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Remote Leadership: How to Digitally Direct Your Team

November 30, 2021

digitally direct your team
Organization, communication, morale, and expectation management are the cornerstones of remote leadership.

Employees are an essential aspect of every business. Whether you have a single business partner or a team of workers, these individuals are helping to make your business dreams come true. However, leading your team can become a daunting task, especially if remote leadership is required.

As a company with employees in multiple U.S. states and countries, we know what it’s like to juggle time zones and digitally direct a team. Because of this, we’ve collected four tools required for remote leadership: organization, communication, morale, and expectation management.

Organization

Organization is a key factor when it comes to remote leadership. If something seems important, make sure you have it written down or typed in a document. Even if the information seems trivial at the time, make a note you can refer to later.

As you and your team share documents and other important files with one another, it’s also important to make sure that these files are placed in shared folders. Programs like Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive allow users to store files in shared folders as well as control who has access to what documents.

Communication

Communication is key in all aspects of life, including remote leadership. Especially if you have a larger team, take advantage of a group messaging program in addition to texting and emailing. Programs like Slack and Microsoft Teams are a great way to keep everyone in touch by allowing individuals and curated groups to message and send files.

Working from home can quickly start to feel like you’re working alone. So, in addition to written communication, have regular meetings with your team members via phone or video call. Free programs like Zoom and Google Meet can help you to maintain a semblance of an in-person relationship, allowing you and your employees to feel more connected and inspired. If you do have a larger team, schedule group chats and calls to make sure that everyone is staying connected.

Morale

As everyone works remotely and the lines between work and home life become increasingly blurred, morale can suffer. Make sure to check in on your employees and see how they’re doing. A simple message of encouragement or initiating a fun conversation in the group chat can work wonders for morale.

While work events seem like a thing of the past, there are still things you can do with your team outside of work to boost morale. If your team is small and all living in the same city, meet in a public park to catch up in a COVID-friendly way. If your team is larger or unable to meet, host a Zoom dinner party or digital game night. Your employees are bound to go through their share of work-from-home burnout, so make work fun when you can.

Expectation Management

Finally, it’s important to manage your expectations both as a leader and as an employee. With remote work, everybody has to be more accountable and make sure that they are meeting deadlines. Without accountability, structure, and attainable goals, one of two things can easily happen:

  • Your employees can get too caught up in their work. When this happens, employees will overwork themselves, becoming exhausted and eventually overwhelmed.
  • Your employees can get overwhelmed by their work. When this happens, employees can lose motivation, becoming unproductive.

When you don’t see your employees every day, you can easily become disillusioned in your expectations of them. Try to remember to be compassionate to your team members while also giving structure through deadlines and accountability.


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