Over last few years, we have become quite accustomed to working from home. Few years back, if we would had asked someone, whether working from the comforts of our home could be an option, with no need to travel all the way to office, they would have laughed it off. Then the pandemic changed the whole perspective towards work for lot of us, where working from your sofa at home or your bedroom became the new normal. While not all of us were able to enjoy this privilege of working from home, most of the folks whose work was manageable through their laptops or desktops became a part of this new work culture.
While this became a huge relief on one side, it also became a big challenge especially for the management to manage their teams remotely. Members of a team would be scattered across the country, or even across the globe. This posed many challenges for the leadership of corporates. Remote work is still an ongoing work option, which may continue for longer, or may become a permanent option too. How can one be an effective leader in such circumstances? We have listed few points, which can be considered while leading a team in this remote work era.
Trust your team members
Many a times, the issue that a team lead or manager faces is the constant doubt whether his/her team member is actually working or not. One must never forget that one needs to accept the fact that this is the new normal of work. Even though you cannot see the person right in front of you working, you have to trust them and the skills for which they are hired. This actually helps in getting the work done more effectively rather than being pushy and constantly micro-managing.
An effective leader tries to develop empathy
One must realize that everyone has a different circumstance at his/her home. Some might even be living in a joint family. The ambience in which you might be working might be completely different for another person in your team. One must try to get into the shoes of the other person and try to think from their perspective. This extra effort is highly required so that everyone can work together effectively.
Have fun connects too
While there are numerous technical and official calls daily for teams to get the updates, there should also be fun calls once a while. Pre-covid era, people used to be physically present in office and having team outings were normal then. In this remote work era, one must find innovative ways to connect with team members. There can be simple coffee connects where everyone will bring one cup of coffee and switch on their cameras and have fun interactions where one can discuss about a recent hobby they started or a book they read recently. One can even conduct fun games and quizzes to keep the team members engaged. An effective leader cares about the mental well-being of his/her team and makes efforts to ensure it.
An effective leader is always approachable
The most common problem faced while working remotely, is not being able to reach out to people in an effective way. Most of the times, when team members are working from different locations, a good team lead should always be the “go-to” person for any concern. He/she should be approachable so that a team member will not hesitate to discuss anything. Being approachable can in fact solve lot of confusions and dilemmas.
A famous quote goes, “Employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers.” This is true in majority of the cases where an employee voluntarily resigns an organization. If a team has an effective leader to guide and encourage them, they will work together to achieve their goals. It is the leader who goes “above and beyond” to stand for his/her team members that everyone wishes to work with. If the manager/leader of a team cares about his/her team members and vouches for each of them, then no one would think of leaving such a team.
