Intro
The global pandemic was not an easy time. Businesses worldwide were forced to think on their feet or risk losing their business forever. And while some companies succumbed to the pandemic, others changed their business operations to match the changing environment.
Remote working took center stage during the global pandemic
Applications like Zoom and Teams were seen as a viable alternative to the physical workplace. As more and more offices started adopting remote working out of need, they realized that they don’t have to bring everyone together in a physical location to get the work done. This introduced new ways to cut costs and raise an agile workplace. Even after the pandemic had calmed down, remote working was seen as a viable work mode. But while everyone raved about the benefits of remote leadership, it fell upon the leaders to utilize and motivate their remote workforce. And it was not without a challenge.
Early leaders struggled to motivate employees, and as the great resigning wave took hold, leaders were desperate to find ways to keep their most valuable employees. To combat the issue, leaders started developing frameworks to systematize remote working. And while each work setting is different, here are some tips that might help you motivate your employees as we move into a new era within the workplace
Provide your team with the resources they need to achieve your goal
It’s easy for your employees to ask for a particular file or small tidbits of information when working side-by-side. But if your employees are a hundred miles away, they might not enjoy calling you up every time they need something. The best way to ensure that remote employees can work without any hiccups is to create a resource pool to share all the documents and files required to complete the said task. By doing so, you make sure that employees can work unobstructed and get their job done in time.
Trust the people you hire
Trust is the backbone of working in any remote setting. You need to trust the employees you work with; there is no other way to do this. Fostering doubts about your employees will only lead to discomfort on both sides. When you start having doubts about your employees, it shows in your behavior. Employees are quick to pick up on visual cues, and once they know that you don’t trust them to get the job done, it all goes downhill. Since replacing an employee is easier said than done, you start micromanaging employees to ensure they do the job correctly. This usually has a negative impact on the employees. One of the biggest perks of remote working is the freedom that comes with it. When you start micromanaging your employees and their work time, they feel restricted. If remote employees feel that their freedom is being threatened, they might leave the company for good.
Promote independence and let your team have their say
How often do you listen to your team? Remote working is not easy for both parties. For all the freedom that comes with remote working, employees miss the human connection between working in a physical office. And for the leader, the logistics of remote working are a constant headache. The solution to both of these problems lies on the same spectrum. If you are a leader, then start listening to your employees. It doesn’t matter how you feel about their views. Simply listening to your employees will make them more empathetic towards your decision and more open to change. On the other end, this will also help promote independence within the team. When employees realize that their views are getting across, they start discovering ways to execute their tasks better.
Understand that it's an entirely different setting
When employees work remotely, they work in a room alone, with only a computer to keep them company. This is vastly different from an actual workplace. A remote workplace is one of the most efficient workplaces imaginable. It completely isolates the employee and the task and reduces the idle chatter within a workplace that is often responsible for decreasing efficiency. But is it the most humane workplace? Probably not. A remote workplace isolates the employee from real human contact with other employees. This makes it difficult for them to stay motivated and keep going. It becomes difficult for employees to see how their goals align with the organization’s goals. And in the long run, that is a primary reason why employees leave the company.
Final Takeaway
Managing a remote workplace is not the easiest of tasks. But the right leader can harness the power of remote working. With no idle chatter to keep your employees distracted, remote working presents a real chance to increase efficiency and get more work done. But in a bid to improve efficiency, leaders must not start treating their employees like robots. While it can be hard to remember that there is a person on the other side of the computer during the heat of work, remember, your employees are only human, and there will always be some hiccups along the way.
