5 Tips to Managing Your Team Across Multiple Locations
August 13th, 2019
By Stephen Draper, Contract Solutions Architect & Technology Consultant.
Managing teams and direct or in-direct reports has become more dispersed but it needn't be challenging if you consider the situation carefully and maximise the resources available. Here are some top tips to consider.
1. The art of delegation
All the emphasis is on you to lead your team but it shouldn't carry the pressure of attending to everyone's needs. Delegate some of the day-to-day management tasks to an experienced member of your team and empower them to make decisions. Empowerment is particularly key if that person operates in a different location to you. Your team can then build a relationship with someone onsite who they trust, yet know they still have your ear or backing. Meanwhile you can take assurance in knowing that your team doesn't feel detached from you or your other working site/s.
2. Process and schedules to stay the same
Engage with everyone in the same way, and follow the same processes. Encourage everyone to do this and explain that in doing so the team will work together in a more cohesive, collaborative fashion.
3. Communication
Your methods of communication will need to change but one thing that is vitally important is regularity. Full team meetings need to be regular and consistent with a well organised format. The delivery of the meeting can be via video or telephone conference. Emails or notifications to the team should be regular and in a similar format. Again this keeps everyone aligned and clear of what to expect. However, don’t forget one-to-one time; a phone call to attend to the needs of an individual especially in larger teams goes along way.
4. Don't be strangers
Ensure that you and your team can travel to different sites, this promotes stronger social relationships and trust. This can be difficult when budgets are tight or across multiple countries, but face-to-face is important. By setting a schedule, or perhaps a quarterly get together everyone will feel more connected, and if your organisation isn't equipped with video conferencing then this is even more important.
5. Standardise on goals
Setting goals is even more important when you have a couple of remote locations where people feel isolated. Allowing people to understand and strive for the larger common goal will keep the team together and motivated. Most importantly be open about your own goals and how they relate to the team and common goal.
Stephen Draper is a valued Apply Recruitment candidate. He currently works as a contract solutions architect at AQA and regularly writes insightful industry and leadership blog posts. You can contact Stephen directly via his Linked in Page here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephendraper/
