Recently got promoted to a managerial role in your work from home job?
Managing remote employees comes with several unique challenges compared to handling an in-house team.
For one, communicating with your team and ensuring their productivity is much more difficult in this setup.
Additionally, many managers struggle to maintain their work-life balance and establish trust with their team.
To overcome these remote management challenges, aspiring remote managers must hone the following essential skills:
Excellent Communication Skills
Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful remote team management.
Thus, one of the most essential skills aspiring remote managers should have is excellent communication skills.
Having this reduces the potential for misunderstandings, and helps you promote trust and collaboration within your team.
Here are some ways you can hone this essential skill:
- Practice Active Listening
-
-
- Active listening involves going beyond merely listening to what the other person is saying and striving to understand the meaning and intent behind their words.
- This means paying attention to the speaker’s tone, body language, emotions, and providing feedback to show you’re listening.
-
- Provide Detailed Instructions to Your Team
-
-
- Doing this saves your team a lot of time since they don’t need to keep asking you for clarification.
-
- Familiarize Yourself With Online Communication Tools
-
- Use apps like Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams to regularly meet your team “face-to-face” and foster a sense of community.
-
Measuring Productivity Differently
Traditionally, productivity was measured by the number of hours an employee spent in the office rather than how many assignments they accomplished.
However, this isn’t applicable anymore in an online work from home setup.
Instead, remote managers have adopted new ways of measuring their team’s productivity based on results and outcomes.
You can hone this crucial skill by:
- Setting Clear Objectives With Your Team
-
-
- Establish measurable goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to help you monitor your team’s progress and successes.
-
- Prioritizing Quality Over Quantity
-
-
- Focus on the quality of your team member’s output rather than the number of their work hours.
- Additionally, learn to differentiate between tasks that help the company get closer to its goals and ones that are necessary but don’t.
-
- Utilizing Productivity Tools
-
-
- Take advantage of project management tools like Monday.com and Clickup to track your team’s deliverables, project milestones, and team contributions.
-
Building Trust With Your Team
One of the greatest challenges for any remote manager is establishing trust within their team.
It’s easier to organize group activities in an office, but it’s more difficult in an online setup.
That said, there are equally effective ways to build trust with your remote team. These include:
- Practicing the Trust-First Method
-
-
- This practice involves presuming someone is trustworthy unless you have a clear reason to think otherwise rather than the reverse.
-
- Consciously Avoiding Micromanaging Your Team
-
-
- A common pitfall for many new remote managers is micromanaging their team members.
- Instead, give your team autonomy and trust them to accomplish their tasks.
- Empowering your team boosts their self-confidence and gives them a sense of ownership in their work.
-
- Practicing Transparency.
-
-
- Being transparent fosters an environment of openness and honesty within your team.
- This shows you value each member of the team by trusting them with full transparency whenever appropriate.
-
Adaptability and Problem-Solving Skills
The remote work environment is ever-changing and unpredictable.
Thus, another set of essential skills aspiring remote managers need are adaptability and strong problem-solving skills.
Having these helps you cope with uncertainty and difficulties like time zone differences to find new ways to solve them.
To cultivate this skill, you can start by:
- Keeping an Open Mind
-
-
- Instead of resisting new ways of doing things, treat them as opportunities for growth and improvement.
-
- Encouraging an Open Dialogue
-
-
- Foster an environment where your team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns.
- This openness allows you to address issues before they become bigger.
-
- Regularly Seeking Feedback
-
-
- Don’t hesitate to ask for feedback from your team regarding your management style, so you can refine your approach.
-
Motivating and Supporting Your Team
A common challenge for many remote workers is feeling isolated from their co-workers, which could lead to burnout.
Because of this, managers must be able to continuously keep their team members engaged, productive, and satisfied with their work.
You can improve this crucial skill by:
- Recognizing Your Team’s Efforts
-
-
- Recognition is crucial for motivating your team.
- When your team members know that their efforts are noticed and appreciated, it boosts their morale and pushes them to continue working hard.
-
- Providing Regular Feedback
-
-
- Give specific, constructive, and timely feedback to help identify areas for improvement.
- Remember to provide adequate support and guidance on how to make those improvements.
-
- Leading With Empathy and Understanding
-
-
- Show patience and support for your team, especially new members, as they navigate remote work’s various challenges.
-
Ready to Lead Remotely?
As more Filipinos shift to work from home jobs, the demand for capable remote managers will also increase.
Fortunately, by honing the essential skills above, aspiring remote managers can quickly fill in these gaps.
Are you still looking for online job opportunities? If so, Remote Staff is here to help.
Our jobs list contains many available positions, some even offering managerial roles.
These range from virtual assistant jobs and online transcription jobs to online writing jobs and online design jobs.
So, what are you waiting for? Sign up here. Good luck!
