Striking the right balance between under and over-communication can be a challenge for remote work managers. Discover four effective strategies to navigate this delicate equilibrium, ensuring your team stays connected, informed, and productive in a virtual work environment.
Remote managers face unique challenges
Coordinating with teams in different time zones
- Finding work-life balance in a virtual environment
- Fostering loneliness for team members
- Ensuring effective communication
- Managing over- or under-communicating can lead to a manager wasting time, demotivating their team and micromanaging their direct reports to the point of burnout
Make an Effort To Not Micromanage
Give people goals to hit and let them go to figure out the smaller stuff on their own
- Avoid constantly asking for status updates
- Micromanagement can lead to impostor syndrome and also lead to disappointment and lack of motivation for certain employees
Invest In Digital Collaboration Tools
There are two forms of communication that remote teams should be aware of: asynchronous and synchronous
- Synchronous communication includes every form of communication happening in real-time and there is an immediate response
- Asynchronous communication includes communication that doesn’t happen in real time and responses can occur intermittently
- In traditional workplaces, communication exclusively happens synchronously
- This is impactful for teams that work across time zones
Host Frequent 1:1 Meetings And Be Open To Feedback
1-on-1 meetings are a great opportunity for managers to talk candidly with their direct reports, strengthen relationships, and communicate more
- This space can be used for them to reflect on their own coaching and mentoring skills, their ability to give feedback, and listen to constructive criticism
Find The Balance In Your Communication Frequency
It is up to the manager to find that balance and improve how they communicate with their team to develop a healthy relationship and encourage productivity in a remote or hybrid setting.
- As team leaders start to find the happy medium of communication, they’ll find themselves starting to build rapport and bond with their reports and grow into their own managerial position.
Set Up Communication Guidelines
Set rules around how, when, and which communication tools to use when working in virtual teams.
- Example: When to use Slack, which situations call for an email, and under what circumstances should an ad-hoc meeting be scheduled.
