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Covid-19 caused a negative impact for individuals, families, and organizations worldwide. One of the problems Covid-19 caused for many organizations was that they had to completely change and shift their daily routine. Employees had to start working remotely. Working remotely has been controversial, some individuals enjoy working from the comfort of their home, which allows for a better work/life balance, and other individuals are motivated by waking up early and going into an office with other co-workers. With this said, working remotely can be challenging for anyone. It can create distractions and a loss of motivation when you are not seeing co-workers each day. Despite the concerns working remotely has already caused, many individuals still struggle with this remote working change due to the simple fact that change is hard.
From a leader standpoint, it may be difficult to properly engage employees while they are working remotely. However, it can be done and can be done efficiently. Start by motivating and engaging your employees while utilizing virtual meeting apps, such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, WebEx, or Zoom to host meetings with your employees daily to keep everyone aligned. Most organizations know how to use them at this point but learning and creating an environment where motivating and engaging becomes paramount and burn-out is limited.
One of the most effective ways a leader can engage their remote employees is simply asking for and listening to feedback from their employees. As mentioned, virtually working is not for everyone and a leader should stay connected with their employees and stay open minded to the ideas and feedback for improvements as many roles have now begun hybrid or fully remote. Each employee works and excels differently, learning about each employee and how best they work will make the team effective and effective.
Lastly, provide your employees with the tools needed to succeed. A successful leader of a virtual or hybrid team should also be doing research on what the best resources are while working remotely and provide tutorials and various solutions for the employees. Doing this will make your employees feel like they are cared about and understood, which as a result will increase their productivity and engagement at work.
Remote working is a modernistic trend in the working community, but it will only continue to evolve. Times have changed (and continue to change) and managers and leaders need to learn to adapt to these trends and changes. To learn more about how to properly engage and supervise your employees remotely, check out this free short course on Leading Remote Teams.
