11 Best Tips for Leading Remote Teams

Leading remote teams is not anything new. There’s been remote work out there in the last two decades and various categories of work. If, for the first time, you’re leading a team working remotely or managing a project with stakeholders operating from different locales, navigating how to lead in this situation will be different from managing an office of workers in-person.

Here are some tips for leading remote teams to empower you and your workers:

1. Leadership training

Experience comes with time. Today, thousands – if not millions – of people are in their very first leadership roles. If you don’t have the luxury of having experience, improve your knowledge instead. Leadership development, especially programs focused on leading remote teams, allows you to study how to do it.

2. Remote work software

The best tip we can give on leading a remote team is to use project management software or remote work software. This does three key things.

• Provides a central hub in which everyone can work, get information, and exchange information.
• Allows you to assign tasks, receive completed work, and monitor progress on specific project components.
• Opens up the communication channel from ‘remote worker’ to ‘team lead,’ ensuring they can reach a manager when they need to and that you can reach team members.

3. Be adaptable in leading remote teams

As a leader, you work for your team. Your success is tied entirely to theirs, individually and collectively, so be ready to adapt your leadership style. Learn what each team member needs and supply it to them. You don’t want anyone feeling left out, unmotivated, or disengaged. Listen, adapt, and motivate. When your team members thrive, so will you.

4. Regular check-ins

Leaders working remotely don’t have the benefit of face-to-face interactions. Regular check-ins by email, phone, text, or video chat will help create the sort of social bond and visual relationship you’d have if you were working in person. It also allows you to check in on someone and ensure they feel alright.

5. Avoid too much communication

Some leaders tend to over-communicate, but remote communication fatigue is a thing. Wasting time on too many video calls is a perfect example of this type of fatigue. Be sure to have a reason for a video call if you schedule one, and keep all other communications brief, timely, and direct.

6. Establish clear guidelines

You want expectations crystal clear for a remote worker. They should know the preferred communication method, tasks they’re expected to complete and their deadline, and have all the information readily accessible for them to perform their work.

As a new leader, this is something simple you can do to help every team member know what they should be doing and to have every resource they need to get their tasks done.

7. Have realistic expectations

Some leaders set high-stress unrealistic expectations for their remote workers, and it ends up disrupting productivity. Have some flexibility. Be empathetic to what may happen at home, i.e. young children, doorbell-ringing, pets, noise and distractions, etc.

Of course, team members should be working. However, it’s a big burden when they feel they’re being assigned poorly-planned deadlines. It will bother them and reflect poorly on you.

8. Monitor job performance

Monitor metrics. A high performer in the office may disengage and fall behind in a remote work setting. You may need to employ different methods of keeping remote workers motivated. Although you don’t want to scold anybody for falling behind, monitoring the progress of project tasks and metrics will help you see whether your team is effectively working.

9. Focus on outcomes and results

Do not obsess over activity. The best practice for remote work is to focus on outcomes. If a performer delivers the outcome you’ve outlined, that matters. Allow team members the freedom to manage their time and get to the preferred outcome their way. Executing their plan toward a specified outcome keeps workers engaged.

10. Provide more frequent feedback

A remote worker should not be made to feel remote. As a leader, providing more frequent feedback than you would if they were working with you in the same office will let a team member know how they’re doing and what, if anything, they can do better. Acknowledgement and encouragement are crucial in keeping a remote team’s morale up.

11. Solicit team member feedback

You may do this privately if you prefer. Ask team members for their feedback on how things are going. A team member may be able to point out weaknesses you don’t see in how a project is progressing, identify resources they could have to be more productive but don’t, or the structure of remote work. Empower your team members to speak freely and provide regular feedback.