Keeping tabs on them all – Managing a remote team

Mel tried hard to manage her team of 15. She was up against it though as 9 of them worked in different offices across the building, with 3 more working at other sites across town. In fact, only 3 of her crew actually worked in the same office as her.

Unsurprisingly, getting everyone together was really hard work and so Mel invariably found herself dashing from one site to another, trying to please everyone. Over time, the team appeared to grow more and more distant and Mel became less productive herself as a result. In a wave of sheer panic, Mel had even thought about tagging them all but had decided this idea was a little extreme, even for her. She was well aware however that she needed to do something to take back control of her team but couldn’t figure out what to do for the best.

The PU View

Management can be a tough gig when everyone is sat together, but it can be even tougher when your team is out of sight. If we were to meet Mel we would offer her a few tips. Here’s a selection:

• Establish clear & robust communication routines & processes – stick to them.
• Get the team together physically whenever possible, even if it’s only once every month.
• Stick to your pre-arranged 1:1 meetings, telephone chats and any other scheduled communication so that standards remain important etc.
• Make sure you communicate equally with all team members.
• Put the onus on your team to proactively communicate with each other. It’s not solely down to you.
• Use technology. Skype, Zoom and conference calls are a great way to keep in touch
• Make sure that everyone is clear on individual goals, actions etc and ensure that progress is shared on a regular basis, so that everyone can see who’s doing what at any given time.
• Trust them! Don’t be paranoid. Just because they aren’t answering the phone doesn’t mean they are taking a long lunch in the pub!

We’re sure, over time Mel would eventually take back control and start to change the culture of her team from that of a team of remote individuals who didn’t really support each other, to a more inclusive, happy and proactive team that just happened to not physically see each other every day.

Book Recommendation 

We don’t have one single recommendation so we’ve provided a link to a page that provides you with a whole list of books around managing virtual and remote teams

Don’t take your eye off your Superstars

Beth had worked in her current team for 3 years and in the eyes of many, she was the office superstar. Beth always seemed to effortlessly exceed her targets. Her attitude was spot on, she was positive, always appeared to be up for a challenge and she took change in her stride. Her manager, Mark, knew that Beth was a real asset to the business and her team.

Mark assumed that Beth was firing on all cylinders but what he didn’t realise was that Beth had become bored. She enjoyed where she worked, but over the last few months Beth had become disillusioned with her lack of career progress and the work she was doing had become a little bit monotonous. There was only one thing on Beth’s mind and that was moving on to pastures new.

The PU View

Managing stars can be just as tricky as managing your under-performers. Depending on their character and personality stars can appear trustworthy, reliable and dependable. For most stars, they are also ambitious and want to progress up the career ladder. Granted, some are not like this. They may just have a high work ethic and don’t really want all the trappings that come with being a star. The battle for managers is to try to understand what it is your stars want/need and work with them to help them achieve their potential.

Mark appeared to have taken Beth for granted and it would seem he has taken his eye off the ball. He was probably focusing all his time on the other team members and simply assumed that because Beth was cracking on with things as usual, that she was completely content.

So what could Mark have done in the previous 12 months to help prevent Beth’s current state of mind? He could have…

• Found out what she wanted to achieve, what her career ambitions/aspirations were and what her personal drivers and desires were
• Put a personal career plan in place with Beth, to help her focus on meeting those ambitions & goals
• Asked her to job shadow him when carrying out certain tasks e.g. attending Board meetings so that she got a taste of what life was like further up the ladder
• Installed her as the Team Coach or Mentor. Beth would be ideal at sharing her knowledge with new members to the team and also helping the under-performers raise their game
• Delegated tasks to her such as producing/analysing the monthly reports to give her more challenging and varied tasks

It’s all about being proactive. Ignore your stars, as Mark did, and they will inevitably leave you for a more rewarding challenge.

Who are your stars? Are you proactively managing them?

Book Recommendation 

5 Conversations, How to Transform Trust, Engagement and Performance at Work by Nick Cowley & Nigel Purse is a great book that will help you to learn more about how to engage your team.

Recognition – Maybe it’s time to shift the fridge magnets?

Think back to the last time you received powerful recognition for a job well done. I don’t mean a “Well done”, or a “Thanks for doing that”. That’s just a passing comment that you may have received at the water cooler or maybe in an email, or on a post it note. When did you last provide some really powerful feedback to your colleagues or team? Again, not a passing comment, but some really useful feedback and recognition?

When we are discussing feedback and recognition as part of our courses, we hear lots of comments from managers about why they don’t give as much feedback as they should. Here are a few:

1) Why should I pat them on the back for simply doing their job?
2) I’ve got too many staff – it would take me all day to praise them all.
3) I don’t have the time.
4) It always seems a bit cringy, a bit too touchy feely for me.

Positive praise reinforces desired behaviours. Think about a dog running around in a field. You throw the stick, it brings it back and you provide positive praise, a cuddle or two, or you may even reward for your four legged friend with a treat. The likelihood is that the dog will want to perform its little trick again and again for you. I’m not saying that you should give your team members a dog chew every time they do something well but you get the gist.

Children are no different to dogs, in a good way. Your child comes home from school with a painting of an alleged fire engine. In truth, it’s just a blob of red paint. Of course you don’t tell them this. You move all of the magnets on the fridge to make way for this little masterpiece. After praising his efforts little Tommy runs off to produce yet another Monet masterpiece. Again, positive praise reinforces desired behaviour. If you want your team to produce great work time and time again they need you to provide useful feedback and positive reinforcement.

Here’s a few tips from us on providing a spot of recognition:

• It’s all about their behaviour – Be specific. A simple “Well done” (-whilst nice) just isn’t enough. They have no idea which particular bit they have done well so you need to be really explicit. Tell them exactly what they have done well and how their particular actions and behaviour have impacted on both them and the wider team.

• Deliver it ASAP. Don’t wait until their monthly 1:1 to deliver it – do it as soon as possible after the event. Doing it quickly as you see it happen will have more impact and they are more likely to remember what it was that they did well and associate these positive feelings with wanting to do that same task in the same way again.

• Face to face – Wherever possible, do it face to face. Try and refrain from sending it in an email, especially if you are only 2 seats away. If you manage them remotely try to make a special effort to go and meet with them to provide the praise. A phone call is fine if meeting them isn’t possible, but face to face is much more powerful.

• Mean what you say – Provide your praise with lots of enthusiasm and genuine sincerity. I’m not saying you have to enter the room with a brass band behind you with ticker tape falling from the ceiling but speak with passion and make sure you believe it. Don’t make it sound like its just empty words – they will see straight through you and the feedback will mean absolutely nothing.

Book Recommendation 

We’d highly recommend; Trust Factor by Paul.J.Zak. If you like a spot of neuroscience, you’ll love this! Packed full of evidence, this book will get you to realise that as a manager you have the power to release positive and negative hormones in others, especially when offering feedback and praise.