Many large organizations and small companies today have learned how to work from home. There are some employees who are waiting to go back to the office, and some others who shifted toward utilizing remote work strategies.
No matter the type of company you work for, the ability leaders have to lead virtual teams is a critical factor for delivering results nowadays.
Here are three tips to successfully lead remote teams.
1. Trust and Care for people
First, effective leaders trust and care for their people.
They do not micromanage or monitor how their people spend their time while working from home. But they clearly communicate what they expect from them, and give them all they need to accomplish their tasks and activities.
In addition, they meet often with their team members to know how things are going, what worries they have, and most importantly what they could do to help them to perform at their best.
Trust and caring are the basic building blocks for establishing meaningful relationships also in a virtual environment.
Leaders who focus on these aspects will be able to ensure that their people are engaged by their work, clearly understand what they expect from them, and know how they can contribute to the organization’s success – even when working remotely.
2. Encourage and Promote Collaboration
Second, effective leaders encourage and promote collaboration among team members.
They provide opportunities for their team to collaborate virtually and to get to know each other better.
Today, there are several ways to build a sense of community meeting online, for example by using tools like Zoom, Skype and Teams.
But, using these tools is usually not enough.
In fact, to create a sense of belonging, leaders need to find ways to help team members feel less isolated and more connected to the group, for example by setting up informal times to connect and chat, or asking each team member to organize one informal meeting per month and rotate each month.
These leaders are also very careful not to ask their people to schedule informal meetings outside normal working hours, because they are respectful of people’s time.
3. Reinforce vision, mission and values
Third, effective leaders constantly reinforce vision, mission and values.
These leaders know that the key to success is making sure everyone is always on the same page working toward the same goals, no matter the type of team they are leading (physical or virtual).
To do so, leaders start creating a vision for their teams and then clearly communicate the mission so that everyone accepts it.
But as virtual teams have their own priorities, it is crucial to reinforce the vision, mission and values of the organization constantly, in different ways during meetings and conversations.
A good practice for maintaining balance between mission and goals is to have a regular meeting rhythm to ensure everyone is focused on the right tasks.
In fact, reiterating why everyone is doing what they are doing and how what they are doing is connected to their personal values and goals, will help maximize team potential and maintain alignment.
So, these are three tips to successfully lead remote teams.
As a recap, we can say that:
- Building trusting relationships should be a priority for every leader. In fact leaders need to work hard to build strong relationships with each team member.
- Then, leaders need to find ways to help team members feel connected to the group. They must create a community and an atmosphere that will give all team members a sense of belonging and inclusion.
- Finally, each leader must show how every team member can contribute to the strategies, goals, and successes of the organization.
