MANAGING VIRTUAL TEAMS

Many managers and teams have struggled to cope with working virtually. Yendor Felgate of the Being Human Group looks at ways to rethink, reimagine and re-engage with the new work reality

According to Time magazine, the Covid-19 pandemic has created the “World’s largest work from home experiment”. The pandemic has accelerated the development of virtual, dispersed and hybrid teams, as leaders everywhere have sent their employees home with their laptops.

Work continues to be remote as we await the impact of the second wave of the pandemic in many countries. And with these changes, managers are under pressure to adapt and cope.

In the past managers have had the luxury of hiding behind their “technical prowess” and being able to muddle through by doing some of the “people stuff” if they chose to. We think that the pandemic has accelerated what we have always known, that the “people stuff” is the job.

Those managers who took poor relationships or a lack of trust into lockdown have struggled to recover. Managers who do not feel comfortable to delegate and did things themselves have been unable to hold their teams accountable.

Managers have also struggled to find the right balance between too little or too much management. The result is that many managers and teams have struggled to adapt and contribute in the new normal.

According to Gallup, 70% of the variability in employee engagement is dependent on the manager. The role of managers when leading virtual teams has therefore never been more important. However, it is not traditional managing that counts – the rules have changed as the ways of engaging with employees shift rapidly.

Rethink, reimagine and re-engage

Managers need to rethink, reimagine and re-engage with their employee’s new work experience and reality. The blurring of work and home requires a new approach. The following six recommendations are a good starting point for managers.

• Individualisation is key. The best managers have always individualised their coaching to the worker, but doing so at a distance requires greater intentionality. Managers need to ask each team member to describe the conditions under which they perform best, their concerns about their workflow and their emotional response to the situation.

• Set expectations early and clearly. Managers must make expectations crystal clear: X is the work you should do, Y is the quality standard, Z is the deadline. Executives should provide higherlevel expectations aligned with the company’s purpose: We’ll keep our customers engaged by doing X, we’ll maintain our standards by doing Y, we’ll fulfil our mission by doing Z. The more detail, the better.

Adapt your workflows. Managers can expect employees to follow the same work processes at home. Be decisive when identifying and removing potential roadblocks and duplications.

• Provide the right technology. Fulfilling expectations requires equipment and information. The most successful remote work situations have technology that allows them to collaborate, and know how to use the technology.

• Communication. Employees who are accustomed to working in-house may feel cut off from the resources, information or relationships they need to do their jobs well, so plan for more conference calls. It’s OK to pad socialising into the timeframe; indeed, it may be vital for people who need lots of interaction to keep their energy up. Managers will have to be diligent about communicating productively – coaching high performance requires frequent conversations.

• Support your managers: A sudden change in the practice of management can be hard on managers. They may worry about disruptions to the workflow they’re accountable for. Some may feel they have to be physically present to be good coaches, unsure that they can keep their remote teams engaged from a distance. Rather more negatively, there are still some managers who don’t trust workers they can’t see. All of them will have to manage workers in a new way, and fast. So, managers will need support – practical and emotional – during this tough transition.

Looking ahead

So, if you have to send people home to keep them safe, individualise, communicate and set expectations so your managers can coach effectively during a crisis. But keep this in mind: while Covid-19 won’t be an issue forever, remote work will be. What you learn about leading a remote workforce and building a strong remote-work culture now will likely become best practice for your company later on.