Wundamail Blog

Managing a remote team is no walk in the park. For the team manager, the distance and the disconnect of the remote set up can be tough to handle. Keeping everyone progressing on a project and moving forward together can be harder to do when you’re not all in the same place. And what if something goes wrong? What if there’s an issue or someone needs support? How do we make sure they can get that help if they’re so dispersed and displaced?

There’s a first time for everything. In both our personal and our working lives, we learn as we go. These moments provide opportunities to grow, to improve, and to enrich our lives. These new hurdles can also be intimidating.

As more and more businesses begin to see the value in remote working, and as increasing numbers of the workforce demand the ability to work remotely, managers need to think in different ways.

An interesting conversation broke out on my Twitter feed recently. A good friend - a photographer and filmmaker - mentioned that he was building a new editing studio and had installed a stand-up desk.

Listening to the radio a couple of days ago, there was a discussion on how a team was suffering from low morale and that the manager had ‘lost the dressing room’. Its a common expression, and a common problem. Some set of external influences creep slowly into the dynamic of the team. The players see the problems in different ways, and this leads them down ever more dangerous paths.

So, you have a project. Its a big, important project, one that needs a full team effort to bring to completion. Time is ticking, though it's not yet against you. But if you don’t get moving soon, the project won’t stand a chance. You need to get going. Often, it's that first movement that becomes the first challenge of the project, the first hurdle. Project managers need to build momentum. Momentum feeds the project, because once it’s moving, momentum makes it difficult to stop. That’s a good thing. The beginning of any project is fraught with fears. Fear of the unexpected, maybe. Or a fear of the outcome. How to maintain the momentum? How do we prevent the project going off course, or worse, and never reaching its destination.

You’re having a good day. You’re meeting deadlines and the project you’ve been working on is progressing well. You’re enjoying your work, as you plough through your to-do list. It feels great to strike a line through each task, you feel you’re achieving.

Creating, building and maintaining a team can be a stressful enough task for leaders. So many factors play into the dynamic of the team, and the mood can change in the blink of an eye.

We are not robots. Well, I’m certainly not a robot, though I guess you may be. But what I mean is, we’re not meant to be robots. We don’t have to work like robots, behave like robots, or live like robots. Which is just as well, because we’re not robots.

The benefits of remote working are clear and obvious. We know the story. For the worker, it offers a more flexible way of working, a better work-life balance, less disruption and distraction, and an increased sense of autonomy. As long as their managers and coworkers are supportive, and the communication is kept open and regular, remote working can be a force for good.