Remote Work during COVID Quarantine with your Team

COVID is forcing a lot of industries/countries to go on lockdown. Gatherings are to be avoided while remote work is getting accepted and therefore you might need some tips on remote work; below you will find some notes on how you can help remote team members to be successful.

There are a lot of perks of working remotely: no commute time, no open spaces with their noise factor, no sneezing and unknown germs:). And yet, it is important to raise the not so obvious obstacles of remote work: you are part of the team but you might not really feel like it (no coffee with your colleagues in the morning and discussion of someone or something); showing engagement and care is not as easy as when people physically see you; you might feel isolated; you might opt into focusing on individual tasks rather then team goals and on top of all you are more dependant on the decisions of the leadership which are usually taken without your physical presence; one can be considered as off the carrier track because of the low physical visibility.

As with many things - we need to get organised about it.

Working with remote team members/being a remote team member is about intention, commitment and engagement. You have to have the same goals in mind and feel that you are really part of the team - indifferent from where you are located physically. It's about setting the mind right: being a team mate is thinking about the collective good, volunteering for ways to contribute and being more visible, engaged and satisfied.

Engaged employees think beyond their individual goals; do things with more effort and provide better results; create and maintain positive relationships; think beyond today and envision a future & possibilities and generally are better team mates.

How to be an engaged team member being a remote worker? We are not interacting or seeing other team members so this might take some effort (like all things in life), however we have to think about ways to shift to being engaged while being remote. There is a big difference between being busy and being productive usually people who are working remotely are putting more time to work. Productivity is a measure of accomplishment. So you have to think about combined personal productivity + organisational productivity.

Personal productivity is achieved through the following:

• setting clear expectations
• work prioritisation
• think about both who and what needs to be accomplished
• manage distractions
• focus on choices: essentialism. choose to be productive 
• leverage your remote advantage

To achieve organisational productivity working remotely, the following has to be taken into consideration:

• There has to be clear understanding of organisational direction
• You have to know the big picture role for yourself in the team
• There has to be an alignment created
• Think about the team

Being a remote worker and working with a remote team is a lot about: working on your working relationships; communicating well and following up (is the message received and has it sunk in?), putting trust into your colleagues ( which also beens clarity in what we promise and what we need). As a manager you have to communicate with your remote workers to see and talk thought their short term and long term goals; their role in your organisation and provide coaching and feedback. When people work remotely it does not mean that they are accepting the status quo and stay in the same position, if anything- it just means that they like to optimise time, space and balance their life.

Essentially, remote is about self-organisation and right communication. Here is a little to do list for you:

• Create an accomplishment mindset: am I getting the RIGHT things done?
• Connect your daily work with the team and organisational goals
• Ask MORE, always.
• Understand the needs of others
• Think beyond a to-do list (think of the Eisenhower Matrix)
• Merging personal development and work development goals (needs the time, support and engagement of your manager).

I would like to also note that work includes (indifferently if you work in the office or remotely) networking, personal skill development, communication with team members. If you want your (remote) team to function well and long term you have to make space and engage with them on daily basis.

And yes, implementing the right common tools to manage processes and projects is a must. But there are plenty of articles which focus on that. Should you be interested to hear my hacks on this topic, let me know.