Lifehacks from our Project Managers
Just five years ago, remote work was considered to be the way of the future, but only the distant future. Most specialized web publications predicted a rise in the popularity of telecommuting, but only in ten years’ time. However, this future arrived much earlier.
Buffer’s research says that 98% of employees would like to have the possibility to work remotely, and 97% consider this to be objectively optimal. The global quarantine at the beginning of 2020 accelerated the process of transferring to the remote work, and many companies continue to work in this way even after the lockdown was canceled. This situation has become somewhat of a challenge for managers: although the team and the project remained the same, many processes had to be radically changed or even set up from scratch. In this article, we are going to analyze the main problems of managing remote personnel and consider options for solving them
Why this is important Fact №1: The number of remote employees is growing with each year. According to FlexJob for 2019, the number of remote workers has grown by 2.5 times over the past 12 years. Although some companies decided to bring their employees back into the office, it is likely that a full or partial transition to remote work will still happen, even if it takes a while. The market is expanding, new startups are appearing, companies are opening representative offices in other regions, new teams are coming into existence. When creating each new company or division, managers consider the pros and cons of both onsite and remote formats, and preference is being given to telecommuting with increasing frequency.
Fact №2: If applying the principles, which were used when working at the office, in personnel management on a remote site, a manager will not be able to fully control a number of processes. Simply said, if a manager doesn’t take the transition to remote work seriously, they risk losing touch with their team and noticing a decrease in productivity, which will only worsen over time. On the other hand, when they understand the problems that the team members are facing and implement the right practices, a PM will be able to reap all the benefits of remote work.
Problems that remote team members may face The 2020 survey showed that remote employees are most concerned about the following consequences:
Communication problems. Due to the absence of non-verbal signals, employees may sometimes misunderstand each other. Misunderstandings most often arise when communication is conducted only via messages, without voice calls.
Loneliness, a sense of being abandoned. For many people, most of their social activity takes place at work, and colleagues are their close friends. The absence of such communication can lead to social isolation and cause a feeling of loneliness.
Problems with “disconnecting” from work issues. If you work in the same place you live in, life often turns into non-stop work. When there is no clear office/home division, as well as no intermediate stage like commuting, boundaries are blurred.
Personal degradation. When there is no need to go out every day, many people stop taking care of their looks as much as they used to. Also, motivation to develop intellectually and physically reduces.
The above-mentioned problems, as well as many other, not obvious ones, lead to a loss of motivation. People stop being passionate about their work: it turns into a routine, sometimes a very painful one. To avoid this effect, a PM should pay special attention to personnel management.
What a manager should do There are many ways to increase the motivation of your team members, improve communication with them, and tune in to common goals. Good managers already know many of these methods; some managers apply them intuitively. Still, it will be useful for every PM to refresh this list in their memory from time to time.
So, here is what a manager can do for their remote-working team:
More communication. Daily Skype calls with the team will allow you to keep in touch and be aware of each other’s tasks.
Video calls as frequently as possible. Although some team members are more comfortable with voice-only conversations, a video call best imitates a face-to-face meeting and eliminates the shortage of social interactions.
The opportunity to talk one-on-one. A manager should communicate with each team member in private; once every two to three days would be perfect. Together with daily calls, this will allow you to always be aware of current problems and solve them in a timely fashion.
Availability 24/7. It’s not that comfortable, of course, but thanks to this approach, you can gain maximum loyalty. When employees know they can get advice and support at any time, they will try not to let you down. On the contrary, the contact-with-questions-only-during-working-hours policy makes team members less loyal. Why would they care about the projects and the company’s interests if the manager doesn’t?
Emoticons, stickers, and gifs in messages. These tools help to portray emotions, thus compensating for the absence of non-verbal communication. But it’s important to know when enough is enough. 🙂
A work schedule that is convenient for everyone. If the team members are distributed around the world, it is necessary to organize several regular calls per day, so that each employee can conveniently communicate during their working hours.
Necessary equipment. It is necessary to provide all team members with corporate equipment, if possible. This will eliminate downtime due to the fact that the employee’s personal laptop broke down, for example.
Opportunities for personal and career growth. Remote employees, like onsite ones, are interested in advancement. It is necessary to help them improve their skills and offer them new opportunities if their abilities are growing.
Encouragement of initiative. Taking the initiative is valuable because it shows that the employee cares for the company and the project. Moreover, a person will implement their own idea with greater enthusiasm. Team members should be encouraged to take the initiative as, even if their idea is not currently relevant, it shows a willingness to go above and beyond, and their idea may even be useful further down the road.
Focus on the result, not the activity. It’s easier to evaluate the work of employees by activity, but the results are objective. A manager who understands their team members’ work will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of each member and give fair feedback.
Intensify communication by inviting people to other calls. For efficient work, not only internal communication between team members is important but also communication with colleagues from the company’s other departments. Inviting an employee to a group call is much more effective than constantly mediating between team members and other employees.
Organization of brainstorming sessions. It is useful to engage the team in solving common problems.
Proper allocation of tasks. This advice is relevant not only for remote work, but also for personnel management in general. Most people are uncomfortable with working on several tasks simultaneously, so it is recommended to avoid multitasking, if possible.
Informal communication on Skype/Zoom. People often miss communicating informally with colleagues, especially if they used to work together at the office. Virtual coffee breaks during lunch or casual Friday calls will help brighten up your leisure time.
Offline events. At least once or twice a year, you need to get together. The easiest and most effective way is corporate parties. People who previously only communicated virtually can get to know each other better and bond, which will help them to work more efficiently in the future.
Small gifts and bonuses, including some for employees’ families. Corporate merch may seem trivial at first glance, but it reflects and reinforces the company’s values.
Perhaps not all of these methods will suit every single company and team. But each PM will probably learn something useful from this list.
Manager’s personal traits Let’s not forget that, along with the right actions, the manager should also demonstrate certain traits. These will not only help motivate employees but also help to earn their respect.
Trust. By taking a person into the team, the manager has already shown confidence in them. Checking up on the employee constantly and doubting their effectiveness will make them feel disrespected. Any checks and reports should be reasonable – such as, for example, a daily team meeting. You need to understand the difference between jointly analysing the team’s work and requiring an employee to report on each and every action.
Passion for work. If the manager does not love what they do, motivating the team will be much more difficult.
Gratitude. Don’t forget to show that you value the efforts of your colleagues and the results they achieve. The more specific and personalized the gratitude, the better.
Willingness to take risks for the sake of employees. The manager should be able to stand up for their team in front of both the customer and top managers. Few will follow a leader who does not take responsibility for the actions of their people and does not believe in their ideas.
Self-confidence and perseverance. Sometimes even loyal employees disagree with the manager. You need to be able to objectively evaluate your arguments and those of others. If the manager is confident about being right, they should be able to convince others of it, even if the team members do not like this position.
Ability to admit to mistakes. You need to understand the difference between perseverance and stubbornness and be able to quickly see when you are in the wrong. If the team was right to disagree with the manager’s position, the manager’s ego should not interfere with acknowledging this and making the necessary changes.
First published here