As a leader, it is essential to possess the top attributes of remote managers in order to motivate and inspire your team, regardless of whether you manage a whole company remotely or just a few people. Whilst developing these qualities is not easy, it is possible with the right approach. Furthermore, having a diverse staff can provide many learning opportunities that can further develop your leadership skills.
Firstly, we shall discuss the requirements that must be fulfilled. In essence, you are seeking a manager with the same capabilities as those of an on-site manager. However, the approach taken will differ substantially.
We trust that you will find our compilation of the foremost qualities and techniques that leaders of remote teams should possess advantageous as you make ready to propel your remote workforce to the next stage.
The Top 5 Qualities of an Effective Remote Manager
1. Have Faith in Your Staff
As a manager, you have invested time and energy into training your staff in order to achieve the best results. This is testament to your capacity for effective transactional leadership. What other means are there for driving positive change?
It is important to recognise that the time spent working remotely cannot be accurately measured. The number of hours spent working each day does not necessarily equate to productivity or value. Ultimately, the outcomes achieved are what is most important.
It is essential to set out clear working hours and ensure that they are adhered to. However, it is unreasonable to expect regular updates from a remote worker every hour. Establishing goals that are appropriate and achievable is important, but micromanaging should be avoided as it can prove to be counterproductive.
The key to successful remote management is having faith in your staff. Don’t doubt your workers’ loyalty until they prove you wrong.
If you are familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk’s work on trust, you will be aware that trust should not have to be earned; rather, it should be given freely.
By showing trust in your remote workers, you can bring out the best in them, as they are often eager to prove their worth to the organisation more than those on-site employees.
Managers that are able to put their faith in their staff and support them in their endeavors remotely are highly valued.
2. Get on the Bandwagon of Technology
It is clear that having the right tools and being able to use them effectively is essential for successful remote management. This is one of the most crucial qualities to possess.
By conducting some online research, you and your team can discover the best resources to help you tackle the challenges you are currently facing.
There are several fantastic tools that may help you improve your team’s ability to communicate, organize, share papers, and manage time zones.
Here, to save you some time, are a few examples:
- G Suite comprises of Gmail, Google Documents, Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Google Hangouts, providing a convenient, centralised platform for teams to connect and collaborate from any location.
- Boomerang is an email scheduling and follow-up tool that helps you follow up with those who haven’t responded to your messages.
- Slack and Trello are advanced platforms that can streamline communication and collaboration between team members, with the added benefit of additional features. Slack is also an excellent tool to facilitate informal conversations between colleagues, allowing for meaningful interactions in a relaxed environment.
- Skype and Zoom offer complimentary audio and video calls, as well as virtual meetings, which are invaluable in the current work climate, where even traditional meetings are often held virtually.
- Conference calls, webinars and overseas meetings can be organized and scheduled efficiently with World Time Buddy‘s time zone conversion tools.
- Dropbox is a file-sharing service that allows you to upload files to the cloud and share them with your team.
- Basecamp allows teams to stay informed on the progress of their projects at all times, enabling all parties to understand their individual roles and tasks with no ambiguity. This ensures that work is divided efficiently, and everyone can work with clarity, eliminating the need for confusion and fatigue.
These aids enable users to stay organised, create logical plans for their tasks, and increase their productivity. Furthermore, they aid in fostering a sense of unity within the team.
3. Successful Online Conversations
Developing effective communication skills is a beneficial asset in both personal and professional relationships.
If your significant other gives you the silent treatment without explaining why, how can you possibly fix the situation?
When it is not possible to hold face-to-face meetings with your team, it is essential to ensure that they are aware of the required criteria for each task, including the deadlines, by providing precise instructions and constructive feedback.
Staying in touch with your team is essential to their productivity. Make sure that they know they can come to you if they need help or have any queries. At the same time, give them the space to do their work without feeling overly supervised.
As previously discussed, utilising a combination of the resources mentioned should make it easier to stay abreast of the various methods of virtual communication. A key skill for remote managers is the capacity to acquire and utilise new technologies.
Employees will feel more valued and appreciated after you learn to have meaningful conversations with them rather of just giving them orders.
4. Establish Reasonable Goals and Expectations
It is economically sensible to ascertain whether a potential employee has the intention of remaining with the company in the long-term, to avoid incurring the costs of recruitment and subsequent separation.
In the end, you want to hire individuals who aren’t job hoppers and who can grow into significant contributors to the team.
As soon as an individual is employed, it is important to establish a clear routine for them to adhere to. This should include details such as working hours, milestones, meetings, progress reports and regular check-ins in order to monitor the progress of the project.
It is important to acknowledge and reward employees that demonstrate loyalty to the company and consistently surpass performance goals and standards. A bonus or small salary increment could have a significant effect.
As a remote manager, it is essential to nurture your staff’s ambition to continually strive for more. This will enable them to exceed expectations and achieve higher levels of success. Working on this quality every day is of utmost importance.
5. Put Your Money Towards Fostering Relationships.
It’s crucial to invest in your staff and urge them to do the same, since long-distance relationships are challenging at best.
Discussing topics other than work in Slack can be beneficial for team morale and productivity. By engaging in conversations that are not related to work, colleagues can feel valued and appreciated. Celebrating important occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries in the workplace should be encouraged.
It is recommended that, if feasible and within the allocated budget, in-person meetings should be arranged, as they can help to foster stronger relationships and improve morale, which can be difficult to achieve through digital media.
It is important to bear in mind that it may take a period of adaptation to adjust to remote working. Having the self-belief and perseverance to keep going is essential, as you will not become proficient in the necessary skills immediately. With diligence and focus, however, you can quickly develop the necessary expertise to excel in remote management.
It’s not too different from managing an on-site staff to oversee a remote one; the only difference is the lack of a central office.
It may take some time to become accustomed to a digital work environment, however, with effective communication and the right attitude, successful remote management should be achievable.
We are confident that you will find remote working enjoyable and rewarding once you have a strong understanding of the basics. Once you have experienced the online environment, you may never wish to return to the traditional physical workspace.
Remote managers need to possess certain traits in order to effectively manage teams, such as trustworthiness, expertise in the relevant tools, excellent virtual communication skills, and the ability to form strong connections. This will help to ensure that progress is made towards individual and team goals, as well as personal development.
If you would like to find out more about how Works operates, we would be delighted to provide you with an explanation of the importance of these technologies to our daily activities. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us as soon as possible.
