Keys to lead your team remotely successfully

The Covid-19 infection is a concern that has led thousands of companies to take measures to guarantee the safety of their employees through teleworking, a great challenge for these organizations.

Smart Working appears as a new work model, mixing teleworking and new technologies. It will give the employees the necessary tools to achieve the best professional performance anywhere.

Remote work or Smart Working provides many advantages, not only for the employee but also for the employer: schedule flexibility, conciliation of the work and personal life and the decrease in mobility time. It is a work model based on achieving results, this means extra motivation, reducing costs of office renting and reducing any additional costs, etc.

This model brings a challenge to any leader: leading their team remotely. It is very important to know that technology and communication will be the greatest allies of remote leadership.

• More communication than ever

Clear communication guidelines must be established for the whole team, that way the employees will still feel as part of the team and part of the company. Establishing communication channels and routines will allow having a clear perspective of the situation and the breakthroughs of our colleagues. It is necessary to communicate with each member on their own and with the team as a whole.

• Looking for the best communication channels

The channels and tools must involve the employees. A good example is video calls, which make meetings more interactive and effective.

Other channels such as email, WhatsApp or other chats are useful depending on the information sent. They are the least efficient when it comes to important information and debating.

Microsoft Teams is a very useful tool for this. It is a platform based on Office 365 designed to improve work teams communication and collaboration within companies.

• Responsible employees

It is essential that the leader create responsible employees. It is easier to trust the people we know, so we must invest time in knowing our team fully.

In order to telework, it is important to be mature, disciplined and responsible as well as having good time management skills. Both in the office and at the time of teleworking, we must define objectives and tasks along with promoting autonomy and self-confidence. If we follow these guidelines, we will have efficient employees and avoid demotivation. 

• Assess results and objectives

Remote work implies not knowing the time our team spends in front of the computer. Focusing on the end result is important, meaning we should work by projects or objectives.

• Employee motivation

Leading a team correctly means enabling each member to reach their personal goals while working for a common goal. We must detect and understand their motivations, which means talking with the team and generating an environment based on trust.

A well-defined teleworking strategy will contribute to the business success; it is a great advantage for the company and the employees. The key factor is the leaders: they must build trust ties with their professional teams in order to achieve their goals more efficiently.