Leading Remote Teams

1. Establish Goals (this will be highly dependent on the nature of your work)

• Crisis-management: If your team is focused on responding to Covid-19 updates (e.g., HR, City Hall, Community Outreach & Engagement, IT, etc.), it’s likely that your goals will change and shift in response to the evolving reality. Build flexibility into your process and break things into relevant time frames. Establish daily or weekly goals and communicate them with your team. What are our top priorities during this time frame?

• Usual business: Other teams must continue to carry out their usual responsibilities in a remote setting; there may be challenges because of limited resources, little/no access to external stakeholders/contractors, etc. (e.g. Finance, Park Planning, etc.). What do we need to accomplish and what are our avenues for getting it done?

• Project work: Some groups may struggle to establish goals, because they aren’t a direct part of crisis management, but their normal responsibilities have been suspended (i.e., Recreation Services, Library & Cultural Arts, etc.). These teams should redeploy efforts to projects that have been lingering on the “to-do-when-we-have-time” list. Be sure your work aligns with the direction of the CM’s office

2. Clarify Roles and Responsibilities

• Who does what?

  • Be clear: In remote scenarios, a higher degree of detail is needed when outlining responsibilities. “John and his team will handle benefits issues” leaves too much up to interpretation. Eliminate confusion with specifics: “John’s team will handle all leave requests; let’s agree on a standard for evaluating and providing a decision to employees…(# of days). “

  • Divide and conquer: Remote teams of 2-4 members have the highest ratio of goal attainment. If your team is large (10 or more), consider creating sub-teams responsible for “pieces” of the goal(s)

  • Establish Communications Protocols: This a vitally important part of working together remotely. Communication on virtual teams is usually less frequent and less robust than in-person interaction. The only way to avoid the pitfalls is to be extremely clear and disciplined about setting and adhering to guidelines.

• How will we communicate? Decide which communication avenues you will use in various circumstances. Will your primary mode be phone, text, etc.? Are there situations that require the creation of a shared document?

  • How quickly will we respond to each other? Set a standard (e.g., 10 minutes? 1 hour?)

  • How do we achieve clarity? Think SMART; instead of saying “Mary will you put together the Council presentation?”, consider “Mary – you’re responsible for the deck we will use at the Council presentation. Please build the slides in PowerPoint and send them out to the team for review/editing by end-of-day Thursday.” Allow time for clarification.

  • What commitment do we make to communication? Establish norms of behavior when participating in virtual meetings (e.g., limiting background noise and side conversations, not dominating the conversation, etc.)

4. Preserve Workday Tempo (when possible; this may not be realistic for teams actively involved in responding to Covid-19 updates)

• Conduct regular team meetings

  • Have/share the agenda in advance

  • Decide on effective meeting guidelines (e.g., minimize background noise, no use of the mute button, no cell phones, start/end on time, etc.)

  • Decide on Format (Zoom, conference call, etc.)

  • 1:1s: If regular 1:1s are part of your leadership approach, continue. Preserving the usual day/time can help to provide a sense of normalcy. If 1:1’s are not your norm, consider implementing them. Communication in a remote structure is less frequent, so dedicating time is necessary. Use this time not only to check status and provide feedback, but also to check the emotional state of your team members. Some may find remote work challenging; others may be struggling with the uncertainty of the situation; remind them we are all in this together

5. Embrace Accountability

• Create a “Progress Dashboard” for the team

  • Use a collaborative format that’s visible to all to foster connection (Excel spreadsheet on SharePoint or OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, etc.)

  • Establish updating frequency (at least 1 x day)

  • Celebrate success! Not only does this fuel performance, but also, it provides needed reassurance that there are things we can do and accomplish in the midst of a crisis

• Debrief Often

  • Did we accomplish the goals we established?

    • If so, what helped?

    • If not, why not?

  • How do we apply this learning to the next “chunk” of time? What are our takeaways?