You're struggling to lead a remote team effectively. How can you ensure success in managing them?

Effective remote team management starts with setting clear goals. Ensure your team understands their priorities and how their work contributes to the overall goals. Implementing OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) can help maintain focus and alignment. Additionally, promote an outcome-based work discipline to emphasize results over mere activities. Regular check-ins to monitor progress and offer support are essential for keeping everyone motivated and on track.

When setting goals, it's important to ensure that the entire team has a unified understanding of them. To accomplish this, hold meetings to shape the final description of the goal and effectively communicate it to everyone. Another crucial aspect of goal setting is the ability to track progress. This involves not only evaluating progress but also comparing the percentage of achievement to the previous period. For a goal to be beneficial to the company, it should be challenging and not resemble a daily routine. Employees and the team should have a direct influence on achieving the goal.

I think to be effective, Yes, you have to communicate the goals, but you have to communicate the WHY and the KPIs. Look at what you have to set the stage for Why is the team mission. This is fundamental for providing context for everything else. The next thing is to define the Goals in terms of what are the deliverables for the team as well as, what are the deliverables for the individuals. And you have to make sure that you clearly identify those interdependencies that exist, or should exist, between the two. I don't have to define how you're gonna measure the success, which is the KPIs.

When setting up modern platforms with remote teams, it's important to remember two things. First, prioritize team communication. Schedule at least one weekly meeting for personal discussions beyond work matters. Ask the team members what they need help with, and what they are having difficulties with. This will impact the quality of work more than well-tuned tools. Second, consider the generational differences (X, Y, Z) when selecting and implementing tools. Each generation is accustomed to different forms of interaction. Some prefer communication outside platforms, while others prefer minimal contact. It's crucial to study each generation's preferences before implementation and establish communication guidelines on the platforms.

I've been managing remote teams for a couple of decades, having led global teams. One of the key things that I do is I have regular 1:1 meetings with every single person in my team. In some cases, that means meeting each person once per week. It's just important that in the meetings that you focus on how they're doing versus the goals, but also making sure that you understand if there's any obstacles that you need to help with.

I've had a remote team for several years. It's important to not only check-in around the tasks & projects, but also to check-in to see how they are personally. With technology & distance you don't have the same ability to pick up on some of the subtle cues you would witness in person. Having a way to easily ask & communicate how each person is doing before diving in to the tasks at hand, keeps the human touch in your leadership & also provides perspective on the information they are going to share in their update-their progress, their challenges & celebrations. For me, I'm on a mission to teach 1 million people how to check their inner battery as often as they check their phone batter- this internal check-in is what I use with my team.

Por experiência pessoal, ajuda muito que todos sejam tratados como adultos. Por premissa, a empresa deve considerar que os incentivos est?o alinhados e todos os envolvidos possuem a competência para buscar seus resultados sem depender de microgerenciamento. Naturalmente, isso é um espectro, e varia de acordo com maturidade, senioridade, departamentos e natureza da atividade. Mas é um ponto de partida relevante.

The most important factors for leading a team remotely is to build trust in a sense of belonging. On the trust side, you have to be the one that engages with people in an authentic way, so that people start building trust with you. And you have to encourage the same thing between team members. On the belonging side, it's primarily the leader that has to create the right circumstances for everyone to feel comfortable being themselves, even if that's remotely.

Get to know your team's personal motivations and goals. Try to be understanding and supportive of their needs and ambitions. Plan for ways you can support their growth and aspirations. When team members know that you are invested in them and their future, they are more likely to be motivated and productive.

Feedback is an integral part of the job. Check out what the employees are not satisfied with and how you can improve it. Just remember that your key task as a leader is to ensure that the team delivers results. And if, after collecting all the opinions of the team, you see that they contradict an effective process, then it is worth postponing these changes or requests for a better time. For example, if you received feedback that working hours need to be moved, but at the same time your main customer is in New York and it's most convenient to meet during selected hours, then of course it is better to postpone such an idea.

Get to know your team's personal motivations and goals. Try to be understanding and supportive of their needs and ambitions. Plan for ways you can support their growth and aspirations. When team members know that you are invested in them and their future, they are more likely to be motivated and productive. Make the effort to meet the team members at least once in person. The level of connection and understanding that comes with that interaction is unparalleled. You can invite them for an offsite event, a valuable conference, or visit them personally. Remember to build human relationships before professional ones, because at the end of the day, we are all humans and need that emotional connection.