Jarred Consulting

As the world goes further into lock down and more and more people are required to work from home leaders and managers are being faced with how to best manage their teams remotely. For employers used to having people physically present in the office this can add to the strain of running the business when times are tough. We’ve pulled together 8 top tips for those leaders and managers who not only have employees working from home but also now find themselves homebound. For those new to this way of working, and able to do it, working from home can be very productive and very rewarding for employees and the teams they work with provided expectations are set on both sides from the start. Here's our 8 Top Tips on managing relationships with your team while Working from Home:

1. Manage your own energy first

As they say in all those airline safety videos we (used to) watch “Put your own oxygen mask on before helping others”. The same is true in this case where many people are faced with home working. It’s important for managers and leaders to ensure they establish their own routines to ensure they can effectively work from home. This, in part is about authentic leadership. The key here is to acknowledge the situation you are in, upfront. Being human is part of being a leader!

2. Agree a regular schedule of catch up meetings with your team

Working from home can be extremely productive for your team and can also be a lonely place. So, it’s useful to schedule regular check in times for the team to ensure people feel part of the team. Setting up some form of phone or video check in is a useful way to do this. The next point builds on this too. We would recommend putting these in the diary each day at the same time so people can build their home working schedules around them.  Make sure you ask your people what will work for them, given the pressures everyone is under at the moment!

3. Maintain relationships

Teams thrive on being together and so being home bound can put strains on even the best of relationships. Make time on a regular basis to host a non-work-related conversation! Just a time for people to have the old ‘water cooler’ conversations. There are many tools available now to do this ranging from Whatsapp to Zoom and Teams.    Some of our clients are getting really creative with virtual team activities, such as team yoga, team competitions/quizzes, pub lunches at ‘The Isolation Inn’, and morning coffee breaks.  Be sensitive to cultural and religious differences during this time. It is also important to maintain your One to One time.  It’s very easy to forget that despite all the issues the world is facing your people are still your number one asset. They are the ones who will help you through this. So, even though you are not in the same office be sure to keep your one to one time with your team members. Remember to thank them and give them praise where appropriate. It’s easy to forget but it goes a long way to maintaining trust and relationships.

4. Establish Ground Rules

This way of working maybe new to many people so it’s essential you establish some rules that will keep you and your team on track. For example, agree on response times to messages. Examples could include: Return all phone calls within 24 hours, return all emails within 24 hours, and mark or tag urgent emails and voice mails. Set your ‘out of office’ to notify people of new hours or set time limits of when you anticipate being able to respond. These tools don’t just have to be for holiday notifications.

5. Set shorter assignments

This is not the time to give people long assignments and hope that they are completed by the deadline. Instead of assigning a six-week activity, for example, assign the work in three two-week activities. In the former case, you won't know for sure if the work was done for six weeks. In the latter case, you can tell every two weeks if the work is on track.

6. Keep the team in the loop

There will be plenty of questions at this time and you may not know all the answers so be prepared to be open with your team. Remember as the leader part of your role is to manage the energy of the team. At this time people’s energy will be ‘up and down’ so be as open as you can about the situation with the business, with client relationships and with projects. In building and maintaining relationships you may also need to be very direct, either verbally or electronically, when managing conflict. If two groups of people are on either side of an issue, make sure they speak with each other on the phone or video. Participants can't rely on the normal physical clues if they can't see them. Therefore, they have to ask a lot of questions to make sure they understand the full scope of the problem. Remember you’re all in this together.  Take a look at our top tips for managing virtual meetings:

7. Manage client and employee expectations

We are all going to be juggling many things over the coming months, especially once the kids aren’t at school.  Managing the expectations of clients, colleagues and your teams will help smooth the path.  Make sure they know when you’re able to answer emails, texts, or calls. (see ground rules above) As a leader recognise that this is a different time for everyone and take into account the fact that no one has had to do this before, probably even for companies who have contingency plans in place.

8. Set up the technology to support your teams

There’s so much tech available now for home working it’s mostly pretty easy to stay connected. However, for some of your team who use bespoke systems this may present issues for example accounts or ordering systems so it’s worth investigating how your IT can work remotely with your suppliers. The key here is to help your team members be patient with those systems that they haven’t previously worked on remotely. It could be frustrating at first as the tech issues get ironed out. Read our tips on managing virtual meetings if you want to help your team with that specific technology. If you as a leader are new to home working you may also benefit from our previous article which you can read here:‘Working from Home'