Blend360 Understands Remote Work – for the Manager

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Unprecedented times but BLEND360 has your back

The COVID-19 Pandemic and impacts are unprecedented in our modern economy and suddenly a lot of experts have appeared on the scene to offer advice in various aspects.  

We don’t give advice unless we actually know what we’re talking about –so we won’t guide you on handwashing and self-quarantining – but we do know how to operate successfully in a remote work environment; we’ve been doing it effectively since 2002.

BLEND360 Best Practices for Managing Remote Personnel

If you’ve managed a remote team before, you likely know most or all of the following best practices.  But if you’re used to everyone being in an office setting (even if it’s not the same physical building as yours), there are innate checks and balances in that. So, it’s logical that this might be a daunting time, especially as you and your team are also dealing with the personal impacts of the situation at the same time.  So here are some best practices to help smooth one aspect of things, managing your remote team:

• Verify that every remote member of your team is actually able to work remotely.  
• Do they have a suitable work area and the right equipment?  If not, work together to remediate the issues as quickly and as best as possible.
  
• Be aware of each team member's personal responsibilities/commitments.
• Be careful to avoid questions that might be deemed too invasive, but understanding each
  person’s situation and responsibilities can be very helpful in avoiding miscommunication or unexpected periods of downtime.  (Many people now have personal responsibilities during typical business hours that they didn’t have before, such as young children being educated from home, or elderly parents who need grocery/pharmacy runs made for them.)  Understanding limitations and finding creative solutions are the goals.
• Outline and discuss expectations.
• By laying out a clear plan of expectations and reviewing them together with your team member, you ensure clarity and achieve the best chance of success.
  
• Establish milestones with timelines.
  Especially with more junior team members, but honestly with anyone, you won’t have visible cues to know when issues arise or when a task is completed.  Having milestones and timelines will keep things on track.
  
• Create a communication plan.  
• How often will you communicate individually and as a team?  Communicate well and communicate often via a variety of channels – phone, conference calls, video, text, email.  
  
• Use video to stay connected to your team live and “face to face.”  
• There are so many tools available, MS Teams, Zoom, Google Hangout, FaceTime…the list goes on.  Take advantage of the technology to see each other.  And it’s probably a good idea to establish a rule that no one is expecting business clothes and styled hair – sweats and hoodie are just fine.  It’s more about the human connection from the visual that’s important in staying connected during this remote time.

How BLEND360 can support you

When you’re working with our team, we’ve got your back, in the following ways:

We already have processes instituted at the top of our selection process to identify individuals who are ready and able to work effectively in a remote setting.

We check references to ensure professional capability of remote work.

We outline the challenges and expectations of remote work honestly to our people, to ensure a cultural fit.

We talk through personal obligations to determine a true sense of someone’s ability to effectively take on your work.

We create a plan to keep in regular contact with our team, which helps augment your goals.

We reinforce the importance of communication with you and identification of conflicts before they become an issue.

One Last Note – on the Realities of Remote Work, In this Landscape:

Even the veteran manager of WFH (Work from Home) professionals will face challenges they didn’t have a month ago, as they and their people deal with situations never encountered before.

So, be patient with yourself and others.  One day at a time is how we’ll all get through this pandemic.

Wishing you health!

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