In our last article we have reviewed the teleworking challenges that most organizations are currently facing. Challenges are faced by both management and their employees. In this blog post we will look on how managers can survive teleworking.
How Managers Can Survive Teleworking – A Case Study
When we wrote this article we wanted a real case study example of how teleworking is handled in practice. We interviewed the management at COSTANSIN Ltd, a fully distributed remote team organization since 2010. At this company there are no fixed offices and all the personnel works remotely (and even in different time zones!). They shared insights on how they made teleworking effective for an entire decade.
Teleworking has enabled the business to get massive competitive advantage. For one, given these current circumstances, they are proven to be resilient, and secondly, they have developed ways to keep staff motivated and more productive than being stuck in an ordinary office.
The organization focused on both the hard and soft aspects of management – combining both the traditional and modern ways of managing a company. The management firmly believes that teleworking setups require trusting but firm leaders. You cannot be a Laissez Faire leader and expect the same results you would get from your team if you were in the usual office space.
On the other hand, one cannot expect a company that is very averse to technology to suddenly switch to teleworking. The right communication tools, ERP frameworks and project management processes need to be in place to support remote working environments.
Approaching Teleworking the Right Way
Despite the paradigm shift in working environments and all the challenges that we have discussed earlier, COSTANSIN considers teleworking as the only viable option for future work trends.
There are both right and wrong ways to implement remote working. Teleworking can be so effective and rewarding, that we believe it should not just take a secondary business continuity alternative, but even considered the main future of working strategy.
In the next section we will shed some light on the best ways on how managers can survive teleworking.
Top 4 Strategies How Managers Can Survive Teleworking:
1. Setup Regular Conference Calls with your Team
The lack of face to face interaction between employees and management does not mean that meetings should not be effective. Nowadays there are a number of collaboration tools that allow you do video chats with your staff.
Encourage employees to turn on their camera. Not to pry on them. But simply to make them feel that they are at work and get out of their pajamas. Additionally, video chats help your team members interact more effectively.
Having three meetings on a daily basis is a very good way to keep flowing the communication to and from your team. First meeting in the morning should be about asking about pending issues and how the day is planned – taking in consideration any running projects.
The second meeting, usually just before lunchtime, should make sure there are no blockers that need your attention to help unblock. The second meeting should also be focus on the social aspect, making sure everyone is OK.
The last meeting, just before the end of the working day, should basically be a summary of the day. Here we are not looking solely on status updates – but more to keep engaged with your employees.
2. Encourage Banter & Small Talk
Assuming you have an enterprise collaborative chat tool installed (no, not Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp!), create channels where you encourage your employees to chat and have their small talk. Small talk is natural in office environments – do not be afraid that this will decrease productivity. Maintaining positive vibes by openly encouraging chatting will maintain a work-life balance and engage your employees in your company’s cultural aspects as well.
3. Enforce punctuality and a routine
One of the greatest aspects of remote work is time flexibility. However when you have an organization of more than 50 people, this can get out hand. By making enforcing a routine, for example, through daily meetings, it will be transparent for employees of what is expected of them. This helps the team to maintain a good work balance.
Ensuring that people disconnect during lunch break and after the work day ends is imperative. Make sure your team gets the time it needs out of the chair and away from their computer screens.
4. Daily Reports
One of the most challenging aspects for management in a remote working environment is the lack of visibility of their people ‘looking busy’. This is normal. People do get distracted and need to get reminded to prioritize or perhaps to meet their deadlines.
One effective way to do this is through regular meetings as explained earlier. Another effective technique is to require daily reports from your team. Reports should not be long – a half pager summary of what was done. This normally includes the following:
- Meetings
- Project Work Status Updates
- Day to Day Work / Customer Calls
- Admin / Planning Work
Conclusion
There are both right and wrong ways to implement remote working. Teleworking can be so effective and rewarding, that we believe it should not just take a secondary business continuity alternative, but even considered the main future of working strategy.
