Your team is working remotely. How can you ensure they stay productive?

In my experience managing a team remotely successfully comes down to two things: setting clear expectations and building trust with your team. If you as a leader set clear and measurable goals and objectives for your team that removes ambiguity and also lets your team know what success looks like and sets guardrails for judging performance. You also have to have trust with your team so that they feel empowered and supported. By being clear on what you expect from them, and giving regular and timely feedback, you build up trust in your relationship. People want to do good work and feel like they are contributing but many times this gets derailed by a lack of clarity on expectations and a lack of trust with their manager.

People WANT to do a good job. They want to know what they are doing 9-5, M-F is effective and meaningful. I often see leaders who default to a "I will know it when I see it mentality." - Which leads to ambiguity and ultimately vague goals. Which leads to unfulfillment and resentment. Gather information, take a position as a leader, give clear direction, and trust people to succeed. Make sure those goals are clearly articulated and plainly visible and encourage people when they ultimately succeed. I feel like sometimes LI influences and books try to make this overly clever but its pretty simple. Clarity should be basic business.

I always ensure we are aligned on expectations including the expected milestones. Then we agree on scheduled catch ups (while of course remaining open to consultations on a need basis. During the check ins, we do not necessarily focus on work only but on what we are all doing at a personal and social levels.

Expectation setting begins from the hiring process. Not everyone enjoys or is productive in a remote / hybrid environment. Defining clear roles, responsibilities, processes and accountability, creating SMART goals and encouraging over/extra communication are some upfront expectations which can really help

To ensure remote team productivity, consider embracing a radical trust approach. Instead of micromanaging or tracking every minute, empower your team with autonomy and trust in their professionalism. Set clear goals and expectations, then step back and allow them to manage their own time and workflow. This can lead to increased motivation, creativity, and a sense of ownership over their work, ultimately boosting productivity and job satisfaction. Remember, productivity isn't always about being constantly busy; it's about achieving meaningful results.

I have recruited, build and managed remote teams since 1990 and one thing sticks no matter what technology you are using. Almost daily follow up and interaction with all team members giving them support, advice and motivation whenever needed. You need to build a virtual relation and make to use of multiple tools that enable to be in contact no matter what. Today I am managing a 60 people remote team of which 99% I never met in flesh and blood. In some cases, we work together for more than 3 years without having ever been in physical contact.

Organize customized training sessions to ensure that every team member is proficient in using the selected tools effectively. Tailor training programs to the specific needs of your team and the functionalities of the chosen platforms. This proactive approach not only empowers your team to navigate remote work challenges confidently but also maximizes the potential of the tools to enhance collaboration and communication.

Elevate remote collaboration with Cisco's Webex, creating an immersive virtual workspace that transcends distance, ensuring your team stays connected, engaged, and productivity soars. Unleash the power of IBM Watson Workspace to strategically enhance communication, leveraging AI to streamline workflows, ensuring your remote team not only stays productive but innovates at the speed of thought. Forge a new era of remote efficiency by integrating Cisco's Meraki and IBM MaaS360, creating a seamless, secure, and intelligent digital workspace that propels your team's productivity beyond traditional boundaries.

In the realm of remote work, navigating effective collaboration and communication relies on utilizing the right tools tailored to your team's needs. It is crucial to ensure that everyone is proficient in using these tools. Video conferencing platforms like Zoom or Skype facilitate virtual meetings, check-ins, and brainstorming sessions. Project management tools such as Asana or Trello help organize, track, and assign tasks. Communication tools like Slack or Teams facilitate real-time chat, updates, and questions. Additionally, cloud storage tools like Google Drive or Dropbox streamline the storage, access, and sharing of files and documents, contributing to a seamless remote work experience.

Having a project timeline with milestones with clear directions/assignments for each individual and project deadlines helps keep everyone focused on their job. Checking in on the status of the project regularly helps keep it moving.

This step is far more than simply trust and rapport. To build remote culture, people managers and teams need to ALSO learn great collaboration skills, how to debate productively, to create focus on serving customers, how to facilitate and value diverse voices that help you get to better solutions. Focus on goals, results, and outcomes helps to drive company performance. These capabilities are missing in far too many organizations where people managers are uncomfortable with ambiguity and change. They rely on control and task management to “prove” productivity.

We must also consider the definition of 'productive'. In the world of Knowledge Workers, a productive day may be thinking about possibilities, creating opportunites, pondering about risks and rewards, contemplating the next step in leadership to better influence others. The point being, we may not want to put any type of daily/hourly/weekly KPI for some of our teams. We may not want to put screen recording software on the PC to ensure 'that their mouse is moving'. We may want to provide the trust and create the rapport that says, "Give me your best self, and I will support your efforts".

Trust is the most crucial ingredient for remote work to be successful and goes hand in hand with clear and shared objectives. As a leader you must understand the unique environment in which each team member may work from, ranging from a coffee shop to a meeting with children and pets or anything else that is not common in most formal workplaces. This is a good opportunity to build rapport, since there is a new and window from both sides to comment from; the human side. This will also give you insights for topics in meetings virtual or other, to share beyond the day to day of only work, and have a more connected team.

Initiate virtual team-building activities to strengthen interpersonal bonds among remote team members. Activities like online quizzes, virtual escape rooms, or collaborative challenges encourage team members to interact in a relaxed setting, fostering a sense of camaraderie. These engagements contribute to building trust by allowing team members to connect beyond work-related discussions, creating a more cohesive and supportive virtual team environment.

1. Make it clear what each team member's goals, timelines, and deliverables are. This will help them to stay focused on their job. 2. Establish an open and transparent communication culture in which your team feels comfortable asking for help, giving updates, and asking questions 3. Schedule virtual meetings regularly to discuss progress, address difficulties, and provide required support and guidance 4. Ensure that they have the appropriate equipment, software, and resources to work productively remotely 5. Encourage them to draw a line between work and personal life to avoid burnout and maintain a good work-life balance 6. Regular recognition and reward for their hard work and contribution to boost morale and motivation

The most critical ingredient to improving team productivity in a remote setting is trust. Managers/leaders need to trust their teams to deliver while choosing their own work hours. Managers need to put additional effort into providing all the context (which often gets lost in remote settings), share inputs on problem solving and let the team own the outputs and the process of delivery. The ultimate focus should be on the quality of work output and less on the number of hours worked.

Harness the dynamic capabilities of Google Workspace, crafting a virtual environment where collaboration and autonomy thrive, fostering a culture of flexibility that fuels individual and collective productivity. Take a page from Amazon's playbook by integrating AI-driven project management tools like Asana or Trello, empowering remote teams to autonomously organize and execute tasks, creating a self-directed workflow that maximizes productivity. Infuse the innovative spirit of IBM's Watson Assistant into your remote work strategy, implementing a virtual assistant that adapts to individual work styles, offering personalized support and fostering a sense of autonomy, ultimately boosting team productivity in the digital workspace.

Autonomy is one key aspect that moves the needle in managing remote team. In my experience, all high performers expect high autonomy. For low performers, leverage the flexibility aspect. But before that as a leader you must build that trust and faith among everyone.

Control and monitoring of progress, resource utilisation (cost control) is critical by establishing clearly defined goalposts underpinned by measurable short and medium term time frames relative to the project duration.

Empowering individuals to participate in active learning (on the job) as well as building their skills through specific courses and training is essential. Training people in leadership and EQ skills such as active listening and empathy will enable people to be not only skilled but also strong character. The ideal motto: promote for character and train for skills.

Instead of micromanaging, I focus on outcomes. We set clear KPIs and have weekly check-ins to discuss progress, celebrate successes, and address any roadblocks.

To ensure the effectiveness of your remote work strategy, it's crucial to systematically monitor and measure its impact on your team and overarching goals. Collect and analyze data pertaining to productivity, performance, and engagement, allowing you to pinpoint strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Actively seek feedback from team members to understand their preferences, concerns, and suggestions regarding the remote work strategy. This valuable input, combined with data analysis, enables you to adapt and enhance your remote work strategy proactively. By continuously refining your approach based on both quantitative and qualitative insights, you optimize the remote work experience for your team and foster ongoing success.

The article asks how you can ensure remote teams remain 'productive' when it should instead ask how they can remain 'effective'. Regardless of position or department, the goal of any company is to maximise profit and growth. Each position therefore needs primary effectiveness measures tied to that, while productivity metrics are useful diagnostics. So for example, sales effectiveness is sales ($ and volume), conversion rate and customer tenure after the sale. Productivity metrics such as call and opportunity volumes and time to closed sale can help identify how to improve effectiveness. Non sales roles will have measures like customer NPS, tenure, service availability %, brand awareness, lead volume, product usage, sprint velocity etc.

Keep track of your team's progress and results. This could involve weekly or monthly check-ins to review progress, or using project management tools to monitor task completion. This can help you identify any issues early and address them before they become major problems. Remember, it's about progress, not perfection.

Monitoring results in remote work enhances productivity by providing clarity on performance expectations and progress. It ensures accountability and helps identify potential issues early on. By tracking key metrics and deliverables, managers can offer timely feedback, recognize achievements, and address challenges promptly. This data-driven approach fosters transparency, aligns team members with organizational goals, and allows for informed decision-making. Monitoring results also facilitates a results-oriented culture, emphasizing outcomes over micromanagement, empowering remote employees to take ownership of their work and contribute to the overall success of the team and company.

Ensuring productivity in a remote team involves clear communication, effective collaboration, and supportive management. Regularly check in with colleagues to not only check their work and discuss upcoming tasks, but to check they are okay. Ensure there is regular dialogue, that you both remain connected and included. Foster an environment where no one feels at a disadvantage by working remotely. Ultimately create an environment that promotes productivity, collaboration, and well-being in your remote team.

Use more informal communications. Remember the relationship element in work. In office settings, there can be many "corridor chats" which is not done remotely. These can be essential to the trust, updates, and feedback if the tools are the right ones.

From my perspective, productive remote working relies additionally on two key things: 1. Great company culture that provides the needed psychological safety and growth opportunities for remote employees 2. Digital engagement skills (& energy) that employees need to have in order to make their "virtual" presence a lot like a "physical" one

There are many other factors that can affect your team's productivity while working remotely. This could include their home environment, their mental health, or any personal issues they might be dealing with. Be supportive and understanding, and provide resources or assistance where possible. For example, you could offer flexible working hours for team members who may have childcare responsibilities, or provide access to mental health resources.

One reason why some employers want people back in the office rather than working from home is that the latter requires managers to think harder about how productivity and effectiveness is measured. Some managers will kid themselves that "if they are working in the office, I can assume productivity" and therefore I can get away with not measuring it. But I can't assume that if they are at home so I will have to put some thought into what defines 'effective' in the role. And that is not always an easy task so I can understand why some might want to go for the easier option.