The Federation of Small Businesses estimated 20% of the UK's working population, or 6.4 million people, did not make it to work. South-east England had the worst snow it has seen for 18 years, causing all London buses to be pulled from service and the closure of Heathrow's runways.
In the FM environment, we need to be prepared for every eventuality, and ensuring your organisation has remote facilities for staff is one way to keep things running. More and more staff are being encouraged to work from home, but this does make some business leaders uncomfortable. Why? It's that T word again - Trust.
A recent poll by City & Guilds confirmed that many British managers were very uncomfortable with the idea of staff working from home, and were far happier dealing with people in the office. Is it because management techniques have not kept up with technological advances?
Of the employers who offer working from home, only 8% believe home-workers are less productive than their office-bound colleagues, while 30% say they are more productive. The remainder of employers say home-working makes no difference to productivity.
We know that home-working helps us save on space costs, but in return we need to consider our management style, health and safety issues and communication amongst other things. Let's not ignore the trend for working from home because it just seems to difficult to manage!
For a 30 minute laser conversation on managing your employees effectively, call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 or e-mail coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk with your burning questions about managing your people.
Showing posts with label teams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teams. Show all posts
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Friday, 23 January 2009
Creating and managing high performing remote teams
It’s tough enough managing the people you see every day. The challenges of getting things done from a distance, whether that means different sites or different countries, can cause even the most experienced manager sleepless nights. Geography can be the key enemy of great leadership.
Let’s remind ourselves of some of the ‘stories’ we hear about remote teams.
• They’re not interested in the company
• They TUPE’d over – they didn’t really want to work for us!
• They just want to come to work, do their job, then go home
• They don’t have access to computers, so there’s no point communicating with them
• I can’t manage them from a distance
• Their local manager/supervisor knows what s/he is doing
• I don’t have time to go driving all over the country/flying around the world
• It’s different in the North/Middle East/United States/EMEA etc
• They are too busy for me to go interfering
• I can’t afford to pay for team briefings, training , flights etc
• The client is happy with their performance, so I don’t need to worry about them
How much easier would life be if you were able to manage them more effectively, keep them motivated, reduce churn and increase productivity? You don’t need a magic wand, just some simple, practical tips.
It takes special Leadership skills to successfully manage remote teams.
1. Trust and honesty – trust your local manager/supervisor and their teams – every single one of them. Answer their questions honestly and address tough issues as soon as possible. Don’t be tempted to rely on those based in your building to do the lion’s share of the work, or the most urgent jobs – share the workload fairly. Establish your team-specific “ground rules” - these are the unwritten rules that guide how work gets done in your team. For examples, do you have an open door policy? How are suggestions for improvements to be made? How does communication work amongst team members?
2. Clarity – ensure they all understand their objectives. As far as possible, allocate short-term projects, so you can tell early on if the work is on track. Any change within the team - be it to responsibilities, new ways of working, additions to or loss of staff - may mean that established, well-functioning teams sometimes revert to a stage where their roles, responsibilities and objectives need to be reviewed and re-clarified. As their manager, it is imperative that you take the lead in defining these roles and responsibilities early on.
3. Focus on results. You need to measure the output from individuals and local teams, rather than processes. This also allows you to intervene quickly if you spot the early signs of under-performance. Encourage people to take small actions so they don’t become overwhelmed. Check in regularly with their progress.
4. Communication - understand their styles of communication, learning, managing, motivation – and adapt yours to suit them.
5. Feedback – are you catching them doing things right? Start every contact you have with a simple question ‘what’s been going well?’ and listen actively to their responses.
The keys to giving great feedback are:
• Give praise publicly, give criticism in private
• Be sincere
• Choose your timing carefully – do it as soon as you can after the event
• Ask for self-assessment
• Focus on specifics and don’t mix it with other messages
• Limit feedback to a few important points.
6. Role model – consistently demonstrate the behaviours you want to see in your teams, starting with the ‘T’ word - trust. Do you want them to speak positively about the company, the Client, their work? Then you must, too – all the time, to everyone you interact with.
7. Networking – build relationships with key people who can help you manage – the supervisor/manager, the receptionist, security guards, key communicators within the team. Find common interests at all levels of the wider team and help people work more closely by sharing knowledge. Find yourself a mentor – someone who has been there and done it – and learn both from their successes and the challenges they faced.
8. Use technology – use simple methods of communicating that will make your people feel they are in the same building as you – instant messaging, tele- and video-conferencing, webinars, intranet sites, or shared systems such as SharePoint or Meeting Place. If you are working with an international team, it is useful to have interpreters on hand and to be aware of cultural differences.
Communication is the glue that holds teams together; this is even more relevant when your team is dispersed. Not everyone is comfortable with the ‘virtual world’, so you might need to make yourself available by ‘phone on a regular basis at a time to suit them, or perhaps send them a printed newssheet. When a new person joins the team, make every effort to meet them in person – it will make your life easier later on. Your people will form their impressions not just on the words they read or hear, but also on the tone of the message and non-verbal signals. Don’t assume you know what works best for them – ask. After all, people are not inspired by words they cannot hear.
Speak to Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 for more management solutions for your high performing teams or e-mail your burning questions to coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk for a personal response
Let’s remind ourselves of some of the ‘stories’ we hear about remote teams.
• They’re not interested in the company
• They TUPE’d over – they didn’t really want to work for us!
• They just want to come to work, do their job, then go home
• They don’t have access to computers, so there’s no point communicating with them
• I can’t manage them from a distance
• Their local manager/supervisor knows what s/he is doing
• I don’t have time to go driving all over the country/flying around the world
• It’s different in the North/Middle East/United States/EMEA etc
• They are too busy for me to go interfering
• I can’t afford to pay for team briefings, training , flights etc
• The client is happy with their performance, so I don’t need to worry about them
How much easier would life be if you were able to manage them more effectively, keep them motivated, reduce churn and increase productivity? You don’t need a magic wand, just some simple, practical tips.
It takes special Leadership skills to successfully manage remote teams.
1. Trust and honesty – trust your local manager/supervisor and their teams – every single one of them. Answer their questions honestly and address tough issues as soon as possible. Don’t be tempted to rely on those based in your building to do the lion’s share of the work, or the most urgent jobs – share the workload fairly. Establish your team-specific “ground rules” - these are the unwritten rules that guide how work gets done in your team. For examples, do you have an open door policy? How are suggestions for improvements to be made? How does communication work amongst team members?
2. Clarity – ensure they all understand their objectives. As far as possible, allocate short-term projects, so you can tell early on if the work is on track. Any change within the team - be it to responsibilities, new ways of working, additions to or loss of staff - may mean that established, well-functioning teams sometimes revert to a stage where their roles, responsibilities and objectives need to be reviewed and re-clarified. As their manager, it is imperative that you take the lead in defining these roles and responsibilities early on.
3. Focus on results. You need to measure the output from individuals and local teams, rather than processes. This also allows you to intervene quickly if you spot the early signs of under-performance. Encourage people to take small actions so they don’t become overwhelmed. Check in regularly with their progress.
4. Communication - understand their styles of communication, learning, managing, motivation – and adapt yours to suit them.
5. Feedback – are you catching them doing things right? Start every contact you have with a simple question ‘what’s been going well?’ and listen actively to their responses.
The keys to giving great feedback are:
• Give praise publicly, give criticism in private
• Be sincere
• Choose your timing carefully – do it as soon as you can after the event
• Ask for self-assessment
• Focus on specifics and don’t mix it with other messages
• Limit feedback to a few important points.
6. Role model – consistently demonstrate the behaviours you want to see in your teams, starting with the ‘T’ word - trust. Do you want them to speak positively about the company, the Client, their work? Then you must, too – all the time, to everyone you interact with.
7. Networking – build relationships with key people who can help you manage – the supervisor/manager, the receptionist, security guards, key communicators within the team. Find common interests at all levels of the wider team and help people work more closely by sharing knowledge. Find yourself a mentor – someone who has been there and done it – and learn both from their successes and the challenges they faced.
8. Use technology – use simple methods of communicating that will make your people feel they are in the same building as you – instant messaging, tele- and video-conferencing, webinars, intranet sites, or shared systems such as SharePoint or Meeting Place. If you are working with an international team, it is useful to have interpreters on hand and to be aware of cultural differences.
Communication is the glue that holds teams together; this is even more relevant when your team is dispersed. Not everyone is comfortable with the ‘virtual world’, so you might need to make yourself available by ‘phone on a regular basis at a time to suit them, or perhaps send them a printed newssheet. When a new person joins the team, make every effort to meet them in person – it will make your life easier later on. Your people will form their impressions not just on the words they read or hear, but also on the tone of the message and non-verbal signals. Don’t assume you know what works best for them – ask. After all, people are not inspired by words they cannot hear.
Speak to Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 for more management solutions for your high performing teams or e-mail your burning questions to coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk for a personal response
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