Leadership skills for remote working
By the looks of things, remote working isn’t going away any time soon.
Even with the rollout of vaccinations and infection rates declining, it’s likely many offices will remain closed at least into the Summer - if not longer. Even then, remote working has become the norm for many of us, and we’re unlikely to see a sudden shift back to office working for all. Many organisations, large and small, have seen benefits from remote working over the past 12 months and will continue to allow, or even encourage, their workforces to work remotely.
Aside from the pressures remote working puts on the ways we work, there’s a bigger issue we need to address: how leadership styles and skills need to adjust to remote working.
The pitfalls of remote leadership
You’d be forgiven for thinking that leadership skills are transferable from the office to remote working - after all, leadership is leading people, regardless of where they are in the world. But, remote leadership comes with a unique set of challenges. When companies pivoted to remote working last year, many leaders were ill-equipped to handle it. We saw team leaders, directors, supervisors and line managers all fall into very similar pitfalls, leading to decreased productivity and wider negative effects on the success of companies.
Micro-management
Faced with less visibility of their team’s performance, many leaders over-compensated by micro-managing. Micro-management can stem from a lack of trust in team members. In an office environment, this lack of trust is somewhat masked: after all, it’s easy to see a team member taking an extended lunch break or not quite getting to their desk at bang-on 9am. But in the remote working world, it’s much more difficult to ‘keep an eye’ on team members. This lack of trust often manifests itself in micro-management, which could be over-use of Zoom team meetings, heavy-handed calendar management or even using technology that keeps track of employee’s computer usage. Whatever it manifests as, micro-management is a clear sign of a lack of trust - and employees who don’t feel trusted will not perform well.
Poor communication
Misunderstandings are all too common in remote teams. In the office, a misunderstanding can be quickly spotted and easily cleared up; in a remote team, it’s less easy. It’s important for leaders to recognise this and put in extra time and effort to ensuring every team member is on the same page and fully understands the task at hand. But, that doesn’t mean overcommunicating with your team. Instead, it means being clear about how, why and when communications will happen. One of the biggest mistakes we’ve seen leaders make is diversifying communication channels too much. Yes, using an instant-messaging system like Slack can be helpful for remote teams - but where does that leave emails? And what about the team WhatsApp chat setup late one night? Be clear about the purpose of communication channels to avoid confusion.
Unrealistic expectations
Working from home means you have more hours in the day, right? Without a commute or the distractions of travelling to and from meetings, you can get twice as much work done each day, right? That’s what we’ve seen some remote leaders assuming - but it isn’t accurate and can lead to team members becoming overwhelmed and experiencing burnout. With many of us juggling home-schooling and other pandemic-related commitments, a shift to outcome-focused working is necessary. Instead of assuming team members can work at the same pace as you and in the same way as you, reward and recognise performance using outcome-focused, realistically achievable goals - and check in regularly to overcome any hurdles.
The importance of soft skills in remote leadership
Over the past decade, soft skills have been increasingly important in the workplace. Particularly in professional-level roles, the tangible ‘hard’ skills you need are less important, thanks in large part to the increased sophistication of technology and automated processes that take away human intervention. Combined with a discernible shift in attitudes towards mental health and mindset, the ‘soft’ side of leadership has become more important than ever.
In fact, take almost any article published about leadership skills for remote working and you’ll find soft skills are heavily emphasised. This Inc. article, for example, lists 7 skills remote leaders need - 6 of which are soft. Similarly, all 3 of Forbes’ ‘leadership skills for managing remote employees’ are soft-skills. It’s clear that the skills needed for leadership have shifted - and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has only served to accelerate that shift.
Remote working shifts the dynamic between leader and team member dramatically. The role of leader, particularly during this pandemic, has morphed into something that many leaders were unprepared for - but something which is hugely important for maintaining a steady, secure and efficient workforce. Team members are being pulled in multiple directions, with multiple responsibilities competing for their attention throughout the day. What they need from a leader now is understanding, compassion and support - not strict deadlines, overbearing communications and unrealistic expectations.
Soft skills to develop to be a better remote leader
Soft-skills across the board are becoming more and more important - but in the era of remote working, here are the three we feel should be priorities for anyone in a leadership position.
Empathy
Times are tough for everyone. Developing an empathetic style of leadership means displaying an understanding of that fact. Everyone’s in the same boat, but, equally, everyone has their own unique hurdles to overcome; tailoring your communication to individual team members and being flexible with workloads helps to foster a sense of team - even remotely. Truly understanding a team member’s needs will encourage the same level of understanding back - which will help teams to develop creative solutions to business challenges.
Positivity
Maintaining a positive outlook on the future, both for the business and in a wider sense, is important - particularly at the moment. Positivity and optimism encourage others to feel the same, pulling together to tackle the challenges together. When day-to-day stresses occur, it’s easy for leaders to allow those stresses to become negative attitudes - and that negativity will affect the entire team, regardless of whether they’re sitting next to you or on the other side of the country. Positivity is key - but so too is realism. Sugarcoating bad situations or pretending things are better than they are will ultimately damage the level of trust between a leader and their team members. Maintaining an optimistic but realistic outlook is infectious and inspires team members to do the best they can do.
Listening
Perhaps most important of all is the ability to listen. Not just to hear, but to really listen. Being in touch with team members on a deeper level allows you to really get to know their struggles and optimise workflows and processes to make the most of their talents. Actively listening encourages mutual respect, too: the more you listen to team members, the more they’ll listen to you. Carve out time regularly for free conversation. Whether it’s 15 minutes at the start of a team session or a regular one-on-one catch up with each team member, it’s important that this time is without agenda. Team members should know they can speak freely, and that their leader will really listen. Taking on board feedback and understanding team members not only allows modifications to working practices that can benefit the business but also ensures leaders can practice empathy with a deeper knowledge of their team.
For leaders in the remote working era, soft skills are vital. Without exercising empathy, active listening and positivity, leaders can easily fall into the pitfalls of micro-management, poor communication and imposing unrealistic expectations on team members - all of which will damage employee engagement, reduce productivity and could increase staff turnover.
For businesses to not just survive but to thrive during this difficult period, individuals in leadership roles need to focus on developing emotional intelligence. Management, organisation and the more tangible skills of leadership are still important, but remote working requires much more than that.
