Remote Leadership: 11 top tips for managing remote teams

COVID-19 has accelerated the rise in remote work in a way that no one could have predicted. Traditional ways of working were overturned in a heartbeat and replaced by new forms of working. After overcoming the initial adjustment period, many organizations have realized the value of working with a remote team. Yet to fully leverage the benefits of a global workforce, you first need to know how to be a successful remote leader. 

The pandemic has forced teams into working remotely overnight, throwing team leaders in at the deep end. Between keeping operations going and ensuring short-term productivity, leaders have had no chance to adapt to the new situation and to develop the necessary leadership skills to successfully manage their remote teams.

Yet remote leadership is essential to guarantee long-term success, and leaders should make sure to adjust their leadership style. In this blog article, we’ll discuss the main challenges of leading remote teams and what it takes to be a great remote leader. We’ll also give you some practical tips on how to master remote leadership.

Changed circumstances require a different leadership approach, and as is the case with everything new, there are new challenges that come with it. To gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and frustrations of leading remote teams and creating a future-proof remote work strategy, the Terminal Remote Leadership Report surveyed 400 HR and engineering leaders. Here are some of the key challenges and pain points remote leaders are facing:

• Lack of a long-term remote work strategy that tackles important processes such as remote recruiting and onboarding

• Focus on ensuring productivity rather than preventing possible long-term consequences of mismanaged remote work, such as burnout or loneliness

• Trusting their remote team is still an issue for around 34% of leaders who continue to use productivity tracking

• Lack of a strong remote workplace culture, which prevents their team from bonding and working together more closely

• Providing opportunities for learning and development, since remote work provides fewer opportunities for on-the-job learning

• Talent acquisition beyond traditional geographical boundaries is still a foreign concept for many leaders

Many of the above-mentioned challenges evolve around the lack of a well-developed, future-ready remote strategy that is built for the long term and considers critical components such as employee experience, remote onboarding and hiring across borders.

For many managers and team leaders, the sudden shift to remote work meant entering uncharted territory. Confronted with new leadership challenges, they had to find ways to make remote work work for their teams, often with little to no prior expertise in the field.

With remote work being so different from working in the office, it’s clear that remote leadership requires different skills and qualities. But what makes a great remote leader? What skills do remote leaders need? Some of the key attributes of a remote leader are:

• Empathy: A great remote leader needs to acknowledge the challenges faced by remote workers, be understanding and listen to their team.

• Attentiveness: With the physical distance that comes with remote work, leaders have to be more attentive and observant than ever to pick up on potential mental health issues or other problems faced by their employees.

• Flexibility: Every employee adapts differently to remote work. As they get used to not working in the office anymore, your employees’ needs change. A good remote leader is flexible to cater for different employee needs and can adjust their leadership style according to the situation.

• Trust: Trust is a fundamental requirement for remote work. Remote leaders need to be able to overcome the feeling of losing control over their teams and have trust in their employees.

• Motivation: Keeping remote employees engaged and motivated is more difficult compared to working in the office. Therefore, remote leaders need to be particularly motivated and set an example for their teams.

As to remote leadership skills, leading remote teams requires leaders to:

• Be a good communicator

• Listen actively

• Act as a role model

• Be creative

• Think strategically

• Be organized

• Have strong time management skills

• Be tech-savvy

After this deep dive into the challenges of remote leadership and the characteristics of a good remote leader, it’s time to look at some hands-on strategies and tips on how to make successful remote leadership a reality. Here are 11 best practices for leading remote teams.

1. Provide a clear framework for remote work

Whether it’s communication rules, expectations or working hours, establishing (and enforcing) ground rules is crucial for remote work. Especially if your team has only just started to work remotely, it’s important to provide them with the necessary guidance - which is basically the essence of leadership. 

For example, you should define core working hours during which the whole team should be available, while giving them the flexibility to arrange the rest of their working hours as they wish. Also, you should work out a clear framework for communication. Set precise rules on which communication channel is used for which urgency and schedule daily meetings.

2. Give your team the right communication tools

Good communication is key for successful remote work. Remote workers can’t talk to their colleagues face-to face, as in-office staff can. Instead, they must rely on means of virtual communication, sometimes even involving asynchronous communication if the team is globally distributed. Setting your remote team up for success requires access to a wide range of communication tools which cater to different communication needs. Video conferencing tools must be available in every distributed team. The same goes for instant messaging channels like Slack.

3. Be approachable, listen and give regular feedback

Empathy and attentiveness are two of the core qualities of successful remote leaders. Putting them into practice means being approachable and properly engaging with your team during one-on-one calls. Use these calls to get to know them and make sure your team knows you are available. Carefully listen to what they have to say and give them honest, constructive feedback.

4. Frequently check in with your remote team

Loneliness is one of the most commonly cited drawbacks of remote work. As a remote leader, you are responsible for making sure everyone is doing okay. One way of getting there is to have regular check-ins with your team. While many remote leaders might mistake these check-ins for opportunities to check on how employees are advancing in their work and projects, it’s crucial to use these moments to ask your employees how they are feeling, and to make personal conversation to get to know them better and show you care about them.

5. Respect individual workflows

This might sound like a contradiction to what we’ve said in the previous paragraph, but it’s important to not be overbearing and intrude on their individual work routine. Most remote workers are knowledge workers whose job requires a lot of deep concentration work. Being interrupted frequently is annoying, and distractions (even well-meant check-ins to see everyone is doing fine) are counterproductive and can quickly lead to frustration. In the end, it’s all about finding the right balance between showing your team you care and respecting their time and work.

6. Build a culture of trust

Building trust in remote teams isn’t just about trusting employees to get their work done without you constantly looking over their shoulders. Instead, it’s all about establishing a two-way relationship of trust between you as the team leader and your team. Being approachable and giving feedback are two important elements of building trust, but it takes more than that. Getting your employees to trust you means making team members feel included, valued and respected on a continuous basis, as well as offering the support and guidance they need to thrive in their new workplace.

7. Be a mentor, not a micromanager

A common mistake in leading remote teams is trying to micromanage everyone and everything. While micromanaging might work in the office - even though it’s not recommendable to always be checking on your employees’ progress - it becomes an almost impossible task when leading a remote team. With the physical distance, remote leaders might feel like losing control over their teams.

However, it’s important to remember that keeping track of everyone’s work and progress is too time-consuming. Not to forget that it goes against another fundamental remote leadership principle, which is building trust. Good remote leadership is not about control, it’s about being a mentor to your team by giving them the necessary guidance to work independently and grow into working remotely.

8. Set clear expectations and prioritize outcomes

If you want your remote team to work effectively, it’s vital to set clear objectives they can work towards. Having a clear goal helps employees keep the necessary focus to get their work done in an efficient way. Make sure your employees know exactly what is expected of them and clearly communicate key objectives and deadlines. Once expectations are clear, give your employees the freedom to establish their own plan of execution. What really matters is that the goals and expectations you set are met. How your team gets there is, for the most part, irrelevant. Again, it’s all about avoiding micromanagement and building trust.

9. Encourage team spirit with virtual team building activities

Since creating a proper remote culture is one of the major pain points when it comes to leading teams remotely, it’s all the more important to encourage your remote team to socialize and bond. There are dozens of virtual team building activities you can engage your team in, from fun little online office games like remote work bingo to proper online social events like virtual pub crawls.

10. Celebrate accomplishments

This goes together with giving your team feedback on their work and fostering team spirit. Wrapping up a project or meeting an important deadline is a significant accomplishment which shouldn’t pass unnoticed. Make use of the opportunity to congratulate your team on their achievements and thank them for their work. Celebrating accomplishments encourages team bonding and drives employee engagement.

11. Give your team time to adjust

Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, your team can’t switch from working in the office surrounded by colleagues and supervisors to working remotely from one moment to the next. Getting used to the new working conditions and developing new routines takes time. Therefore, remote leaders should grant their teams an adjustment period and consider possible hold-ups and slower progress on projects when distributing tasks and setting targets during this period.

Even if you have the necessary attributes and leadership skills, successfully leading a remote team requires time and attention, two things managers often can’t spare given their busy work schedule. Yet making time for your team is crucial to ensure long-term operational success and a positive employee experience. Fortunately, there are ways to free up time to be a dedicated leader. One way to do so is to put time-consuming tasks such as paying contractors, processing payroll and ensuring compliance on autopilot.

A global hiring and payroll solution like Lano allows remote leaders to streamline and automate their global payroll and contractor management processes and hire remote employees in 150+ countries without worrying about compliance. Book a demo to see our platform in action and learn more about how Lano can help you free up valuable time to become a better remote leader.