8.
Day to Day
Managing a virtual team can get a bad rap. While being a virtual employee often invites conversations about wearing pajamas to work and playing on social media, managing virtual employees can have people thinking you’re monitoring your team like some kind of Big Brother experiment or sending email after email of work duties and reply-all follow-up requests.
And if you’re reading this thinking, “Um … I do monitor my team like a Bond villain and I do send dozens of emails every day about work and follow-up work,” well then, sorry, we’ve got some good and bad news for you. The good news is that there are great ways to manage the virtual day-to-day workplace. But the bad news is you’re doing it wrong.
Let’s Level Set, Shall We?
Initially, many virtual managers fluctuate between two modes of management: overbearing and absent. Those who are overbearing think they need to be on top of their employees at all times—checking their instant messenger (IM) status, emailing or texting several times a day to check in or follow-up on things, or video chatting randomly to see how an employee’s day is going. On the other hand, those who are absent managers assume that the tech will manage everything. They don’t show themselves virtually for days (or maybe longer), respond only to emails that require a true follow-up, avoid video, and are never available on IM.
And sure, depending on your employees or your own manager, either virtual management style has its benefits. But when working in the virtual workplace, the topic of day-to-day management is not just about striking a balance, but creating an effective culture of virtual management. This chapter aims to tackle the true aspects of virtual management communications, involvement, and visibility.
Set Weekly or Daily Check-Ins
As any manager of any kind of workplace will tell you, you’ll find that you check in with your employees for a number of reasons. In a stationary workplace, popping by an employee’s office or cubicle can be as effortless as walking past on your way to use the restroom or to see if there are any bagels left in the break room.
However, these impromptu visits aren’t as easy in the virtual workplace. So, we suggest a creating standing daily or weekly check-ins with your virtual employees.
The trick with a weekly or daily check-in is simple: Try to keep it at the same time, the same day, using the same format (call or video), and with a general purpose or agenda. We’d also suggest you make it brief by design. For example, a daily check-in could be less than 10 minutes or a weekly call could be around 30 minutes. If you need more time, you can always schedule for it. Keeping it short naturally means you’ll focus on what matters—whether it’s just to talk about the weekend or to drill down around a project. Then you won’t feel like you have to fill up a full hour just because it’s what you scheduled.
The first place I worked completely virtually was a small global consultancy where everyone was virtual. A favorite check-in model at the company was, at first, one of the weirder things I had to get used to: an all-staff daily check-in.
Now, we only had 11 staff members so it wasn’t too crazy, but the idea of having a daily virtual all-staff was so strange. However, what hooked me was the model they used, how effortless it was, and how extremely connected it made me feel. We would all get on the phone at 1 p.m. EST and go around on camera highlighting the one or two biggest tasks we were tackling that day. Then we’d go back around in reverse order to see if anyone had any direct questions the whole group might benefit from about anyone’s specific tasks. If we thought our question was more one-on-one oriented it was tackled offline.
These meetings usually lasted five to eight minutes and they helped us all feel more connected and like we were being seen and heard by everyone involved.
—Ben
Allow Good Tech to Aid You
In the day-to-day of it all, let your technology work for you as a manager. If your organization’s technology offers shared access to your co-workers’, employees’, or team’s calendar, use that to your advantage to grasp their role and goals for the week. Ask to be CC’d or BCC’d on emails that matter for updates or context. Use IM more often than email to get something tackled more quickly, rather than in a formalized way like in an email or during a meeting. Use video for check-in calls so you can see your employees and communicate more openly and earnestly, reading body language and creating deeper connections through sight.
However, don’t think technology is supposed to fully manage autonomously. Be present! Use the phone instead of sending an email if you think the message would be better supported or supplied by a more personal or nuanced touch. Send IMs and respond to IMs received. And again, use video when you need to create a more appropriately casual working environment.
I have been working remotely in some capacity for the last 15 years. I quickly learned that having detailed written policies and procedures was going to be an essential component in the success of my remote working relationships. I like having a two- or four-week trial period for any new people I add to my remote team. These first two to four weeks are at a slightly reduced rate because I have found that while people say they know the various software you use to run your business effectively, they may really have no clue. However, I am patient through the learning curve if they can pick up new skills quickly. You also need to have contingencies for how the work will be completed on time if someone is ill for an extended period of time and how compensation will or will not be affected. Basically, you need to have backup plans for your backup plans. The joys of working remotely!
—Tracy V. Allen, TVA Consulting, LLC
A Few More Thoughts
Don’t fall prey to stereotypes. In a virtual workplace, some people wrongly think that virtual employees are more lax, lazy, or disconnected. Don’t use your day-to-day management to perpetuate the idea that you believe that too. Don’t use checking in to evaluate someone’s workflow. Don’t hide behind your own anxieties of not being able to see an employee’s every waking move and assume they’re not working or not working hard enough. Don’t be that manager. Build a plan, develop culture, and manage humans like a human.
Exercise active listening skills. It’s extremely important for your staff to feel heard and understood. When you have your scheduled check ins, make sure to give each person a chance to express what’s going on for them and create a comfortable atmosphere for them to ask for assistance if they need it. When they share, repeat back to them what you heard and ask clarifying questions to ensure you are both on the same page. Then do what you can to assist them. Win-win!
Signing Off
Nothing is easy. There are certain benefits to virtual employment, just as there are certain benefits to stationary employment. However, neither option should include managing the day-to-day details of your employees—no one likes to be micromanaged. Is it easier to pull someone randomly into your office while they’re walking by to check in? Maybe for you, but what does that feel like for your employees? The same can be said for the virtual employees—is it easy to just randomly call them or reach out on video? In many cases, yes, it really, truly is. But again, who is that easy for? For you. How does it make your employees feel?
The truth is that it doesn’t matter what kind of employees you manage—stationary or virtual—the value of day-to-day management is in the management part of the equation. It’s about crafting a plan, creating a culture, and not over- or under-extending your reach as a manager. It’s about making it effective for both parties for purposeful reasons. Not just watching from some virtual ivory tower or hiding under the wires and dull plastic exteriors, but being a present manager with a role, a purpose, and a smart approach.
Overall, management in my case wasn’t top shelf when I was an on-site employee. I shouldn’t have expected a more collegial relationship when I became a virtual team member. In fact, deadlines became more arbitrary, and communication became less frequent and more opaque. When I asked for clarification, or guidance, or just about anything, I got comments that invariably included phrases like “you’re at home, so can’t you make the time?” A 25 to 30 hour a week position became nearly 50 hours a week, but no commensurate increase in pay.
—Karen Johnson, Principal, Stopgap Freelance Service