As remote work becomes the norm nowadays, companies don’t just need people who can work effectively in this setup. They also need people who can lead teams in such environments. Creating a training program will help a lot in your remote team managers’ leadership development. Here is how you can jumpstart yours.
The Challenges of Leading Remote Teams
To build an effective leadership development program, companies should understand the challenges that their managers encounter. By addressing these challenges, the program will help managers better guide their teams in different scenarios.
Communication
Effective communications are at the heart of successful business operations. And this becomes more evident with remote teams. Without the benefit of physical presence, managers must effectively build a communication plan to keep the team working together.
Tracking and Monitoring Members
Another challenging aspect of remote team management is keeping track of employee progress. Here, it isn’t just about having the right tools for the job. Managers also need how to coordinate with their teams to ensure the proper delivery of work. On the other hand, they need to know the bounds of employee tracking to avoid privacy issues.
Developing Company Culture
Establishing company culture is arguably much harder in remote work settings. The physical distance between team members provides less push to practice whatever culture the company has. Managers must therefore be proactive in encouraging them to participate and become part of the culture.
Building Trust and Boosting Morale
With all the issues that employees encounter when working remotely, they need someone who they can trust to help. Managers must be ready to step into that role and lend their members a hand. Meanwhile, they also need to learn to trust that members can work even without constant supervision.
Building Your Remote Team Leadership Development Program
When building your remote team leadership training courses, review your overall training program’s orientation first. Ask yourself what you are training your managers for. Is it just to help them meet compliance? Or are you looking to provide them with greater flexibility for leading different teams?
You would also want to look into the kind of skills your training is focused on. From there, determine whether to shift priorities based on the training goals you have in mind. For instance, if your roster of managers already has the technical skills needed to oversee remote teams, focus on soft skills like communication and people skills.
Deciding The Scope Of Leadership Development
The scope and reach of your leadership training program is another crucial consideration when outlining it. Keep in mind that your managers will still be busy running the teams. Any major training program can become an added burden for them.
Look for ways you can break down the leadership training courses into more manageable parts. For instance, you can deliver the course lessons in bite-size pieces they can study during their spare time. Doing this helps your managers better absorb each lesson.
Identifying Future Training Opportunities
This might seem early but you would also want to see what potential training avenues you can provide for your remote managers in the future. One way to go here is by looking for potential short-term gaps that you might encounter. For instance, your team might encounter temporary communications issues when engaging certain clients.
By identifying these gaps early, you can plan a long-term solution that you can then incorporate into your leadership training programs. This will give your managers a head start in resolving such issues. Note that the idea for such future training courses can also come from your managers whenever they identify potential issues to address.
The Leadership Development Strategies You Should Teach
Of the many remote management lessons you can teach, leadership strategies are one of the things to focus on. These strategies resolve a wide array of issues faster and more effectively. Additionally, managers can rely on these to more effectively coordinate the team and accomplish tasks.
Mitigating Team Stress
Much of the impetus for the current shift to remote work was due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. Because of this, managers will find their team members more stressed than usual. As part of their training, they should know how to lessen these stresses.
One particular lesson here for managers is controlling their urge to micromanage members. These members are already under a lot of stress dealing with domestic concerns. Continuously asking them for updates will put undue pressure on them. Instead, managers should learn how to provide more autonomy to their members and allow them to work the way they want.
Managers should also be more proactive when helping their members relieve stress. They should be aware of the tell-tale signs and be ready to talk it over with their teams. This will help lessen their impact and ensure that members remain collected.
Creating An Effective Feedback System
One thing that managers should keep in mind is that members always want to learn and grow. To help them achieve that, they should know how to maintain a working feedback system. With this, managers can guide members more effectively and give them useful pointers for accomplishing tasks.
One useful technique managers can learn is the feedback sandwich. In this one, they deliver negative feedback in between positive ones. The negative feedback should be constructive to give members an idea of how they can turn it around. Meanwhile, the positive ones alongside it will encourage them to continue.
Showing Vulnerability
With them being the head of the team, everyone expects managers to be on top of the situation. But that is not always the case. They may sometimes not have the answers the team needs.
In such cases, they must be ready to admit that such is the case and be willing to ask members for help. This willingness to show vulnerability will be beneficial for the entire team, as members will feel needed and encouraged to act. It also helps build trust, especially in a remote setup, as members see that the manager is willing to let them handle the work together.
Create The Right Leadership Development For Your Remote Managers
Even when they are at the top of the team hierarchy, your remote managers can still learn plenty of lessons to improve their work. By investing in leadership development, you ensure that they can guide the team to success. Start building your program today and watch your managers grow more.