The key steps for remote managers
- Where am I now?
(Analyse the team’s structure/location/functions/current performance or plan structure and operation of new team.)
- What do I want?
(Identify the ideal performance of your team.)
- Where are the gaps? What is not working? What needs to be addressed? (In the case of a new team, carry out regular reviews to determine these.)
- Working model for redesigning your team.
(Using the models provided plus any additional ideas of your own, identify the changes needed from yourself/your team, to achieve ideal performance.)
What follows is an insight into the different requirements for different types of remotely managed teams and the key requirements for successful management in those circumstances.
Structures for high performance disparate teams
Multi-site company locations
In this model, there are several members of a team in two or more locations. This may be to give local coverage to various geographic areas or to have a multi-site service for an essential function in case of disaster or to make use of specific geographic knowledge found in different locations.
Whatever the reason, it is important to test whether or not the cost implications of managing such disparate teams outweigh the benefits in having the team spread out in this manner.
Even with existing teams where "we have always done it this way", it is important to ask the question "is it really necessary to continue working in this fashion?"; "how much does it cost?" and "how much would it cost to consolidate the operation?".
In answering these questions, it is important to explore the following issues:
- How many team members are situated at each location?
- Are these sites all operated by the company for various functions or is it solely for the function I manage? (In which case the operating costs are much greater.)
Teams working from home
Many companies are taking this route for certain types of communications work, such as helplines, maintaining data systems etc.
This manner of working brings many more people into the work force through enabling people who cannot make it to an office, such as carers, the disabled etc. to work and allowing the operators huge flexibility of working hours too. So in areas where there is strong competition for workers and in roles where there is the possibility for flexibility in work practice, this can be an effective means of carrying out the work.
Usually where this means of working is used, the cost/benefit analysis has already been carried out before putting in place the necessary resources in the office and homes. What is sometimes not explored in advance is the need for a completely different approach to managing such teams.
Generic management skills
What are you managing?
In all management roles, there are core responsibilities which must be fulfilled, such as:
- Staff
- Resources
- Finance
- Planning.
In managing staff, the areas of responsibility can be broken down into the following categories:
- Recruitment
- Training & development
- Monitoring of work - quality & quantity
- Discipline
- Morale
- Delegation
- Recognition
- Productivity.
For managing resources:
- Physical resources - e.g. provision of place to work and necessary equipment
- Time management - overall across the team.
Managing finance:
- Setting budgets
- Operating within a budget
- Monitoring return on investment.
Planning will apply to the development of all the above activities and will also include:
- Monitoring the contribution of the team to the whole organisation and planning for future development.
All of the above definitions will apply to all managers, although the emphasis will be different depending on the manager's level of authority within the organisation.
How do these core responsibilities relate to managing remotely? Many are the same for managing in any situation - it is the category of managing the people which becomes more difficult to organise and carry out.
Team located in several company-owned sites
Where the team is on several company sites, there are two possibilities for managing the segments.
- Where the groups are small (less than 8 people is a rough guide), then a self-managed group with the remote manager taking overall responsibility is likely to prove most effective.
In this case, you look at the day-to-day needs of the group and each person in the team takes responsibility for one aspect, i.e. one person in charge of resources, with clearly defined financial limits; another in charge of collating performance figures and feeding back to manager and team; another responsible for monitoring training needs and for training new recruits etc.
The manager monitors and oversees these activities and has a regular schedule of visits to discuss progress and carry out one to one interviews with each team member for performance management/appraisal purposes. Additional visits will be necessary for special circumstances and roles which are not delegatable, like presentations of awards or high level management/customer visits.
- Where there are 8 or more people on a site, it is better to have a team member nominated as supervisor/team leader to carry out the above roles and have a reduced workload to give them time to cover them.
Whether you have self-managed teams or a team leader, it is important to provide the appropriate training to the individuals concerned and include these functions in your appraisal/ feedback process, so they realise the importance of this work as well as their basic technical function.
Team working from home
Where the team members are working from home, they are usually working on non co-operative tasks, where the "team spirit" is less easy to establish and perhaps will contribute less to the performance of the individual team members. Only "perhaps" because even in this scenario, the feeling of being a member of a unique group with objectives and a group identity can make a big difference to the experience of value of each member of that team, which transcends the physical isolation in which they work.
The manager is responsible for all the generic management tasks performed by managers in a "traditional" role, however, the difficulties in establishing good communication practices in such a team will potentially cause problems in carrying out all those management tasks.
If possible you will get the whole team together - either in the company premises or at a suitable facility, such as a hotel/conference site on a regular basis. Obviously this will be dictated by the work and company policy but a minimum should be quarterly.
In the planning stage, identify what means of communication are available to you and your team on a day-to-day basis; i.e. phone, e-mail, text.
Decide:
- How you will make best use of each method of communication
- How you will carry out monitoring of the team members' performance
- How you will reward outstanding performance and give recognition to both the individual and the team
- If in addition to the regular meetings, you will carry out one-to-one meetings with individuals to help build better working relationships
- How will you manage discipline in this environment? It is so important to have this worked out in advance
- How you will ensure that suitable training and development is carried out for your team members.
Returning to the subject of team spirit, it is vital to build this and in planning how communication will be carried out within the team, it is important to realise that if you only plan for the communication between yourself and each team member, you will set up a "silo" mentality, where each person will feel as if they are working in a vacuum. So encourage your team members to communicate with each other, offer support and guidance to learn from one another.
Encourage "in" jokes and ideas, which help them to identify with one another and enjoy working "together". For every minute of time spent in this way (because let's face it they will not be strictly "working" at this point) you will gain 2 or 3 minutes of enhanced work from the team, gained from the shared ideas and sense of togetherness.
It may be possible to include one or two team members in the recruitment process to carry out some initial training and welcome the new recruit as they begin to work. Whether this can be face to face, depends on the geographic location of the workers but again will pay dividends where it can be achieved.
Remote performance management
In essence, this is the same as in any management situation, however given the difficulties of working remotely in terms of maintaining excellent communication practice, this is absolutely essential to get right.
Individual and team objectives MUST be agreed face to face. Everyone must understand how the team's and their own performance relate to the success of the company. They must have had the chance to discuss with you their overall objectives, their short-term objectives and have agreed with you their priorities in achieving those goals.
Everyone must be clear about how their performance will be monitored and any company reward mechanisms in place should be carefully explained.
Praise and reprimand
The same rules apply as in traditional management - praise in public, reprimand in private.
Reprimand in private is relatively easy, although again best carried out face to face. Publicly praising is a little more difficult, especially if you are not physically present but remember to do it regularly, by e-mail if that is all you can manage but reinforced at team meetings. Remember the "one minute manager" - do both as soon as you are aware they need to be done - don't wait for an "appropriate moment".