part of building a high-performance team is defining and clearly communicating the goals and objectives. Ensure regular and transparent updates to your teams on how the business is operating at this time. This makes your team aware of not just their individual goals, but also the team goals and how their tasks help in accomplishing them. 

5. Regular one to one catch ups

Gone are the days when the only reviews that saw light were annual appraisals. Regular reviews are beneficial because they help employees set clear goals and make measurable improvements. Recognition can also help increase the efficiency and lower work pressure.

6. Help extend a healthy work environment into the home

We all want to work in an office environment that is clean and stimulating, don’t we? If your team is working from home there are many ways you can help to extend the positive workplace culture.

Consider weekly team catch-ups that are more informal and fun, decorate your Zoom background images or discuss wins for the week.

7. Offer training programs online to update skills

Invest in training programs so that your employees can respond and adapt better to the changes in how we are working. This may be an ideal time to up skill employees in technology skills, communication skills or platforms and systems that will help improve productivity.

You can still offer certain skills training online via video conferencing as email courses or through dedicated set paced training portals.

8. Collaboration

Another way to help keep teams high performing is to create more ways for the team to be collaborative. Bringing together the individual unique skill sets of multiple team members can be more effective than what individual team members could do independently. 

9. Stick to commitments

Know the importance of following through on commitments. Taking full ownership of the goal and having your team also sign up for accountability is a sure-fire way to stay on track on the execution.

10. Lead with empathy

Successful team leaders are confident that they can always be depended on when things don’t quite go their way. For your team to perform well, your team members need to have faith in you. And as a team leader you will always take responsibility for the team’s actions and never try to blame them or back away when in crisis.

Disclaimer

The information provided on our blog is designed to provide helpful information, and does not constitute legal advice, and not intended to be a substitute for legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should seek legal advice in relation to any particular matter you or your organisation may have.

Get In Touch

If you would like to learn more about HR for your business contact us for a no obligations phone call with Iolanda Hazell, Director, Infinity HR, at info@infinityhr.com.au

About The Author

Iolanda Hazell is Director & Founder of Infinity HR, helping businesses create a people-first workplace culture. With over 18 years HR expertise, Iolanda works with small to large organisations to create tailored people strategies that achieve business goals."