SIX TIPS FOR MANAGERS ON LEADING YOUR DEPARTMENT/TEAM REMOTELY Improving your career is easy... or maybe not. 

SIX TIPS FOR MANAGERS ON LEADING YOUR DEPARTMENT/TEAM REMOTELY 

 

By Richard Pheasant

 

With the current Covid-19 lockdown taking place in many countries, many managers are finding themselves in a situation where they now have to lead their staff remotely using video conferencing software.  If this is you, or you suddenly find yourself in this situation for other reasons, then you need to adapt quickly to the new season that you are in.

 

It is easy for managers to let time slip as you and your team are trying to cope with the new situation that you are all in. Then, before you know it, two or three weeks have gone by and neither you nor your team have found a routine. Their productivity will almost certainly have declined and, if you are not careful, to some degree their interest.

 

You must take action as soon as possible to keep them motivated and occupied, whether it is for a certain period, or whether it is a permanent situation you find yourself in as companies change and people work from home, or from another location, meaning that the opportunities for face-to-face meeting are far less. 

 

It is therefore important that you plan straight away to meet with them online within the next few days. Organise a meeting first with the whole team, then with each employee individually.

 

Here are 6 tips to help you as a manager with getting started on this. If you have never used video-conferencing software before, this article will help you, though you will still need to watch a video or get some coaching to know how to master the application you use. 

 

The 6 tips are:

 

1. Schedule your meetings now and make sure each team member is aware
2. Decide on the right video conferencing application and ensure you have mastered it
3. Respect theirs and your time and do not micro-manage
4. Start with a solid foundation - have a checklist & plan your meetings
5. Use a coaching framework like GROW for your individual meetings
6. Leave time in your one-to-one meetings to ask the employee how they are feeling about everything

1. Schedule Your Meetings Now And Make Sure Each Team Member Is Aware 

 

Decide on how often you are going to meet with your team, both as a group and with each of them individually. The best option is to have the meetings on the same day and time throughout the week. You may want to have a video-conference meeting with your team once or twice a week. Decide the days, the time and then let everyone know. Send out a calendar invite today.

 

Once the team meeting is decided upon, set a time to have a meeting with each of your employees individually. This is important, as it will give you a time to talk through their tasks and goals while they are away from the office and what they need to achieve each week (see tip 4.) It will help you to help them continue to be productive. It will also help to get them used to having regular online meetings, as well as encouraging and motivating them to think about using this time productively.

 

It may well be that you find that a lot actually gets achieved during this period. One Recruitment Manager I know shared with me that during one of the lockdowns, they actually did more business and achieved far more than before the pandemic, so there are definite possibilities of being more productive. 

 

You must get your team on-board though with the new situation and do not let them slip in terms of their productivity. So get those on-line meetings scheduled as soon as possible. 

 

Practical: Make some notes now. Decide and write down your team video-conference meeting time and day/days. What day soon will you have your first team video-conference meeting? Then decide on and makes notes on your individual meeting time and days.

 

2. Decide On The Right Video Conferencing Application And Ensure You Have Mastered It

 

Many people are now using Zoom or MS Teams for video conferencing, but you could also use Skype or Google Hangouts, as well as WhatsApp (for between 1-4 people only.)

 

Decide whether you are going to start with a group conference with your team first or one-to-one meetings with each employee.  If one-to-one video calls, you could start with just using Whatsapp, and then move to another application. Either way, start making a plan on what applications you will use.

 

Once you have decided, make sure you master them yourself. You will lose the impact of any meeting if the first 15 minutes are spent trying to set it up and get everyone tuned in. Get some online coaching from your IT department, or go to YouTube and learn yourself (for MS Teams, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxfukizkyCA for Zoom try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ik5o6WptX0. And for Skype, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgcEfK6wCTo,)

 

Mastering the technology will allow you to have a smooth meeting from the start (as well as possibly impressing your team!) Group conferencing will take longer to learn, especially in terms of setting it up so that you manage to have a smooth start to any first video conference meeting. 

 

Give yourself a day or two to practice, either with a friend, relative or another colleague. Then try it with several users until you are confident.

 

Practical: Choose your software. I would select ‘Zoom’, MS Teams or ‘Skype for Business’. Practice using it, firstly for an individual meeting, then with multiple participants joining in. 

 

3. Respect theirs and your time and do not micro-manage

 

A classic response of many managers when they are managing a team remotely is to organise too many meetings because they feel the need to keep checking on them. By doing this, all you will do is make them feel that you do not trust them and that you are micro-managing (which then demotivates your employees.)

 

The maximum number of meetings you should have with an employee per week is 1-2 (unless another important point to discuss comes up and it is better to do it online in a meeting.)

 

Equally do not have more than 1-2 team meetings a week.  In fact, I would recommend the standard be one. It is about them doing their work and achieving their goals, not how many meetings they attend, so be careful of being too zealous in meeting up with them. 

 

Secondly, respect their time – only have meetings in normal working hours. I have heard recently how some managers have expected their employees to come to meetings starting at 9 or even 10pm, because that is the time the manager prefers. Do this and you will demotivate your team. 

 

Unless you are in a business where you and your team are on call, or sometimes have emergency meetings, you would never have a meeting in the evening normally. So respect their time (and yours) and keep each meeting in regular working hours.

 

Practical:  Do not micro-manage and have too many meetings. Also, keep all meetings in regular working hours where possible. 

 

4. Start With A Solid Foundation - Have a Checklist & Plan Your Meetings

 

Write out a checklist of procedures and goals for your employees that they should complete each week from home or from their remote office. This will help to avoid miscommunication and confusion that may result from them working away from yourself and the rest of the team, plus you not being able to check-in with them as you might usually do.

 

Laying this foundation will also give your video-meeting a good start which you can work through and will give a solid base for future meetings.  Also, plan some of the questions you will ask and the points you wish to talk through.

 

They will be then clear on what is happening, on any possible instructions you may have, as well as how you expect them to proceed during this time. You can then move on to discuss other individual goals and projects after that.

 

If you are delegating a task, always make sure they have the ability (the competencies, knowledge and skills) and the motivation and confidence to complete the task. If they are lacking the ability, you may need to coach them. If they lack motivation or confidence, you should discuss and talk through with them the reasons why.

 

They will be then clear on what is happening, on any possible instructions you may have, as well as how you expect them to proceed during this time. You can then move on to discuss other individual goals and projects after that.

 

Practical: Make a checklist of tasks that each of your team should complete every week. Then under individual names, write their own goals and projects that they should be working on.

 

Secondly, make sure you have an agenda to work through for your video-conference team meeting. Prioritise your agenda with the important and urgent points first, then urgent second, and the less important and less urgent last. Choose one of your team to take action minutes (rotate it each week) that they will pass on to you to circulate (for this, I suggest supplying them with a minutes template to keep the written minutes consistent.)  In your individual meetings, go through each team member’s action points with them to see how they are getting on with them.

 

Practical: Write an agenda for your video-conference team meetings, as you would normally do for other meetings. 

 

5. Use A Coaching Framework Like GROW For Your Individual Meetings

 

Essentially, this is talking through two or three goals that they need to achieve that week, always putting the onus on them. Use the GROW (Goals, Reality, Options, Way Forward) framework, which you can use like this:

 

Goals – “So, tell me something you intend to complete this week” or “What is one of your goals for this week?”

Reality – “And where are you at with that at the moment?”

Options – “So, what are the different ways you could achieve that? Give me 3-4 things you can do to get that done.”

Way Forward – “So, summarise for me how you are going to achieve (whatever the goal is.)”

 

Have a similar conversation about each one of the employee’s goals. To understand this more or to read another similar conversation in action, buy and read chapter 7 of “The Six Conversations Of A Brilliant Manager” (the one titled ‘Coaching (Conversation #1’What can you do about that?’))

 

Practical: Write ‘Goals, Reality, Options, Way Forward’ on a card to keep in front of you to remind you of the framework as you go through it with your team. Practise using it with a relative, friend or colleague. 

 

6. Leave time in your one-to-one meetings to ask the employee how they are feeling about everything

 

Always try and include some time in your one-to-one meetings to check-in on how the employee is feeling. Working remotely can make many employees feel disconnected, as well as missing the office vibe and rapport. Give them an opportunity to share how they are feeling and getting on themselves with the situation you are in and working remotely.

Empathy, care and understanding can go a long way to improving an employee’s motivation, as well as loyalty. It is time well spent, so don’t always be in a hurry to end the meeting. 

Practical: Include in your one-to-one meetings a question on how the employee is feeling about things. Let them open up and share. It is time well spent and will build a stronger connection and relationship between you both. 

 

These six tips should help you get started on the remote management of your employees until you are able to get back to the office (unless the situation is permanent.)

 

Once you all get into a routine, you should find this a productive period, despite the difficulties, and it will help you and your team move forward quickly once the season has finished. 

 

Richard Pheasant