Leading from a distance: 5 tips for remote managers

Remote leadership is a skill that managers and team leaders need more than ever. According to Statista 38% of all German workers find remote work practical, and 51% of them would be willing to work from home at least once a week in 2021. Another survey found that 41% of Austrian employees Prefer remote work over any other form of work. In nearby Switzerland, the University of St. Gallen conducted a survey which showed that although only 25.8% of workers do their work remotely, almost 50% of all jobs in the Swiss economy could be done outside the office.

Below, we answer the question “What is remote leadership?” and show you how you can lead teams across the country and even across the world.

What is remote leadership?

‍Put simply, remote leadership means leading teams in different locations. Unlike in a traditional office, where team members can hold short meetings at any time of day, remote management uses online tools, software, and platforms to delegate tasks, track performance, and achieve goals.

Remote leadership with Flexopus — the workplace management platform

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In leadership at a distance of Remote employees Do you need a balancing act between the needs of remote teams that hybrid work environment and manage team members who are still present in the office. In such complex scenarios, a Desk sharing software like Flexopus be an invaluable help.

With Flexopus, you can easily and efficiently manage workplace resources, whether it's desks, meeting rooms, or parking spaces. Through intuitive and streamlined processes, Flexopus enables seamless coordination and use of available resources, which makes remote management much easier.

Below, we'll take a look at some of the most common challenges when leading virtual teams.

The challenges of leading at a distance

How can remote teams be managed with maximum efficiency? That can get pretty tricky, because managing teams at a distance is about overcoming challenges such as:

• Lack of trust due to lack of face-to-face communication.
  
• Absence of goals, standards, and expectations.
  
• Inefficient time management.
  
• Frequent micromanagement.
  
• Lack of commitment of team members.

How can you lead virtual teams at a distance?

Now that that's settled, we'll look at some of the most popular examples that are currently being implemented. To help you do that, our team has put together a few ideas, taking into account best practices for leading virtual teams:

1. When you're directing remotely, keep communicating

that Swiss Federal Statistical Office has published data showing that only 39.6% of all Swiss workers who do their work remotely practice teleworking. In other words, the majority of remote workers don't use chats, conference calls, or other channels to communicate with the rest of the team.

It is the responsibility of managers to prioritize communication over completing daily tasks. Even a quick online briefing in the morning can do wonders as it increases transparency and provides team members with important information they would otherwise forget.

The consulting firm Fierce, Inc. found that 86% of employees blame poor communication and collaboration for workplace failures, while 92% of them believe that the company's tendency to overschedule or miss deadlines affects overall results.

2. Remote leadership requires clear rules and goals

It can be difficult to lead a team without personal contact. Management at a distance requires managers to:

• The various personalities in the team and the ones they used working methods to recognize.
  
• Break bigger goals down into smaller steps, which can be reached without micromanagement and constant calls. If the team has to participate in long and pointless online meetings, they are at great risk of wandering away.
  
• Balancing work and life. Nobody wants to make a zoom call at 6:00 PM, even if the manager thinks it's very convenient.
  
• Focus on the upshot, not by method.
  
• When setting goals, you should use SMART technology. Objectives must specific, measurable, reachable, relevant and time-bound be.

3. Remote leadership and performance standards

One of the biggest challenges of managing at a distance is deciding on the performance of specific people. After all, how can you know whether an employee is really working if you can't see him or her? This should also be about goals and not methods, and with the increase in remote work, it has been shown that the employee's location has no effect on their productivity.

A Report from Owl Labs shows:

• 70% of workers say online meetings are less stressful
  
• 64% of workers prefer a hybrid workplace.
  
• 83% say that their productivity has increased
  
• 55% admit to working more hours
  
• 75% say that the Work from home It makes them happier.

With that in mind, managers who work from home have little to worry about. However, it is the responsibility of managers to clearly state their expectations, set limits and enforce all standards that they would also have in traditional offices. Remember that 46% of workers don't know what management expects of them, and that is not the workers' fault!

4. Managing remote teams is about coaching, not micromanaging

Now let's talk about how to manage remote workers. No matter how tempting it is: micromanagement is not a solution. Instead of controlling every step of the process, remote team leaders must take a leap of faith and let their team do what they do best.

With the advent of teleworking, coaching has become a popular approach for managers and team leaders of all types. In contrast to a micro-manager, a coach is:

1. It helps employees to power to increase instead of feeling judged.

2. It increases that engagement, the creativity And the innovation of employees.

3. Holds things under controlwithout getting worked up over little things.

4. Increase the productivityinstead of doing the same thing over and over again.

5. Improve the communications in both directions.

5. The Results vs. “staying online”: Finding a balance in managing remote teams

Working with remote teams requires a high level of trust. Leaders who are used to seeing their team members for eight hours straight could find it difficult to tolerate them going offline or working from their home on the beach instead of in the grey suburbs.

It is therefore definitely time to say goodbye to the old idea, which focused more on presence than on results. that WITH Sloan claims that a workforce that feels they are trusted is 260% more motivated, less likely to be absent and less likely to look for another job. Considering that cell phones allow everyone to be online all the time, it's time to find other standards to properly evaluate results.