You’ve built an amazing team that meets deadlines, communicates effectively with one another, and understands the dynamics of their fellow team members. And now your employees are working remotely while juggling kids, family, and the overall mental challenges we’re facing in our current climate. How can you keep this awesome team going while at home? The team at FullStack put together ideas on how to manage your team from home.
Discover the right level of communication.
Effective communication can be a challenging task in the best of times, but understanding the level of communication your team needs is critical to keeping up their motivation while working remotely. Understanding each team members’ individual needs – as well as the team’s communication requirements as a whole – is important. Some employees might need more levels of communication than others. This might be virtual meetings to talk through ideas or projects as well as email check-ins. Other team members could see the same scenario as communication overload and need fewer check-ins during their time working from home.
On a team level, regular meetings are key to ensure everyone is on the same page and heading in the right direction. Deciding the number of meetings and their length can take some adjustment, but that’s alright – making changes until things flow smoothly is necessary. These meetings should have an agenda that’s created ahead of time and allow for some free talking time in order to allow for team members to share openly their ideas, challenges, etc. with their fellow team members.
Along with regular meetings, having an easy, quick way to allow communication amongst the team is important. This could be a text message chain or even an instant messaging service such as Slack. This type of quick communication can take the place of those quick conversations your team might be missing with their fellow employees.
Promote professional development.
With more time being spent working solo while at home, allowing employees to check items off their professional development list gives them an opportunity to fill the spaces in their day. Create a professional development plan with each team member that matches their career goals. One option is to have your entire team have one professional development opportunity they share – such as a webinar everyone should attend or an article or book to read – this can create a talking point during meetings and creates community around a work-related activity. FullStack has provided a list of potential professional development opportunities – take a look and share it with your team.
Be flexible.
These are unprecedented times. Your employees are facing uncertainty and navigating the challenges of working remotely as well as managing their family’s lives. This often means interruptions to their days that wouldn’t happen in a regular work setting. Being understanding and compassionate about their situation will ease their worries and make working from home a less stressful task. This often means shifting expectations of when projects and certain tasks will be completed as well as allowing for interruptions to their workday.
Sources:
How to Manage a Team Remotely (Monster.com)