With technical advancements, most companies were on the verge of turning their work online. And with Covid, things moved up faster. Now, most companies have some teams working from home. Managing these virtual teams presents new challenges for organizations such as communicating, mentoring, monitoring work, and many more. With user onboarding software, companies have tackled most of the problems that come with organizing the remote team. But in an environment where employees work from home, managers are unable to monitor them personally. Therefore, it has become increasingly difficult to identify and address employee performance issues. A lack of expertise and skills in managing remote teams makes things worse.
Remote work posed new problems from the viewpoint of employees. To begin with, there are no longer clear boundaries between personal and work hours. Additionally, many professionals are frustrated by the constant distractions in their homes that prevent them from doing their best work. A lack of personal contact can also negatively impact employee performance. This can lead to employees feeling abandoned, which may impair their performance.
In addition to these factors, several other factors affect their performance. The following are some strategies you can use to help them:
Table of Contents
Have clear communication
Remote teams need clear and effective communication for successful work. They don’t have the benefit of having face-to-face communication with their managers or other team members. Thus, if there is any kind of communication gap, they may misinterpret, and their performance will suffer.
To handle this problem, there are plenty of communication tools including Google Meet, Skype, and other platforms. Apart from that, LMS offers various benefits with its features and makes communication easy. For example, discussion boards, online meetings, and other options. This way, managers can stay in touch with their employees and fill the communication gap.
Create a responsible environment
When your employees understand the consequences, they will feel the responsibility of handling things properly. For instance, if your employee is handling some mechanical work, make sure they know what can go wrong if they don’t do their job perfectly.
To create that feeling of accountability, make sure they are aware of their responsibility and know what the company expects from them. Make things clear with them and let them know the expectations in the form of tasks, deadlines, and working hours. It is important that they understand the importance of meeting expectations, and also know the consequences of not fulfilling them.
This does not mean you should overload them with lots of work. Take things slowly. When you assign them tasks, provide them with the trust, support, and communication they need. And you will see, they are becoming responsible.
Raise questions
Maintaining a balance between being strict as well as understanding while also making sure that employees don’t underestimate your polite behavior is important. For this, you need to question them. Questions that will give the reasons why they are not being prompt at their work. Why are they not delivering what is expected? Ask them why they have not met the objectives. These questions can act as a push and give them the pressure they need to complete the task successfully.
When you ask them these questions, you will get to know what are the barriers and what and how can you help them with the same. Maybe your team is facing distractions at home or is lacking the required resources for the job to get done. Whatever may be the reason, these questions can provide you with insights and help you identify their problems and resolve them.
Be helpful instead of retaliating against them.
The way you handle your employees’ problems will affect their performance. If you simply do not listen to what they have to say, they may lose motivation. As your employees are working remotely, they can face personal as well as professional problems. When this happens, try to understand the problem and help them out, instead of striking back at them. For instance, your employee is not able to concentrate on work due to the comfort zone at their place. Instead of scolding them or giving them a corrective statement, ask them to prepare a work area in their house where they can create a work environment and focus on their work. Working from home is difficult, not only due to distraction, but family expectations when they are home. They may feel pressured. The best way is to hear them out and provide them with sustainable ways. This way you can find a middle way to help them as well as make them productive at the same time.
Conclusion
With this article, you must have got an idea about the reason for unsatisfactory performance in your remote teams. With the tips above, you can determine and resolve your employees’ issues. Make sure you support your remote teams and understand their side of the story. When your employees see the supportive environment they are getting from their managers and workplace, they will want to improve their performance and strive hard to get the results. Remember, success for your company and remote team is a two-way process. You need to provide support to your employees so that they can trust you back and provide you with the expected results.
