Managing a distributed workforce

- Did you know that about 73% of employees want greater flexibility and 67% seek more in-person activity and collaboration since the pandemic started? It seems for the time being this shift is here to stay meaning the role of HR leaders is changing with it. To help successfully support business leaders throughout your company, you will need to understand the tools available to you. Let's dive into your emerging role. In this course, when I mention the term distributed workforce, I refer to all employees who are physically present and working in office, hybrid workers who split their time in the office and home and fully remote employees. Since we are working with three different types of employees, it's essential to create an inclusive culture. To do that, empower your business leaders to focus on people, align the right talent and enhance communication styles. When I say focus on people, I mean business leaders should keep individuals at the center of their business strategy. As a business leader, they should trust their team members, listen to their viewpoints and empower employees to make key decisions. Now, let's talk about how to align the right talent. Guide managers by helping them understand their team's composition and help them leverage the strengths of their team members instead of relying on physical presence. For example, if you're trying to align talent to analyze customer trends for a product launch, you can advise the business leader to identify a team member who has strong analytical skills. You may also look for someone who has the ability to draw meaningful insights instead of assigning it to the person physically present in the office who may not be as qualified. Finally, let's talk about enhancing communication styles. You can do this by encouraging business leaders to reach out or send surveys to each team member to find out how they specifically like to communicate. Consider means. Do they prefer emailing, virtual meetings, internal chat such as Teams or Slack? Consider frequency. Do they like daily, weekly, monthly meetings? Consider structure. Are you giving your team members enough time to prepare for meetings or projects? Let them know the expectations by sending an agenda early. If you focus on understanding communication styles, it can help boost your team's culture and increase productivity. Take a moment now to reflect on your team. What tools can you implement to encourage an inclusive culture? How can you guide business leaders to effectively lead a distributed workforce?