How to Manage Remote Employees

Practical tools, great ideas and savvy strategies for successfully managing your remote teams

• Seven secrets for assembling high performing remote work teams

• Best practices for tracking off-site employees performance and progress

• Four realities managers must understand about remote team meetings

• How to coach, counsel and mentor your remote workers from afar

• The top 10 ways managers “build or kill” off-site employee trust

• How to manage the flow of information for clear communication

• How to handle off-site power struggles, politics and employee conflicts

• And more

Not being able to see employees face-to-face can really throw a wrench into your management style. Defusing conflicts, dealing with crises, delivering feedback (both positive and negative), monitoring work flow, offering support — your responsibilities as a manager get that much tougher when you can’t do it in person. Even something so simple as organizing an impromptu team meeting, or calling for a group brainstorming session can become that much more complicated when team members work off-site.

As a Distance Manager, how do you keep on top of …

• Squabbles, altercations and arguments between employees you can’t even see face-to-face?

• Discipline issues, performance problems and lack of communication between your employees and yourself?

• The back-and-forth flow of information you need to make educated decisions regarding your people and your business?

• Legal issues and employment laws that are pertinent to remote employees?

• The challenges of creating a positive, professional virtual work environment?

• Your remote employees’ day-to-day performance and productivity?

Assembling Your Remote Team

• Learn essential competencies every off-site manager must know

• Discover techniques to assess and hire motivated self-starters

• Develop skills to properly set up internal controls and reporting systems for monitoring individual and team performance

• Determine success by evaluating performance guidelines against key metrics

• Establish technological requirements, work flow and a process to trouble-shoot any challenges

• Set and maintain consistent quality standards by providing timely feedback

Conducting Virtual Meetings

• Establish an efficient and consistent recurringmeeting time and format

• Time saving strategies for developing agendas covering items of priority and delegation

• Discover key tips to add structure and accountability for off-site employees

• Ensure technology is up-to-date and not another hurdle along the way to meeting deadlines

• Focus on continuous improvement—eliminate work slowdowns, bottlenecks and other issues that impede progress

• Discourage unproductive status reports—focus on motivation, delivery and engagement

Building Trust Off-Site

• Learn effective strategies to build rapport and unity with multiple-location teams

• Top tips to avoid developing an “Us vs. Them” mentality

• Remember off-site doesn’t mean out-of-mind; conduct frequent “surprise” visits and provide honest feedback

• Stay connected and encourage team members to know when to call or schedule an in-person visit, versus when to email or videoconference

• Be a responsive and strong leader by providing clear direction and timely feedback to keep your employees and projects on track

• Discover strategies for strengthening remote employee morale and team trust

Enhancing Remote Communication Strategies

• Embrace differences that allow your remote teams to thrive

• Acknowledge different work styles and adapt for better collaboration

• Know your team members’ cultural backgrounds

• Extend the best of your company’s working culture to your remote employees—include them in in-office activities like costume contests, or virtual lunch and learns—extend an invitation to the yearly office party for important in-person catchups

• Stay informed of newsworthy events in your off-site employees’ geographic areas

• Identify and work to champion broader corporate goals and objectives, while explaining how they are tied to the projects your remote employees are undertaking

Dealing with Difficult Personalities from a Distance

• Find ways to manage off-site employees’ results, not their day-to-day activities

• Be proactive, not reactive—predict, diagnose and solve problems before they manifest—even when you aren’t there to take action in person

• Identify attendance problems and attitude issues swiftly and fairly

• Educate yourself on sensitive subjects like delivering performance reviews and even firing from a distance

• Learn how to “nix or fix” a seriously dysfunctional off-site team

• Develop preventative maintenance and early warning systems to identify and resolve performance, attendance and morale issues across multiple-location teams

Utilizing Technology to Enhance Off-Site Performance

• Explore technological solutions that make staying connected seamless and integrated for your remote teams

• Learn the best ways to use technology to improve your off-site team’s performance

• Streamline record retention, while making shared files assessable and protected

• Use project management tools to manage multiple tasks involving multiple participants from different locations

• Gain tips for successful one-on-one coaching, counseling and mentoring while using platforms like Skype, WebEx, GoToMeeting and more

• Learn “High Touch” technology—top ways supervisors are using technology to improve human relations