“As you’ve probably learned during the pandemic, you can’t just take an-in person team, send them home, and manage your employees the same way. Virtual teams need to operate differently not only because of location but because your entire culture changes with remote work. Here is how to operate a virtual team for both healthy employees and a healthy bottom line.
Managing a virtual team: trust and expectations
Pre-pandemic, the optics of employees coming into the office and working all day were seen favourably. Having to navigate the unknown territory of all staff working remotely during the pandemic has been a challenge. However, employees still showed up, met deadlines and in some cases proved to be even more effective, all while working from home. For example, “The Future of Work: Productive Anywhere,” found that 37% of workers in Canada feel they can be productive and healthy primarily while working remotely.
Creating a culture of trust in a virtual team
With a virtual team, trust is essential — managers have to be comfortable assigning responsibility to the talent they carefully hire, so the job can be fulfilled and the employee feels empowered to do what they were hired to do. Managing a virtual team also requires open communication about expectations — can your team work throughout the whole day or only 9-5? Do they need to have the available status between those hours?
The 5 essential elements of remote workplaces
Leaders need to consider the 5 elements of remote workplaces:
- Trust: does management trust the remote team to complete their assigned work and does the team feel this trust from the leadership?
- Autonomy: does the team feel confident to operate independently at their own location? Are they empowered with all training, resources, and equipment they need to complete their jobs?
- Motivation: is the team motivated to show up everyday? If not, what is missing?
- Collaboration in the new landscape: does your workplace have throughout processes in place to foster genuine collaboration where creativity flows?
- Communication skills: what tools and approaches does your team use to communicate effectively?
We believe it is an ongoing commitment from both the individual contributor and the managers to support quality remote work:
- Set clear expectations from the beginning.
- Place value in employee well-being. What does that look like for your company’s demographic?
- Foster effective communication.
- Be open to vulnerability — you never know what may be going on in someone’s home life and if your team feels comfortable to open up, you can help them reassign their tasks or lessen their workload before it becomes overwhelming.
- Avoid micromanagement — this is key in remote work, your team needs to feel trusted and empowered to get their stuff done.
- Address manager biases involving remote work.
- Help people connect — leaders can do wonders here by increasing connections and lending support in ways that are extremely valuable to a remote employee.
