Quit Hiding at Home!

by Scott Hoffpauir, Managing Partner

In today’s world, remote working is just about mandatory. For many people, it’s a new experience and takes getting used to. As a leader, there is an extra challenge of managing a remote team. It’s a lot easier to manage a team when you’re in the same office and see each other every day. With everyone now working remotely, you really have to make a concerted effort to ensure your team is aligned, efficient and effective.

When I started as a manager a long, long time ago before remote working became the norm, I always liked to walk around and talk to the team. It was a good way to learn new things and undercover issues faster. It also helped to build a relationship with the team. With a remote team, it’s harder to do these things. You really have to be more disciplined in your leadership approach and take the time to do it right.

At BroadSoft, I had a team of 1,500 people in 23 countries. Of my ten direct reports, only one worked in the same office as me. We had the luxury of having developed our own collaboration tools and of course, we used them extensively and enhanced them based on our own feedback. With these tools, you could do the same things at home as you could in the office, so it didn’t really matter if team members worked in an office or at home.

Personally for me, managing a remote team was the normal way of doing things. I had to become proficient in leading a remote team. It’s probably the same for most people in technology. It was imperative for me to be deliberate in my approach and to prioritize my time to ensure I spent enough time managing and leading the team. I’ve made plenty of mistakes and done a lot of dumb things, but I’ve learned some things along the way. So, while I won’t profess to be the world’s greatest leader, I did mostly figure it out. Here are a few tips from my experience.

First, you need to talk to your direct reports. I know, that seems obvious, but it’s easy to get caught up in other stuff and forget to check in with your team. Schedule a quick one on one with each of your direct reports every week. Come prepared for the discussion and ensure that you have enough time for both sides to talk through their list of discussion topics. Do this meeting from your home office — don’t do it from your car or while walking around the neighborhood. It’s amazing how many things you learn when you just have an informal catch up.

Second, you need to make more of an effort to build trust and develop relationships with your team. This means you need to communicate better and be an effective listener. You need to lead your team by fostering collaboration, deepening teamwork, driving engagement and managing change. Doing this with a video meeting is a lot harder than doing it in person. Recognize that and put in the time to do it right. This helps your team do their best work, together and efficiently.

Third, make sure you have a weekly check in with all of your direct reports. Here you can highlight news, activities, issues, wins, losses and changes. Let team members call out issues that need a separate discussion. And if you have a large team, make sure you schedule a monthly or quarterly all hands to update the team on the business and celebrate your accomplishments. Since you’re not able to do team lunches or happy hours, periodically schedule a virtual get together with your team. This helps to make your team comfortable with each other, building trust.

And last, use your damn tools! Not using video is just rude, and shows you’re not engaged and don’t really care about the meeting. Treat a remote video meeting just like a face-to-face meeting. Come prepared, pay attention, dress appropriately and be engaged. Also, use your messaging apps effectively and efficiently. Be formal and professional with your communications, and respond promptly to messages from your team. Don’t use messaging as a replacement for a video meeting. Use the right tool for the right purpose. Don’t believe me? Read our blog on connecting in the new world.

You may be thinking tips are mostly just common sense, but it’s easy to get caught up in your day and forget to do them. As a leader, you need to set the tone for your team and facilitate teamwork. With everyone working remotely, be visible and approachable. Take the time and be deliberate about doing these things, and you’ll have a team that works better together. Share with us on how you successfully manage your remote teams.