Working from home can feel completely foreign for some and like a dream come true for others. When managing a team remotely, however, the pressure can feel even greater. There is more pressure because you cannot see the person working, and have to trust that they are being as productive as they are when in the office. It’s natural to worry and wonder if team performance will decline, especially if working from home ends up being something you choose to adopt over the long-term.
Thankfully, the performance of your team does not have to suffer. In fact, transitioning from working at home is a great chance for your company to hit the team reset button. You can use this new territory to figure out areas where your team may have been lax before and brainstorm strategies for improvement.
What Makes for a High Performing Team?
Essentially, you want a team that’s in it to win it. A team that puts their whole heart into what your business is doing and trying to achieve it. It’s a team that shares a common vision with a united passion to bring it to life. Not a sentence.
Space Evaluate Your Current State
This is the time to get really honest about weak links in your team and in your processes. Evaluate honestly where you’re at in terms of performance and use that information to come up with ways to improve while working remotely. Don’t just evaluate your team members and systems. Evaluate how your team works together as a whole and determine who on your team hinders momentum versus moving everyone forward. It may be time to let go of staff that doesn’t share your vision or works well with others.
Announce Your Plan for a Team Reset
You are the leader of the pack. You have to lead by example and be willing to take ownership of any dysfunction that may be affecting performance that you either have allowed or have not dealt with appropriately. Share your vision and how you would like to see the team come together moving forward. Be willing to invest your time, attention, and resources into helping your team members be successful.
Outline Your New Normal
Every team has baggage. There are behaviors and habits that serve the team well, and then there are behaviors and habits that do not. To stamp out the better word habits and behaviors, they are best replaced with new ones. Call them new norms or a new modus operandi for everyone to follow. You can sit down with your team to hash out what some of these destructive habits might be and come up with better ones. Be frank and honest about your own shortcomings and give your people room to be the same.
Decide Team Targets
Every team member plays a different role but it’s important for each to understand how they fit into the bigger picture. By helping your team members understand how they fit and contribute to the larger agenda, you help build shared vision and foster team loyalty. People like feeling as though they are a part of something just a little bigger than themselves. Set team targets and goals together and help each team member understand how important their contribution is to make it happen.
Yes, working from home comes with challenges. But it also comes with blessings. Help your team look for those blessings and use this time you’re working remotely to hit that reset button. A business with a growth and improvement mindset sets itself up for success no matter what!
