Geographically dispersed teams are increasingly common in the modern workplace — perhaps you’re based in your company’s New York headquarters and your team works out of offices in Denver and Charlotte or maybe you’re in San Francisco and manage telecommuters in LA and a group of developers in Minsk. How do you overcome the challenges of supervising employees in different locations and time zones? What steps should you take to build trust and open lines of communication? How should you establish routines? And how do you help remote workers feel part of a team?
What the Experts Say
One of the biggest misconceptions about managing remote workers is that it requires an entirely different skillset. “We have a tendency to overcompensate and approach remote workers and virtual teams as these mythical beasts,” says Mark Mortensen, an associate professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD. “But you shouldn’t think about them in a fundamentally different way. They are still people working in an organization to get stuff done. Treat them as such.” That said, managers must put in extra effort to cultivate a positive team dynamic and ensure remote workers feel connected to other colleagues. It requires a “proactive approach,” says Keith Ferrazzi, the founder and CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight. So, whether your team is comprised of people in far-flung locations in faraway time zones or employees who work from home (or a combination of both), here are some pointers to keep things running smoothly.
Set expectations
“As the manager, you need to set clear, deliberate expectations in advance and establish ground rules for how interactions will take place,” says Ferrazzi. If you fail to do this, “things will break down immediately.” He recommends “establishing clear lines of accountability” from the outset of the working relationship by setting monthly, quarterly, and yearly performance goals as well as “targets for what ‘hitting it out of the park’ would mean.” Then, just as you would with employees working down the hall, “you should check in regularly on progress” through an agreed-upon schedule. Mortensen adds: be sure to make it clear that you’re “applying the same metrics to the rest of the team.” Remote workers “need to know that they’re not being treated differently and there’s no inequity.”
Visit on a predictable schedule
There are no rules governing precisely how often you need to see your remote workers in person, but Mortensen recommends visiting them regularly especially in the early stages. “If you can get yourself to their location when you first start working together, that’s invaluable,” he says. “Seeing people one-on-one, face-to-face sets the tone and gives people a sense of comfort.” As the arrangement stabilizes, “predictability is more important than a particular frequency,” he says. “If your direct report knows you’re there every six months, it helps build trust.” When you’re at their location, make an effort to “understand their environment and get a sense of what it’s like” to work from afar. “Join in on a conference call to the home office so you can get a glimpse of [the situation] from their perspective,” Mortensen says.
Encourage communication
The key to managing relationships with remote employees, says Ferrazzi, is to “set an appropriate cadence” of communications—including how quickly employees need to respond to email; what follow-up steps should be taken; and on which days check-in calls should occur. “If you, the manager, don’t create good, open communication channels, the remote worker will feel, well, ‘remote’ and forgotten,” he says. It’s also important to establish frequent, recurring team meetings that at least attempt to accommodate everyone’s schedule, he adds. In light of time-zone constraints, it’s considerate to set up the meetings on a rotating schedule so that no one team member or region is unduly burdened or disrupted. Encourage the use of instant messaging, blogs, wikis, and other online collaboration tools and apps. Your team must “understand that they have an obligation” to stay in regular contact, says Mortensen.
Spark impromptu interactions
Unplanned conversations between coworkers are “important for flows of knowledge throughout an organization,” says Mortensen, which is why you — the manager — have a responsibility to “literally create water cooler moments.” Video links between offices “create a shared space and provide more opportunities for these spontaneous — but often very productive” workplace conversations, he says. “It might feel weird the first day it’s on, but by the tenth day, people are more comfortable.” When it’s not possible (or preferable) to have a camera that’s always on, Ferrazzi recommends regular use of technologies like Skype and WebEx. Video technology, he says, “brings us together and connects us, increasing the intimacy of our relationships with one another.”
Nurture familiarity
Building trust and familiarity with your direct reports requires you get to know them on a personal level. With remote workers “this takes additional effort,” says Mortensen. He suggests reserving the first few minutes of calls and videoconferences to simply “chew the fat.” You should talk about “the things you usually talk about at work”— weekend plans, kids, pets, or last night’s big game. Encourage your direct reports to do the same with their remote colleagues. This social bonding “builds essential empathy, trust, and camaraderie,” Ferrazzi says. “What binds together virtual teams are the personal details.”
Make them feel part of the team
Physical distance can sometimes create an “us versus them” feeling. Mortensen says it’s critical that you “watch the language you use when talking about remote workers and make sure you’re not creating fractures within your team.” Concentrate on what you and your direct reports have in common — organizational goals and objectives, for example. Remember, too, that remote team members often feel somewhat invisible and “that their actions and efforts aren’t noticed.” Being generous with public praise and acknowledgement of remote employees helps “make sure their work is recognized” and is a signal to “coworkers that they’re pulling their weight,” says Mortensen.
Principles to Remember
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