4 Tips on Becoming a Successful Remote Manager

1. Be proactive

When you work in the same building, there are many opportunities for interactions with your colleagues: in the corridors, at the coffee machine… All these informal exchanges make you feel part of a team. This doesn’t happen when you work with a remote team. As a project manager or a coordinator, you need to be proactive. You have to stimulate this kind of interactions.

2. Adapt your communication style

New communication tools give us the illusion of a standardised way to exchange information. This is only an illusion... Behind computer screens and smartphones, you will find people – with their own ways to communicate and their own preferences. As a manager, you should be able to adapt your communication style to each one of your team members. One size does not fit all!

3. Show your team you care

When they interact with their teams, many managers only focus on the distribution of tasks and on monitoring the progress of projects. This is a mistake. You should be able to talk with your team about people, relationships and their well-being. In other words, invest in trust building. It is essential to show your team members that you have their best interest at heart – even more when they work remotely.

4. Choose and use the right communication tools

If you only use webinars as one-way broadcast tool, you are severely limited in your interactions with your team. Compare the various communication tools and choose the most appropriate ones. And train yourself. You must feel at ease with the tools. There is nothing more frustrating than spending half the time asking «Can you hear me?»

Our next training course Leading Remote Teams starts very soon – on 11 September 2017! 
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