Keys to Managing a Remote Workforce
By Tim Johnson
Whether you have been at it a few weeks or nine years like the CRC, managing a remote workforce calls for different approach to engaging your team. Once you make the adjustment, the results are better and employees more productive.
Control
Most managers cite the loss of control in a remote environment as the biggest concern and potential downside to remote work. I wholeheartedly agree. You lose control. The question then becomes how do you ensure that the work that needs to get done is accomplished on time and to the same standard as when everyone is working from an office? The answer is you shift the point of management from control to outcome.
Outcome
Since you can no longer control the actions of your workforce, the focus in a remote setting is on managing the outcome. Control is actually completely shifted to the employees. They are fully responsible for how the work is done and increasingly when it is done. You as a manager need to focus on the outcome.
Communication
As a manager, your communications will also need to change and quite honestly improve. Be clear about the required outcomes and when results need to be seen. You need to check in regularly and most importantly be available when employees have questions. You are now a coach not task master.
Better results, better employees
The end product is actually better, as the focus is now outcome based rather than process control. Both the manager and the employee have the same outcome-based objective. With more responsibility and control over their work, employees are more productive and have higher job satisfaction.
Rather than see this sudden shift to remote work as a burden, use it as an opportunity to improve your skills as a manager and teach new skills to your employees. Your business will be better for it.
Young woman using a laptop computer. Graphic designer. UX design.
