We can clearly experience the multiple benefits of working with a remote team with increased productivity and personal satisfaction with work and life balance. However, supervising a team of remotely working employees can be tricky, especially for brand-new managers.
It is because communication and productivity might be tough to monitor. When working remotely, it can be challenging to know how well someone is completing their tasks or if they’re going beyond what is expected of them or not.
Carrying your duties as a leader, whether it is in the office or working with a team remotely, takes experience, patience, and training. It would be unwise to step into leadership without having adequate knowledge. The responsibility involves coaching, employee reinforcement, and encouragement.
Here are four vital signs of ineffective communication that you need to recognize before it starts affecting your company.
Team Members Feel Disconnected From One Another
“It’s just not the same.” We’ve heard this repeatedly, and it’s true—connecting with team members in virtual environments is not the same as in the office. But that doesn’t mean you can’t create deep and beneficial relationships remotely. The problem is that many teams are simply trying to replicate what they do in an office in a Zoom room. Hint: that’s a mistake.
There are two components to the disconnect: missing out on casual conversations that foster trust and relationships and feeling “out of the loop” when it comes to the knowledge that’s being shared and decisions being made. Both components result in lower productivity and lower employee engagement.
The solution begins with rethinking the ways teams communicate digitally and using tools specifically designed with virtual connections in mind. But building a connected team and healthy culture takes a continuous commitment. To align culture in a digital environment, you need to adopt remote-specific skills and practices, then reinforce them with shared rituals, which can be established organically or with the guidance of an experienced remote training facilitator.
Lack Of Collaboration Tools
If you have just started your business, it may be possible for you to communicate one-on-one with your team on a more regular basis. However, as your team grows, achieving this goal will likely become arduous. This could result in ineffective communication, which in turn can lead to various other problems and tank your productivity.
To avoid falling into this trap, start using collaborative tools for your business. This will instantly solve your problem and make it easier for you to manage your remote team more efficiently.
Managing a remote team can sometimes be challenging, and a large part of this comes from the lack of proper communication with the team members. But if you can handle this problem, working and managing your remote team will likely become much more accessible.
Managers are Micromanaging
This is a hefty one, as team managers are often unaware of their micromanaging behaviors and especially the negative impact this has on the engagement and performance of their team. How can employees give upward feedback about micromanaging?
It’s even better when leaders can self-identify some of the techniques that are plaguing them. Are you a micromanager? Answer these questions to check:
- Do you have daily video conference check-ins with your team members?
- Do you use screen monitoring software?
- Are your team’s goals based on hours worked?
- Do you pay attention to when employees “clock in” or “clock out”?
- Do you need to sign off on every single communication or deliverable?
Often, micromanagement in a virtual environment is a result of the manager’s anxiety about the unknown. They likely still have the business targets they are expected to achieve but lack the familiar comfort of seeing their team members working towards those goals side-by-side in the office.
These can be hard habits to break. It requires an investment in learning and practicing the skills to lead remotely. Specifically, training that addresses the placeless mindset that is needed to support sustainable remote work.
Lack of Trust
One of the first indications that communication isn’t going as well as it should be among your remote teams is an inexplicable lack of trust among team members and between team members and management. Not being able to trust each other can be detrimental to the success of remote teams, so it’s essential to mitigate these issues.
Trust can be established simply by having live meetings, either audio or video, so you can achieve regular check-ins and know what your team is up to. Individual and group meetings via teleconference or videoconference are an excellent way to keep tabs on everyone’s progress, so you know they are working on what they should be, and know you are there if they need anything.
Too Much Communication
Sounds impossible, right? It is definitely possible and could be another sign that your remote teams are not communicating effectively. If your employees are getting bombarded via email, group chat, direct message, and text, you aren’t more likely to get their attention. You’re actually more likely to be ignored.
Choose your channels for communicating different types of information and stick with them. If you need to send team announcements, determine which track you will use vs. when you will communicate individually. Don’t repeat communications among several channels unless it is indispensable. Make sure important information is communicated appropriately. Management should listen as much as they talk in order to ensure that there is not too much communication so that the correct information is being conveyed.
Increasing Turnover
Regardless of whether the team is remote or not, increasing employee turnover is one of the most common signs that people are overworked. High employee turnover is one of the worst things that can happen to a company. Most importantly, you are losing people who know their jobs and how the company breathes, which takes a long time to learn. Not to mention, this sends the wrong message about your company and reduces your chances of attracting top talent later. It can even hurt the revenue, as consumers have repeatedly reported that they care about how employees are treated.
This is why you must keep a close eye on employee turnover. Sometimes you cannot avoid these turnovers, but you’ll want to watch out for any uptick in the percentage of people leaving. If you notice it, talk to employees that are leaving or thinking of leaving, and make sure that overwork is not the culprit. You will easily figure out if there is a trend of people complaining about being overworked, and you will need to make sure to correct this.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, we have to admit that remote work puts a strain on company communications. You’ll need to be proactive about encouraging a company culture where people can say what’s bothering them and feel safe doing so. Keeping an eye out for these vital signs that your remote teams aren’t communicating effectively will help you diagnose the problem and find solutions that will work for you. Whether you were thrown into this workplace situation suddenly when the pandemic hit or you have been doing it for a while, there can be issues.
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