Three Things to Keep in Mind as a Remote Team Leader - Year 2

We have just passed the first anniversary of pandemic working from home and remote team leaders are still facing the challenge of managing their people from a screen.

While there are resources available, with new training courses, surveys, articles and case studies being published and guidance and support being provided from HR or L&D teams and senior leadership, the team leader is still primarily responsible for the decisions that affect their team.

It's up to the team leader to make the available resources into something meaningful for their team which provides a tangible day to day playbook that keeps the team on track and keeps everyone sane.

From my work with clients over the last year, three themes emerged which can help put the challenge into perspective:

1. Remember that no one volunteered for this

This was a sudden and total change. There was no advance planning or training or risk assessment because there was never a time for when anyone planned to do this. Apart from emergency response and business continuity plans, no one had a plan to send everyone home one day and have them working fully productively the next.

We were all learners. We are still all learners.

It's still ok not to have the answers or understand the technology or know what to do to keep your team on track because they never expected you to have to do this.

This is an ongoing experiment and as such we are still learning.

Learning gives us permission to continue to listen to our team about what they need, to talk to people about how each of them is doing and how they are managing their workload and their home life.

This was never part of your job description so even though it has lasted longer than first expected, you should not be trying to get everything right or pretending that you’ve got it all under control, because that is just not realistic.

2. Focus on people

In any team, there are myriad working styles, preferences and personality traits which are reflected in the diversity of contribution within the team.

The last year has disrupted these patterns and everyone has experienced it differently.

Some people have taken more easily to remote working and some people really miss the office. Some people eagerly anticipate returning and some are already anxious about having to go back full time to the office.

If you can focus on what’s happening with people as they adapt to the next phase of the pandemic, what they are finding easy or hard, what they miss and what’s better about being at home, what they are worried about, you can adapt your approach to what they need to thrive.

You can help people by being aware of their work time preferences, their work/home boundaries, their time management challenges, their tech issues or the routines that are helping them stay well and motivated.

With that awareness you are better able to help with any workarounds and flexibility that will allow people organise their work and other obligations to fit the available time and meet work priorities.

3. No matter how badly you think you’ve done so far, it’s not too late to make it better

We never expected this to last so long and it's far from over.

So, if you feel you haven't done enough to adapt or help your team adapt, its not too late!

Team leadership is a work in progress, there is no perfect.

Ask for feedback, adapt your approach and try again next week.

Think about the most important things you would appreciate from someone leading you at this time and then try to give your team those things.

Teams thrive on common purpose, transparency, trust, collegiality and connection.

If you keep connected to your team and keep listening to your people, you will better understand what's going on, what they need and what they're looking for in a supportive team leader.