How to Successfully Lead Remote Teams During COVID-19

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more employees are working from home than ever before. In 2018, only 9.6% of the European workforce worked remotely at least a few days a week. That number is now far higher as many companies have had to quickly transition into remote working situations.

But this unexpected transition has certainly been quite difficult for managers and team leaders.

While there are countless benefits to working remotely (such as a lack of commuting), working from home has presented many new challenges that never existed in the office. According to a survey from Buffer, remote employees stated that their greatest frustrations came from a lack of communication and troubles staying connected with other team members.

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Ultimately, it is up to management to resolve these types of issues and keep their employees motivated and productive – even while they work from afar. But finding the balance between trusting employees and leading (without being overbearing) can be tricky.

So, how can managers effectively lead their newly remote teams during these unprecedented times?

Let’s discuss.

Model and Encourage Realistic Communication Practices

Communication should be of paramount importance in remote work situations. However, it can still be quite challenging to communicate effectively with teams, even with the assistance of technology.

It is no surprise that the use of videoconferencing tools like Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangouts has dramatically increased this year. Many companies will host multiple virtual meetings a day in an effort to keep their team connected. However, there is strong evidence that this could actually be doing more harm than good – particularly when it comes to productivity and overall stress levels.

While these virtual chats are certainly necessary in some situations, it is important for leaders to set standards in terms of availability and communication. It is important to set proper and realistic expectations for remote team communication in light of the current situation. This could be a requirement of specific hours when all employees must be reachable and the list of command of who should be contacted for specific situations.

Remember that employees will often base their perception of what is “acceptable” on how their managers behave. If their boss doesn’t respond to messages or calls in a timely manner, chances are that employees will emulate similar behavior. So, managers need to follow the rules, too.

It may also be a good idea to host smaller team meetings as needed so all employees can contribute and ask pertinent questions. This will encourage participation and allow conversations to be more focused on specific projects or departments, rather than a general addressing to the entire company.

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Allow for Daily Flexibility Within Reason

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Remember that many employees are working in less-than-ideal situations.

Some are at home with their children or facing other distractions. It may not be realistic to expect them to be able to stay online throughout the day. Buffer’s previously mentioned report states that 12% of remote workers were often distracted and 3% experienced repeated technological issues, such as spotty Wi-Fi.

Leaders should expect some delays if employees are using new online programs to handle tasks. They may need to temporarily adjust expectations for the time-being. Rather than focusing solely on logged in hours, it is generally best to set expectations for productivity instead. Let employees know:

How much work is expected from them every day and which projects need to be completed

Any hours where their online presence is absolutely necessary (such as first thing in the morning)

Any changes to time off policies or sick leave

Flexibility to make up hours by working in the evenings or over the weekend

People’s daily structures have changed quite a bit due to COVID-19 and they might not be able to carve out eight hours straight of work every single day. Furthermore, evidence shows that workers who take frequent short breaks every few hours are actually far more productive. Taking a 15-minute break every hour helps the brain to function better and can ward off burnout.

While this is not a reason to let employees slack off by any means, managers should be setting realistic expectations and allowing workers some flexibility.

Track and Address Issues Head-On

Productivity levels may slip, especially as employees are getting used to new systems and protocols. If this is to become a long-term pattern, managers need to address it with a problem-solving approach. Everyone is under a great level of stress these days – there is no reason why leaders should unnecessarily add to it by chastising workers for slowing down.

The first step is to use accurate tracking systems to measure productivity and ensure that the most important tasks are completed in a timely manner. While there are some tools that will track all keyboard strokes, active online movement, and idle time, this can be extremely invasive and often unnecessary. Using software to record log-in and log-out times as well as hours spent on individual tasks will probably be sufficient.

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However, if problems/patterns emerge, then it is time to talk with employee to see how things can be resolved. Rather than pointing fingers, team leaders should ask questions that lead to resolution, such as:

What is the core issue(s) preventing them from completing the task within a reasonable time?

Do they need more assistance from managers or their co-workers?

Do they need better online tools or access to resources?

How can this issue be resolved in the future or for others?

Managers may also want to choose project management (PM) tools to keep their team organized and on-task – Like Trello, Asana, Teamwork, Monday, etc. Most PM software allows admin to assign tasks to individual users and track its progress along the way. This can ensure that no projects fall through the cracks.

If you haven’t gotten onboard with one of the big PM tools out there, now is the time!

Help Out in Other Ways

Morale has understandably taken quite a dip due to COVID-19. People are facing new types of stress and anxiety because of the current situation – and unfortunately, working from home may only cause these problems to increase.

20% of the UK workforce reported they often felt lonely or isolated when working from home. Now that even more people are working remotely, this issue is far more prevalent.

This should certainly concern business leaders as stress and anxiety can impact productivity and even employee retention. Managers should focus on ways to encourage connection and additional support to their employees during this time.

If your business is in a place financially to help employees, this can be a great morale booster.

For instance, Truist Bank is offering all employees additional payment for child care services, as well as an early pre-tax bonus. Some companies are offering additional healthcare services, others are buying their employee’s family dinner once a week. The American insurance company USAA is providing its employees free meals and grocery essentials.

Of course, many company’s budgets are quite tight due to recent drops in revenue. But there are other ways for leaders to offer support without allocating additional funds. For instance, LiveIntent and AdEchangers have created Slack channels designed specifically for employees to share pictures of their pets or children as well as other humorous content.

Employees at Cubeiq and PubMatic meet several days a week for virtual fitness classes, while Engine Group offers daily group meditation meetings. The CEO of Vox Media led a Zoom chat to read stories to the children of all the remote employees to give parents a break and boost morale.

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Any way you can help your workers during this time will mean a lot to them. And they are bound to remember this meaningful effort far after they return to the office.

Conclusion

The entire world has experienced some fairly dramatic changes over the course of just a few weeks. This transition into new working situations in a time of severe economic uncertainty has not made it easy. Effective leadership is needed more than ever before.

Managers need to understand how to adjust in order to support their newly remote workers properly. Things have changed and new challenges will arise, but successful leaders will always be able to find solutions.

By Aakanksha Shukla (Brand Strategist) E2M solutions Pvt Ltd.

Aakanksha is a brand strategist at E2M. She works on strategizing deliverables so as to bridge the gap between marketing and the potential customers. When she is not working, she is either dancing or reading scientific innovations and business magazines to understand the world and its dynamics. She can be reached on Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/aakanksha-shukla/

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