Setting Your Employees, Teams and Managers Up for Success in a Remote-First Environment

Part four of a five-part series. To read the complete piece, download here.

MANAGERS SET THE EXAMPLE

It’s clear: Managers and leaders are key to a culture that embraces remote work. Their behaviors, interactions and the way they treat others will set the tone for the perception of remote working organization-wide. Employees will internalize the behaviors demonstrated by their leaders; it will shape how they’re feeling.

When it comes to fostering strong remote team members, managers must understand the importance of their role. Top leaders can help these managers fully embrace the opportunity to foster strong remote teams by providing clear communications and expectations to them. And, in turn, managers must look to working with their remote employees as a two-way street; they can employ a few best practices to navigate this successfully:

• Develop clear expectations for delivery of work
• Be an example for how others can best operate and treat remote employees
• Watch out for the emotional well-being of remote employees

Managers should work with remote employees to set clear expectations on how employees are expected to show up each day and deliver their work, including tools, work times and processes. For example, if an East Coast remote employee is expected to shift his or her working hours to align with the West Coast office, this should be clear and agreed on at the start.

When it comes to establishing a strong practice of remote meetings, managers also set an example. They should be the first to make sure meeting best practices are followed. For example, turning on cameras whether you’re in the office or not is a great place to start, or being the first in the room to give space for everyone on the call to speak.

One action to take: In meetings with your team, ask everyone to take turns designating a remote advocate. A remote advocate listens for the comments coming in through the call and takes a moment to pause and ensure everyone shared. This will reinforce that you believe in the equal role of a remote worker and can help the remote employee feel more included.

As we know, remote team members have varied emotions and perspectives to contended with. They may also question the impact their work has. In caring for your remote employees, you must make sure that they feel that their contributions are about more than delivery of work; take time to understand their health and well-being as a person. Managers need to remind individuals of the value they bring to the team and that their efforts are truly appreciated.

Take extra effort to show public recognition for your remote employees. Their contributions often fly under the radar. For example, it may feel as if a report just showed up, when in fact, a person spent many hours working on that report. Support remote employee recognition and mitigate the likelihood that life at work becomes a series of unrecognized deliverables.

One action to take: Whether it’s in your next team huddle or a major project touchpoint, give a shout-out to acknowledge contributions from employees who are remote. Be sure to mention their name and the work they did specifically; this will ensure that the broader group has at least some perspective on the person behind the work.

Our final installment will explore how team dynamics affect the success of your remote-work ecosystem. For the full set of resources, visit the overview page.

Author: Mariah Young, Marketing Strategist
When not off playing in the mountains, Mariah works as a marketing strategist for Ogilvy’s Employee Experience practice based in Denver, Colorado. She enjoys digging deep into the human psyche and analyzing market trends to make brands matter from the inside out, starting with the employees — the arbiters of a company’s vision and mission. When not deep in the weeds of research and strategy, she enjoys getting active, rock climbing, reading and live music.