Working from Home: Leadership
Working from home can be lonely and disorientating for you and your team. Some of your team may find it more difficult working from home becoming less engaged and attentive. And that’s why communication is the key to leading your team successfully whilst working from home. It’s ensuring everyone is give the support and recognition they need to deliver their best work.
With a few tweaks to your processes and systems it can be business as usual….with a little twist.
Communication
Communication is key, when working with a team working from home it needs to be regular, clear and two way.
You need to be focused on effectively communicating your needs, and your team needs to be able to do the same.
Working with your home working team doesn’t need to be complicated. You all need to agree your communication etiquette to maintain motivation, commitment and everyone feeling valued.
As a team agree:
how you will communicate with each other
turnaround times for responses
Communication days and hours
Procedures for dealing with questions or queries outside of normal contact hours and days
maintaining a distinction and healthy balance between home and work life
Communication Tools
Given the range of tools available to you and your team, you just need to decide together your preferred methods
Set up regular face to face video conference calls with individual team members to discuss issues they may have, and for you to give feedback and praise for great work.
Create time for the whole team to get together on Zoom or other video conferencing platforms to chat, discuss cool stuff, new, announcements and to celebrate your successes ,; big or small.
Consider moving away from E Mail to communicate with your team to reduce traffic to your in box. Use instant messaging platforms for a quicker turnaround time and leave the complex discussions for your video calls.
Company Culture, core values and expectations
It would be easy to lose sight of your company’s culture and core values whilst you and your team are working from home.
Maintain and nurture your company’s culture, core values and expectations in all your communications with your team. It’s important for your company’s success, as every decision you and your team make is tied to a specific core value.
Every team member will give their best performance if they understand your company’s goals, expectation and how they contribute.
Conclusion
If you do these simple things, make simple changes to the way you communicate with your team. You will ensure your team continue to feel part of a team, they will continue to work collaborative they will be motivated and engaged.