How can managers build trust with remote teams?

By Hyper communication, check-in meetings.. Celebrating with the team all achievements and even personal events... Always remember that the risk of disengagement in remote teams is very high,,,and miscommunication and distrust is so common...

Empowering remote team members with autonomy and decision-making responsibilities can help build trust and accountability. When employees feel trusted, they are more likely to reciprocate that trust.Managers should clearly define remote work practices, such as availability, work distribution, and evaluation criteria,Regular and transparent communication is essential for building trust in remote teams.Encouraging open and structured communication can help team members feel supported and connected. By implementing these strategies, managers can create a positive and trusting remote work environment, leading to improved productivity and employee satisfaction.

To build trust with remote teams, prioritize: Clear Communication: Regularly update and communicate goals. Transparency: Be open about challenges and decisions. Accountability: Set clear expectations and own up to mistakes. Empowerment: Provide autonomy and recognize achievements. Regular Check-ins: Schedule one-on-one and team meetings. Feedback Culture: Encourage open feedback and act on it. Technology: Invest in reliable collaboration tools. Recognition: Acknowledge and appreciate remote efforts. Flexibility: Offer flexibility to accommodate diverse needs. Team Building: Organize virtual activities for camaraderie. Professional Development: Support growth opportunities.

The modern workplace has so many methods of communication for remote team management and different companies and people have their own styles. Finding the few that fit the organisation and the team is key, but one thing to be wary of is the perception of over communication to the point where it becomes micromanaging. Ultimately if the work output and goals are being achieved there is no problem.

People don't read minds: if you don't tell your team clearly company goals, personal goals for each of them, what is expected + when + how, and everything they need to know to perform well, they will not know. At an office, they might read the environment and copy what others do. Remotely, reading cues like this is impossible. Be transparent, thorough, assertive and empathetic when communicating - there is no such thing as over communication when you work remotely.

Many leaders misunderstand the purpose of 1:1 meeting with their direct team. This meeting isn’t just to discuss projects or tasks to be completed. It is a meeting to hear from your team about their challenges and struggles not only at work but also personal. Being an empathetic leader, you are responsible for the mental health of your team. Directing them to the right resources to get support and making sure their performance isn’t affected by external and internal challenges. It is important to guide them and ensure they feel supported.

In addressing the importance of empathy in remote work, it's essential to emphasize authenticity. Genuine care and concern for team members go beyond just understanding their perspective; it's about being a sincerely good human being. This means actively listening to their needs, acknowledging their challenges, and celebrating their achievements with authentic interest and support. Fake empathy can be easily perceived and can damage trust significantly. Therefore, as a manager, it's crucial to foster a culture of true empathy and care, where employees feel valued and supported not only for their work contributions but also as individuals.

Recently during my 1 on 1 I made sure to check on overall well-being. This is so important specially when we work remotely. Small talks goes long way it makes people feel at ease and allows them to open up. Having empathy allows you to know what others are going through.Sharing few points I follow- Express Genuine Interest: Ask specific question that shows you genuinely care about their well-being. For Eg , How have you been managing the workload lately?How have you been? Listen Actively and Respond Empathetically: Pay close attention to their response Acknowledge their feelings or experiences with statements like, "That sounds great! Tell me more, is there anything I can do to support you?"

It's important for anyone managing a team to try and put themselves in the position of that member. If you've had that role before, it's easier to empathize with your colleague because you know the challenges and intricacies of that role. I always like to think about how I would have wanted someone to manage me, and also consider the manner in which that person responds because everyone has a different style. I think any manager cannot expect the same level as they would have done because they have the benefit of hindsight and experience, so they need to approach it as if they're managing a version of themselves. I say this because we're often kinder to ourselves than we are to others and also, this works for me.

Building trust requires acknowledging and validating the feelings of remote team members. Recognise the challenges they face, such as isolation, lack of boundaries, and distractions. Make sure you offer flexibility and autonomy by trusting your team members to manage their work schedule and environment. This demonstrates respect and empowers your team. Schedule regular one-on-one meetings to provide an opportunity for personalised support and open dialogue. Use these meetings to check in on individual needs, address concerns, and offer guidance. Finally, encourage work-life balance by advocating for breaks, time off, and healthy habits. This shows you care about their well-being and creates a sustainable working environment.

Empowerment goes hand in hand with consistency. If you trust your team, you need to be consistent on avoiding micromanagement and be supportive when needed.

One thing I've found helpful is to schedule a 15 to 30 minutes meeting with your team members, create an actionable plan to complete the tasks, and set deadlines for each task. In this case, we're all accountable for our tasks and fully aware of the deadlines. This is not only about trust, it's about the accountability of each team member.

Trust is like the glue that holds a team together. It's a two-way deal – leaders trust the team, and the team trusts the leaders. Leaders should let team members do their thing, using their strengths. Remember, avoid micromanaging – it hurts the team and makes you the team's "villain." It's annoying and disrupts the professional flow. Stick to the workflow and trust the team to shine. Leaders should focus on the big picture – what gets done and how well. Supporting the team with resources is crucial for success. This teamwork road, built on trust and cooperation, leads to everyone achieving goals and getting better individually.

Trust is definitely a two-way street and through delegation a leader can build empowerment. By delegating tasks to team members, you communicate trust and confidence in them to take the next step in their growth. You are also building a positive culture.

Giving them certain decision making powers along with accountability for some tasks makes them feel empowered, and responsible. Allow them to lead certain aspects inside the team. One thing that gave me success was, asking 1 individual every week to act as a leader/manager of the group. This helped in boosting the communication, building trust, and helped them grow. This also helped me in making them realize the importance of deadlines, and that sense of responsibility. The trust and communication between each other became extremely strong with this.

Specially for virtual teams, doing a team building workshops around personality style is really helpful. When collaborating and communicating virtually, so much of the meaning of our message can be lost. Without the proper audible tone of voice for example, sentences can be interpreted differently. When the team knows and understands each other's personality styles, they know how to interpret the words behind a message and decipher the intended tone of voice. They know each other's perspective and can apply that to their day to day understanding and work. It really elevates the way they work together and brings about a solid foundation of trust from the beginning that the team can build on.

On the business-side of things, having daily meetings for even just 10 minutes is a game-changer when it comes to connecting with each other remotely, it's also a great way to keep everyone in the team up-to-date with any piece of relevant information for the day. On the flipside, if there's nothing that needs to be discussed, a session geared towards team-building activities is still effective as it can help the team know more about one another while also engaging them to work together in various activities. I've also challenged my team members to lead our huddles so that they can practice on their presentation skills while also bringing a fresh perspective to our daily routine.

Create an agenda in a sharable document and share it with all members of the team. Then, encourage everybody to edit and update. Ideally assign responsible to each section. Have junior members of the team moderate the meeting.

I always remember a team building exercise that involved each anonymously submitting a favorite song, why we picked it and the exercise involved guessing who. We all learned many different unexpected things about each other and bonded on a different level.

Knowing your colleagues is a key to create an outstanding team. Organizing regular activities and allowing your colleagues to even manage those activities will work wonders if you have a shy team. Additionally, while in remote, one of the important aspects is to make sure that anybody who joins the team gets quality time to spend with his/her colleagues. Make sure to have a lot of team bonding activities happening in the first 2-3 weeks of any new member joining your team.

Here comes crucial part for the success of any team which is Trust. This is even more important in the context of remote work. By fostering transparent and clear communication you can clearly state that you're having one of the biggest credits in your team. It's not smth that is given, but rather smth that is "earned" during the course of time. Next is the expectation, set as clear expectations as possible, clarity helps avoid misunderstanding. Show empathy and be supportive when team members face personal or professional difficulties. And last one, my fav, is leading by example.Demonstrate the behavior you expect from your team. If you consistently exhibit trustworthiness, honesty, and reliability, your team is more likely to follow suit

Trust isnt just a challenge for remote teams. Its a challenge for every team. Similarly, it is critical for every team. Leading by example is very much the same. What principles would you apply to building trust in a physical, shared workspace? accountability. Communication. Walking the walk, talking the talk. confidentiality. the list goes on. All of these apply to the virtual or remote space as well. be transparent. be kind. be accountable. virtual or inperson - be human and recognize that this is a component you need to work on constantly.

Inspecting what you expect is a critical example of creating healthy accountability. Showing empathy only part of the equation. Building trust within a culture of success requires recognition and accountability.

Backing the team for their thought through actions, and supporting them for whatever the outcome is, helps in building a lot of trust within the group. Once you have that culture set, your team will start coming up with solutions rather than talking about challenges. As a manager, your role is to trust, support and mentor the team, and while in remote, what works best is to make them feel that you are one of them.

This is absolutely key in any team. Do as a do rather than do as I say. The team should have trust in thier leader to do the right thing but also be on the front lines. Leading by example also goes a long way to support the team to grow Nd be more successful.

If you have an opportunity to bring your teams together in person during the year, even if it’s just for a few days, ensure that you spend that time PLANNING. If you build alignment in Vision and Tactics when teams are together, they can Execute remotely without much challenge. But if you’re planning remotely, things get a lot more difficult. The trust and collaboration required to build an aligned plan are much more difficult to achieve in a remote environment.

This is how I managed remote teams- - Created a sense of inclusion by engaging them in discussions - Included them in decision making process - Invited them to collaborate on various projects as SMEs - Created KPIs keeping in mind the workload - Bi- weekly check ins with them - Delegating responsibilities for various projects - Created specific training plans for their growth & learnings - Backed their decisions to empower them - Respected the time difference when arranging team meetings As a Manager, it’s your primary responsibility that whether your team is in-house or remote, that they feel included, encouraged and appreciated.

In Agile projects we use estimation matrix and story points for sizing of tasks that assigned to team members that make work effort an time is measurable. -establish the one story point size, which is the smallest task that take certain effort and certain time =1: -setup story point matrix in which we enlist all tasks and score it on the base of how many times it equal the smallest task (=1) using Fibonacci sequence (1,2,3,5,8,13,20,40, &100) -distribute tasks to team individuals everyone take tasks scored equivalent to working hours or days. By this you build 2 ways trust based on compatability and transparency

Virtual or Otherwise It is important for managers to have integrity. in a forum where the reporting staff is absent or not included, the manager should have his/her team's back. they should try to pass down the information as transparently as possible and be ready to answer doubts surrounding the passed information.

Encourage, empower, support, and help your team to manage their work-life balance. Be one of them. Be in their shoes. Create an environment where teammates can crack light hearted jokes, and keep that tempo high always. Keep communicating and create an atmosphere where everyone can talk to each other without having a Manager being a Moderator. This creates a sense of trust, of being a single family of colleagues.