My Challenges of Managing Remote Team

COVID-19 has transformed the way we work and the way businesses operate. Working from home or a remote location become more common that offers the flexibility of accessing the global talent pool. However, with the changed mindset of working from home as a common thing, managing the remote team brings some unique challenges that the organisations never faced. From the communication barriers to maintaining the employee’s mental health and fear, remote team management requires a strategic approach to ensure a solid amount of productivity and employee satisfaction.

Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to manage remote teams at almost every stage. But my experience of pre-COVID was different than the post-COVID era. My long experience of managing a remote team has allowed me to encounter both the challenges and benefits of remote work. Interestingly, I have found the difficulties vary depending on the size of the team. Some might disagree with me; I felt the requirement of taking different approaches based on the team size. When managing remote teams for medium to large-sized companies, I faced certain types of challenges, while managing smaller teams for smaller organizations presented a different set of challenges. Having said that, there are some common challenges I’ve encountered across all team sizes and organizational contexts that I would like to highligh today.

Communication Gap

One of the big challenges that I have faced was the communication gap. Without the facility of in-person interactions, I found that casual conversations have their own benefits, and without them, misunderstandings can become more frequent. I realized how much we relied on casual conversations to clarify ideas and resolve issues. If you work in an open-plan environment, you can clarify something quickly if your team is sitting nearby. I have experienced many times that a misunderstanding happened because a team member misunderstood/misinterpreted a message or task that delayed the delivery of a project.

On many occasions, I have implemented the structured communication channels using some tools like Slack, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams to ensure everyone had a clear and consistent platform for collaboration. But if you are working for a small organisation, you might not have a budget for this type of tools. But it is very important to have something in place to communicate with each other. Even having a skype group for each project can be beneficial. This approach can resolve many of the communication gaps that we face. Personally, I prefer using Slack for this type of communication due to its flexibility. However, Microsoft Teams is also an excellent alternative, especially if your organization already uses Microsoft technologies. Having said that, it’s not necessary to rely solely on Slack or Teams to bridge communication gaps. A combination of tools can be highly effective. For example, you can use slack/teams for instant messaging, Zoom for video calls, and Trello or Asana for task tracking or project management. There are many other tools and these tools serve a distinct purpose. When we use them together, it can create a better ecosystem to eliminate any communication gap and increase productivity.

So what should we consider to eliminate communication gaps?

Communication Process – It is crucial to have a process in place about how and when team members should communicate. Specify preferred communication tools, response time expectations, and meeting schedules to reduce confusion.

Multiple Communication Tools – Find out which tools can be beneficial for your needs and budget. You can use Slack for instant messaging, Zoom for video calls, and project management tools like Trello or Asana for task tracking. Each tool serves a unique purpose and ensures smooth collaboration.

Consider Timezone – If your team members are in different time zones, a set rule should be set to allow responses at convenient times. Utilizing shared documents and recorded meetings can be beneficial for the team members working from different time zones.

Schedule Regular meetings – Hold weekly or biweekly one-on-one meetings to discuss progress, address concerns, and offer support. If you are using SCRUM, it might be challenging to have daily stand-ups for the team working in different time zones. Having weekly or monthly virtual stand-ups can also keep everyone aligned. Once a month, a town hall meeting can be arranged to update the time about the overall progress of the company.

Transparent Environment – A transparent and fearless environment can bring a lot of value in this case. If you can encourage team members to speak up and share their ideas, it can bring a lot of benefits. Creating a culture of transparency also builds trust between the team members and strengthens team relationships.

Document Everything – Documenting everything, most importantly, the key discussions, decisions, and project updates in a centralized location, such as a shared location, is essential to eliminate misunderstanding. This prevents miscommunication and ensures accessibility.

Organize Team Bonding Activities – Strengthening relationships inside/outside of work can improve communication within the team. Hosting a regular team activity, virtual coffee chats, game nights etc can help to eliminate some gaps.

Fear and Mental health issues

Fear in remote teams can create significant challenges. Hesitation to communicate, reluctance to share ideas, or a lack of engagement can lead the employee to fear and mental health issues. In my experience, I have seen two types of fear.

First is the isolation from the office environment, which can create insecurity about the job that leads to a constant fear of losing their jobs. It is the perfect fit of the phrase “Out of Sight, Out of Mind“. When employees work remotely or in an isolated environment, they may feel invisible to their managers and colleagues. This can make it harder for them to show their contributions, which leads to concerns that their efforts are not being recognized or valued.

The second is not raising a voice due to a lack of team bonding or connection with other team members for the remote setup of the team. Many times, I have experienced the members of my remote team being afraid to ask questions. Even when they need to clarify tasks, they worry about being perceived as incompetent. This leads to misunderstandings and errors in the work, which can bring more significant problems. But, this could be easily avoided with open communication and without a fearless culture. Similarly, I have seen the team members hesitate to raise their voices about unrealistic deadlines, fearing being seen as uncooperative. Yes, there will be some team members who will raise their voice every for a realistic deadline. But you will definitely find the quiet one who will not speak out about unrealistic deadlines, and this silence can only bring problems.

These fears and the lack of social interaction and support in an isolated work environment can lead to increased stress and anxiety. And if you have stress and anxiety, it affects your mental health. In most cases, the isolation amplifies feelings of self-doubt, making employees question their competence and worth, even if their job is not actually at risk.

From my experience when you are managing a remote team, I found a regular one-to-one conversation with the team member is very effective in keeping them organised and focused on their work. Obviously, it is not easy to do the regular one-to-one when you have a large team, but it can be done on a group basis. As a manager, you can either sit with an individual or a group of employees to understand any concerns or to have a general conversation. I always believed and focused on fostering a culture of psychological safety that gave me a good return on the time that I spent on it. I encourage open dialogue by regularly checking in with team members one-on-one and creating anonymous feedback channels to ensure everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts. Additionally, I emphasize that mistakes are part of the learning process and celebrate transparency and collaboration. Over time, this approach helped me to build trust with my team, reduce fear and enable the team to communicate more effectively and work more cohesively.

To address these concerns, organizations should:

Productivity and Focus

Productivity and accountability are also significant concerns. Some employees can thrive in a remote setting, while others can struggle to maintain focus. Without direct supervision, it is difficult to assess individual performance accurately. So, it is essential to set clear expectations and goals. That includes defining work expectations, deadlines, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to help employees stay on track. Using project management tools like Jira/Trello or Asana to track progress is one of the essential steps. Regular one-on-one check-ins also provided an opportunity to offer support, address challenges, and ensure everyone remained on track.

Technical issue

One of the common excuses that I find when managing remote teams is technical issues. Unstable internet connections, software glitches, and cybersecurity concerns occasionally disrupt workflow. A lot of team members can take advantage of the issue. So, it is important to ensure that the team have access to the necessary resources and support. Investing in reliable tools and providing training on security best practices helped minimize these disruptions.

Having a remote team offers incredible opportunities when managed effectively. The flexibility of allowing employees to work in ways that suit their lifestyles leads to higher job satisfaction. A well-structured remote work environment can also increase productivity and creativity, as team members can focus without the usual office distractions. By prioritizing clear communication, promoting a strong team culture, and leveraging the right technology, it is not rocket science to turn challenges into opportunities. The key is to find a balance between flexibility and structure.