Managing Teams Remotely – Embracing A New Way Of Working

Although most managers assert how performance and results are more important than the time a person clocked in or out, the reality is that in numerous organisations, both team member and leader have come to depend on the physical presence of each other.

The majority of managers and team leaders have learnt to manage people in a face to face leadership model. Conversations are manged by observing non-verbal cues – reading that nervous tap of the foot during a meeting or just noticing that something is 'off' about a person's usual behaviour. We scan the office and within two seconds we can tell who is engaged in the work they are doing or who is struggling to keep their eyes open. The hum of a busy office is reassuring. It gives us the comfort (albeit often just an illusion) that things are as they should be – if the team is busy then it must mean we are being productive and getting closer to our goal.