The foundation of employee engagement and productivity is trust. When your employees trust you as a leader and you trust them, performance level goes way up.
For many of us, this level of remote work is new. So, it’s understandable that managers are struggling to manage their workforce as effectively as they did when they had an in-person office environment.
So how can you stop micro-managing, initiating too many meetings and relax and trust your employees? Well this post is here to help.
Equip Your Employees
The most important thing to do is to seed your employees with the assets they need to do their jobs.
One way you can equip your employees for success is to build out a virtual office like we do here at Abyx. This allows you to see headshots of employees who are “in the office,” centrally house files, hold team meetings, initiate video chat and more.
Whether you host a remote work environment or not, it’s important that you make files easily accessible with Google Drive or Drop Box or something of the like. Clearly name your files, think through the structure and make sure your employees have access to the files they need in order to do their jobs.
Provide Positive Feedback
When managing a remote team, it’s easy to keep things “all business” but don’t forget to provide positive feedback. In a remote environment, you miss social cues and spontaneous chatter that you used to have in an in-person workplace.
Check in with your employees frequently and when you see that they’re doing a good job, for goodness sake, tell them!
Measure Performance Level
Instead of micro-managing and being insistent that employees clock in and work 9-5, measure their work by their performance and the work that is being produced. This will give your employees some breathing room and it conveys to them that you trust them to get the job done.
Some employees might have kids at home or may feel more creative at night. Allow them the flexibility to work when they’re at their best and the quality of work will be way higher.
Help with Prioritizing Projects
Surely you’ve seen by now that running a remote workplace requires a lot of communication in order to run effectively.
One thing you can do to maximize performance level is to help your employees prioritize their projects. You can do this with a quick daily check-in session whether it’s team projects or solo projects.
When employees know what is expected from them, the both of you can hold them to standards increasing the trust that you need to have in each other.
Outline How Much Work There is to Do
Aside from communication, another commonality that runs through workplaces that have trust is transparency. Be transparent about what needs to get done for the health of your company and what you expect your employees to get done on an individual and team level.
Knowing the amount of work that you want your employees to accomplish on a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly basis is key to being on the same page and trusting each other.
Consider creating timelines with due dates and check-in meetings to keep everything organized.
Do you have any tips on fostering trust with remote employees? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
