How to address common virtual team management challenges

Have you been getting used to managing your team virtually in recent months? You are not alone. Many managers who formerly managed their teams in person are now managing them virtually due to the restrictions arising from the pandemic. Some managers are managing people for the first time and having to do it virtually. I am fortunate to work with leaders and managers across sectors and geographies and have been in a privileged position to hear first-hand some of the challenges that they’ve been facing from managing virtually; they’ve shared with me how they have flexed their style or tried some things differently with their teams to ensure that team members remain engaged and that their team can perform well. Below I share the 6 key challenge areas that have arisen for managers over the last 9 months as well as some ideas to help for one of the challenge areas.

The 6 virtual team management challenge areas are:

1. Managing and measuring work
2. Team cohesiveness and a sense of belonging
3. Connection, relationships and communication
4. Engagement, motivation and wellbeing
5. Meeting effectiveness
6. Technology

Let’s take a look at ‘Managing and measuring work’. If you’ve always worked with your team in an office or on site together and are now all in your respective homes, some of the ways that you used to work together are not available to you. You may have been used to being able to take advantage of impromptu office catch ups or ad hoc corridor conversations to update team members or check in on progress. You could also see if someone was at their desk and not on the phone if you wanted to talk to them about their ability to take on some more work. Given the fact that you are now not able to do this, here are some tips that other managers have found helpful:

1. ‘Contract’ with each team member on how to connect on work
   When you and your team are all homeworking, you can feel that you might look like you’re bothering someone if you call them when you aren’t sure if they are free or not; if you feel that way you can see how your team members may be reluctant to interrupt you for similar reasons. Some team members can worry that you may feel that they are not doing what they should be and overwhelm you with email updates so that they are ‘seen’ to be working. To avoid these types of issues, being clear with your team on ways that you want to be updated and contracting with them on what they need from you to support getting the work done can help.

A contracting conversation would start with you understanding your team member’s needs before sharing your own and could be structured as follows:

1. Ask what works for your team member about how you are currently supporting them with their work
2. Share that you are sure that there are some things that you could do differently that would support them better and that you are open to hearing their ideas – listen without interrupting.
3. If not already covered, ask how often they feel they’d like to connect with you, why, about what, and how.
4. Considering what you’ve heard, agree what you will continue to do, and what you might try differently to support them
5. Share what you need from them too – why you need to be updated on their progress, what you’d like to know, how often, and in what format; aim for this to be the minimum that provides you with what you need – check that this works for your team member, try it, and tweak based on what you learn together

Once you’ve contracted, a weekly 1-1 is often helpful not only for work check-ins but also for general support and wellbeing.

2. Build intra-team accountability
   It is helpful when working virtually to grow some intra-team accountability so that the team support, encourage, and hold each other to account, not just relying on you. One way to encourage this is with lightning rounds once a week in a short team meeting. This is a way to recognise what is going well for someone as well as understand their priorities for the week ahead. Each team member takes no more than a minute to share 1 success  they had, or something they are proud of, from the previous week (however small) followed by their top 3 priorities to focus on for the week ahead. If any other team member feels that there is a greater need for that person’s time in another area then this is the time to raise this.

If you’ve been working virtually for a while you will likely have other tips that work for you. Do share them in the comments section for others to benefit from. I’ll share some tips for other virtual management challenges in a future blog.