Flex time or full remote time has been around for a while now. Some managers made the transition without problem while some found managing a remote team very difficult.
Flexible work arrangements, known as FWA, has been around since the 1970s. The concept grew from an idea presented by a consultant to the German aerospace company Messarschmit-Boklow-Blohm in 1967. In the United States, legislation has been passed regarding FWA since 2010:
- The Telework Enhancement Act for Federal Employees (2010)
- Workflex in the 21st Centry Act (2017)
- Working Famlies Act (2017)
Since FWA has been around for 50 years, what makes managing a remote team different from the standard office environment? I have a few thoughts simply from observing different managers over the years.
My previous company had offices all over the world. Managers needed to become flexible quickly and learn to work with teams in different time zones, languages, cultures, and even holidays. They had employees they worked with face-to-face and employees whom they may see only once a year. What were the factors that made a successful remote manager? In my opinion, the successful remote manager has grasped the unique technicques to build trust, communicate effectively, and provide boundaries.
Trust
I think the first, most important aspect for a successful remote manager and team is trust. Well, let’s be honest — trust is also the most important aspect for a successful in-office manager too. Of the managers I observed, the ones who transitioned from in office to remote well had built a team on trust. When remote became an option, they didn’t have to announce “I’m going to trust you to do xyz.” Why? Because the trust was already part of the relationship. They didn’t have to come up with cute quirky team buiding through Zoom to keep the team intact. Why? Because the team already had a strong repor and cohesiveness – built on trust.
Trust isn’t something you build through team building exercises. Although some companies swear team building exercises are the best thing since siced breat. Trust is built through honesty, transparency, and character. The best manager I ever had gained my trust by simply being honest with me. I knew where I stood with him from day one. You don’t have to be perfect to gain trust. You simply have to be reasonable, honest, and and treat your people with respect.
Communication
When your employee is in another state, you can’t just walk by their desk and have a quick chat. The key to communication with remote employees includes the use of video conferencing tools and scheduling.
Most offices now have tools, such as Teams, where you can drop in for a quick question. All the tools at our disposal to facilitate communication such as email, chat, phone lack one aspect of communication – body language. The good thing is we have cameras. The bad thing is most people have no clue how to use their camera. There are plenty of tutorials on line so I don’t have to repeat that information here. Now that people are video conferencing more, we have a new issue to deal with “Zoom Fatigue”. You can read more about Zoom fatige on the Standford news article below. Moral of the story — successful remote teams allow for managing video calls to ensure optimal communication.
Once you get a handle on the conference calls, the next step is to figure out how often and what type of one on one communication you need with each employee. Just because an employee appears to be independent doesn’t mean they don’t need to hear from you. Depending upon how large your team is, it may be difficult to do a daily check in with each individual.
Frequency becomes a balancing act. Too much and people feel micro-managed. Too little and your employees feel isolated. The good thing about a remote workforce is that you have a wide pool of resources to find the best fit fo the job. The bad thing about a remote workfore is that it is easy for your employees to move on to someone else. Sometimes it may not be enough to slimply ask “How’s it going?” You may need to be more explicit and ask probing questions to elicit revealing answers.
Boundaries
When I started in IT, if I had to work late, it was at the office. My computer, a desktop, was at the office and thus my access to work was at the office. In the late 1980s, I was issued my first laptop. I found myself working longer hours at home, but I felt I was more productive and still had home life vs work. Then I got a cell phone and could check my work email all weekend long. It took less than a decade before the boundaries between work and home blurred.
With a remote workforce, the boundries not only blur, but become absent. It is up to each individual to identify how and when to separate their personal and professional life. One of the benefits of remote work for most people is the ability to be available for family. As a manager, you need to understand your employee’s schedule as well as the deadlines you need them to meet. Together, you and your employee, need to come to a reasonable agreement on how to achieve both goals.
What does that mean? 8 to 5 may no longer be the norm. One person may be taking off in the afternoon to pick up kids from school, while another may enjoy working early mornings and yet another prefer to start their day later and work into the evening. The appeal of remote work is that we can be flexible with your schedules. That makes scheduling difficult. Therefore, you need to set expetations up front on when you want your team online. You also need to realize that if they have other needs, a different remote job is right around the corner.
The pros and cons of managing a flex team
If you are already one of the managers who create a strong relationship with your employees, moving to remote should not be difficult for you. Remote relationships are built the same way face-to-face relationships are — through communication, being present, and building trust. Remote teams provide a larger resource pool to find the right fit for your team because physical boundaries no longer apply. However, you have to work a little harder at ensuring communication stays open, ensuring you and your employees are on the same page, and the employee’s career goals and work-life balance are met while achieveing the goals of your corporation.
The bottom line is that managers who could build a cohesive team face-to-face transitioned to remote smoothly while those who were struggling with building a team found that remote teams amplified the issues that were hidden face-to-face. If you are facing issues with your team, it may not be the issue of remote work. If you can resolve the issues with a remote team, if your team does come back into the office, they will be stronger and more cohesive.