As your company scales up its operations and branches out to fulfil consumer needs, you’ll have to supplement this by placing a highly competent team in each new target market. Unlike the team that you have in your headquarters, certain challenges will be faced in trying to manage regional teams. Therefore, as business leaders, it is your job to put measures in place to ensure that you can effectively motivate, communicate with, and acknowledge remote teams. While this is a chance to prove your leadership skills, your regional teams are highly reliant on your directives and management decisions in order to be productive and operate with minimal roadblocks.
Here, we’ve listed down the two best tips to remotely keep your regional teams in check.
Make Sure That Each Team Has The Necessary Tools
It’s crucial for you to not skimp on the tools and resources needed by your regional teams. Aside from making sure that they have the necessary equipment like computers, printers, hard drives, and office supplies, you should also invest in telecommuting software. With management and communication tools like Slack and Asana, your teams will have an easier time gaining access to HQ directives and will have an open line of communication between them and higher-ups who are stationed at your home base.
Furthermore, it’s also necessary that your regional offices are conducive to working. Giving them the space to foster collaboration and operate with ease is key to being a good business leader. For starters, make sure that they have an ample amount of space to work, are connected to a high-speed network, and are in an environment where they feel safe. And though many workplace wellness experts will recommend fancy break rooms and company-sponsored gym memberships to promote productivity and morale, Pain Free Working points out how simple things actually go a long way. Start with the basics first: Does your team have good air quality and natural light? These seemingly insignificant things can do a world of good for your team’s mood and overall well-being. Look at installing air purifiers and LED lights if the space you’ve leased doesn't have access to these workplace essentials.
(Image credit: Pixabay)
Put Your Trust in Skilled Team Managers
Even if you have stellar remote teams, they won’t be able to realise their full potential if they don’t have a strong and effective regional manager to guide them. Your chosen team managers should be able to direct your teams to success — even if you are not directly giving them orders. Furthermore, they are your mouthpiece to your regional teams, so their values and managerial practices should be in line with your own. Additionally, great regional leaders should also know how to handle dialogue with their respective teams. To do this, your regional managers can look to gamification activities like Speak Up Speak Out or Appreciative Inquiry to build trust and a good relationship with your remote employees.
One way to establish trust between you and your regional managers is by clearly defining their roles and responsibilities. Forbes points out that you need to have a keen eye for talent to evaluate people on what they can do beyond their prescribed role — and add it to their list of duties if they do it extremely well. But, also remember that with widening their roles, you will also have to compensate them fairly. If you are successful in doing this, you squash the chances of miscommunication and unsynchronised decisions between you and your regional team managers.
written for teambuildingasia.com
by Rebecca Jayne
