Managing your teleworking team well: Practical advice

Teleworking has upset professional habits, due to technological developments but also to health issues linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to L’Usine Nouvelle (1), around 25% of French employees have resorted to teleworking during confinement. This nomadic way of working, which allows employees to work from anywhere, can be a real opportunity for both employers and employees. But what about remote management? This development poses new challenges for interim managers , accustomed to leading their team face-to-face. Indeed, 42% of managers are confronted with the problem of remote management. It is therefore essential for managers to rethink their approach in order to lead a team effectively and productively. In this article, discover the keys to managing well remotely .

The challenges of remote management: how to face them?

The democratization of teleworking has opened the doors to new working methods. According to the study “ Remote work: the advent of trust ” (1), 83% of managers were satisfied with teleworking during confinement. Indeed, remote management offers increased flexibility, enables better productivity and can reduce costs, but it is not without its difficulties.

• Remote communication can be complex, control can be more difficult to exercise and maintaining employee motivation can be a real challenge. It is therefore essential for managers to understand the challenges of remote management and to put in place an effective strategy to deal with them.
• One of the main challenges of remote management is the distance itself. Leading a dispersed team can hamper communication and coordination between team members. Face-to-face interactions are limited, which can affect the quality of exchanges and the understanding of expectations.
• Finally, the lack of physical and social contact can affect team dynamics and corporate culture.

Despite these challenges, remote management allows optimized time management for employees, allowing them to work at their own pace and increase their productivity. Similarly, managing remotely avoids frequent trips , which represents a considerable saving of time and energy . Employees also experience reduced levels of commute-related stress and improved overall well-being.

Regular and appropriate communication, the use of communication tools, a working relationship based on trust and the definition of objectives are the keys to building an effective remote management strategy .

4 Appropriate working and communication methods to put in place

The definition and implementation of clear and appropriate working and communication methods is a crucial step for successful telework management .

• Set up an adapted and revitalized routine: one of the biggest challenges of remote management is to create or maintain proximity and cohesion between employees. Here, the idea is both to structure and energize the work. This can go through a collective or individual videoconference, which can start informally and then switch to important topics and everyone’s objectives. The allocation of a face-to-face day is also a solution to preserve cohesion and social ties.

• Establish clear objectives for communication and collaboration: leading a remote team means ensuring clear and transparent communication so that employees can work independently. Each project or mission must be planned, defined and explained.

• Encourage the active participation of each member of the team: this can be done by involving employees in decision-making, encouraging them to share their ideas, as well as giving them constructive feedback on their work.

• A working relationship based on trust: remotely, everyone manages their time. When team members are physically distant from each other, it’s easy for misunderstandings and frustrations to develop. Trust requires concrete actions, such as honoring commitments, transparency and open communication.

Online communication tools

Remote management requires the use of effective online communication tools to maintain fluid communication and active collaboration with your team. Online collaboration tools such as chats , video conferencing , and file sharing platforms allow team members to work together in real time and help each other. Other productivity tracking tools such as Trello or Asana help ensure that the remote team is well coordinated .

However, the tools are not enough to maintain a smooth and solid communication. The manager must also be proactive by regularly organizing online meetings to take stock of the progress of projects, discuss problems encountered and possible solutions to be considered.

Conclusion

Remote management is a major challenge for today’s managers . With the rise of remote work, managerial practices must evolve to adapt to this new context. This adaptation may involve new communication tools, the establishment of clear objectives and the active participation of each employee. The interim manager must also take into account the issues of distance, such as trust and motivation, and strive to maintain regular and transparent communication with his team.

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