Anyone who’s tried on the managerial hat understands that it’s challenging enough to manage a team working face to face. It can be even more challenging when the team is distributed across states, time zones, or even countries. So how can a team leader or project manager avoid chaos when trying to get the job done through tools like web conferences, teleconferences, or social media?
- Establish leadership. No, we’re not talking about using dictatorial top-dog tactics to manage a distributed team. Rather leadership in this situation is about guiding team members toward completing the objective. Often that involves tasks like defining deliverables, managing timelines, and keeping team members focused on the end goal.
- Respect culture. Work groups distributed across countries can easily fall into chaos when cultures clash. Take time to understand culture challenges your team may face when communicating with each other. Remember, too, to pick up the HR basics for other countries team members may be working from because employment law may vary from country to country (for example, some countries may regulate working hours).
- Schedule one-on-one time. It’s easy for remote workers to feel disconnected from team members or a team leader. Occasionally schedule time for your people to break out as well as time for you to connect with individual team members.
- Record/archive communications. From DM’ing on Twitter about an updated timeline to teleconferencing your way through a major snag, recording and archiving communication allows team members to review things they may have missed or go back and clarify items they may have misunderstood. Upload the records to a central location, and regularly remind team members they have access to them.
- Handle conflict. Whether it stems from a personality clash or difference of opinion, conflicts can trigger mayhem on any project. Unpleasant as it may be, team leaders need to deal with disagreements, misunderstandings, and misperceptions. Take time to resolve conflicts that arise. Although a face-to-face meeting is ideal, it’s not always possible. As an alternative, arrange a teleconference with the involved parties to hash it out—so the entire team can get back to working toward project goals instead of dealing with drama.
What tips can you share for managing remote teams that communicate via teleconferences, web conferences, or social media?
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