No stress #WFH for your remote teams
Have your teams made the move back to working from home?
Are they thriving or struggling? Are they lacking motivation, experiencing anxiety, stress, or feelings of isolation? Are they worried about how WFH will impact their performance and results in the job?
Maintaining team performance remotely can be challenging. Isolation can be one of the main issues to tackle. Actively engaging with your remote team members is a key part of your role especially when everyone is remote. Easier said than done and it can also be a challenge if you have limited experience managing remote teams.
Here are some tried and tested ways to support your remote teams and improve overall employee satisfaction and productivity.
Establish consistent communication
When you are all thrown into working remotely carving out communication time is crucial. And committing to regular and consistent team meetings is even more important.
Setting up clear communications channels and sticking to them really helps with feelings of isolation and being away from the normal office/work environments.
To supplement regular virtual team meetings and also one-on-one meetings, shift workday communications online using instant-messaging tools. To help create an ‘office environment’ also be available to answer questions or chat. Leadership is even more important now to keep everyone in the loop and feeling together and included in the new virtual workplace. More importantly, ask for feedback. Communication is after all a two-way street.
Goals and development are still important
To overcome the feelings of disconnect many remote employees experience it’s really important that you take a sharper focus on goal performance. Whether that’s business performance-related or personal learning and development. Recognition is really important, remote teams need to know they are doing well to feel part of the team, and on the flip side, managers need to track if there are any problems bubbling under the virtual surface unseen. Out of sight, is definitely, not out of mind.
Schedule social meetups
Don’t forget the ‘water cooler’ moments. The few minutes here and there between meetings chatting about ‘life’ etc. fosters a culture of positive interaction and respect amongst colleagues. It’s something that many of your people may be really missing working from home.
Need more help supporting your remote teams?
We’d love to help! Our virtual behaviour change programmes could be what you’re looking for. Or get in touch for an informal chat or if you have something specific in mind.
