Tips For Managing Teams Remotely

Best Practices Series

Most agencies and companies have moved to open office concepts that promote extreme collaboration and interactivity among teams and individuals. Well, now we’re experiencing an international pandemic and just about everyone is working from home. Whether your organization had previously embraced remote working or not, it’s the new norm for at least the foreseeable future.

As account leaders, how can we ensure that our team members are engaged and productive when you can’t see them every day? Here are some tips to help keep the ship moving the right direction while we’re all spread out.

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
- Ernest Hemingway

1. Embrace the new norm.

In most cases, we really don’t have a choice. So let’s start by staying positive and embrace the suck. And remember, positive attitudes are contagious!

2. Establish guidelines for working remotely.

Chances are your organization has communicated out how they expect things to roll during this period of enhanced remoteness. From there, think about your team(s) and layer on anything additional that is necessary to ensure smooth operation from wherever your people are working. Make sure your team is aware of everyone’s remote working conditions, like WiFi reliability, background noise, children or pets at home, and such.

3. Establish daily checkpoints.

Does your team scrum? If you haven’t been doing it, schedule a daily checkpoint with your team to review tasks, assignments, progress, and share ideas. In most cases, a quick 15 or 20 minute checkpoint either at the beginning or close of the day will keep your teams accountable and moving forward.

4. Leverage online collaboration tools.

Chat tools. File sharing. Online project management tools. Web conferencing. Most organizations already have these in place and they will be even more critical during these times when you cannot physically be around your team.

5. Align with your client.

Have a frank conversation with your client to ensure you understand how they are adapting to the new norm and also to ensure they know how you and your team is adapting. Keep an eye on the overall working environment and make adjustments as you go to

6. Lead from the front.

With so much newness and uncertainty, it’s really important for account leaders to keep their virtual doors open for their teams. Let your teams know that you’re here for them and that you’ll get through this together. Ask them to let you know if problems or question arise, and then resolve them quickly. Stay present, empathetic, and positive. This is a critical time to lead your teams from the front.

If you follow these tips, you’ll earn a track record of being responsible and accountable. Your relationship with your team and your client will continue to improve — trust will be earned. And that is always an aspiration for any agency and anyone in client services.

Feel free to share your comments on this topic, including any personal experiences you’ve had with dealing with difficult situations with your clients.