Coaching Remote Teams

The landscape of working routines has evolved in recent months: the pandemic threw us all into a frenzy of activity, adapting our routines to re-shape ‘work’. This means that many leaders and managers are struggling to oversee their teams, and floundering in a new world of working that requires different methods of communication and a greater degree of trust.

What is the best way to lead teams, in this changed landscape, to ensure that your organisation hits targets and continues to grow when your workforce aren’t necessarily based in your offices?

Investing in Coaching for your senior leaders could make a world of difference, and the changes they make will impact the success – and wellbeing – of your entire workforce.

A little over two years ago, as lockdowns hit, global businesses had to build systems that supported remote working, making sure that widespread teams had access to the technology they needed to work from home offices.

In the aftermath we’ve seen headlines dominated by the different approaches that Leaders have taken to ‘getting back to normal’. Now that people know that working remotely is an option – and one which has worked so well– there are many who are reluctant to go back to a working life that meant so much time spent commuting, and who feel they are more productive with the flexibility offered by walking from home. “The Great Resignation” is seeing them vote with their feet.

Business leaders are having to accept that hybrid working options need to be adapted if they want to attract, and keep, the best available talent in the market.

It’s tempting to refuse – Elon Musk has famously made sweeping statements insisting that his staff, both at Tesla and in his new purchase, Twitter, all return to the offices: his view is that people working from home are merely ‘pretending to work’. This shows a deep mistrust in his teams, and has left his employees with a very negative view of his approach to leadership.

One thing his viewpoint has flagged, however, is that employers need to have a thorough overview of what their remote teams are doing. Out of sight does leave space for so called ‘presenteeism’ – where they appear to be logged in but there’s no guarantee they are working…

Leading your team remotely means adapting your style

Communication, Trust and Respect are key to ensuring that your team feels supported, your goals are clearly outlined, and everyone remains on the same path

So how do you lead remote teams?

This doesn’t mean you need to do an Elon: if you lay down the law and demand that everyone comes back to the offices you might find yourself in a recruitment drive to replace a lot of team members at once, when people who want to maintain flexibility (and trust!) quit.

Instead, you need to look at the way you are leading, and how you are communicating your organisation’s needs with the team.

Remote work, or a hybrid that offers the flexibility of working from home (or other spaces) as well as dedicated office space, requires a degree of trust and autonomy. Trust comes from great communication, and from setting clear expectations.

If you aren’t used to working in this way it can be hard to change your ways – but it’s important that organisations move with the times, and are able to meet the needs of their employees and support their wellbeing. The flexibility to leave ‘the nine to five’ behind and save costs, and time, on commuting, and to build their working lives around their home commitments at times, means that the work is still being done, and people are happier, healthier and more financially comfortable. This is especially important today, when costs of living have shot up, and at a time when over 85% of people in the UK acknowledge that they are struggling with burnout.

Your leaders and managers can adapt, and reshape the way that they work, and the way that they support your team, even remotely. All it takes is a commitment to change, and the support of a professional Coach who has experience in this way of working.

Coaching means partnering your Senior Leaders and Executives with professionals who understand the challenges you’re facing, the changes that will benefit the way they work, and the best practices that mean your organisation meets the needs of your entire workforce.

Our team of coaches, recruited globally, are highly experienced and expert in a range of vital areas of business. They are all highly qualified and, specifically selected for every client, the very best Coaches are carefully handpicked from our portfolio of well over 100 experts.

We have seen the enormous impact that Coaching can have on organisations: the confidence, and competence, of the coachee is significant, and they are better able to understand, guide and support their teams, and this improvement trickles down from their leadership through the teams they manage. This means that an investment in Coaching for just the most senior members of your team will benefit the entire organisation, at every level.

If you’d like to hear more about the Coaching that ASK offer, and see some case studies of previous coaching programmes to see how successful it’s been for others, you can download our Coaching brochure, or call the team today on 01234 757575 to discuss your needs and how we can help.

For more information on Coaching you can visit our Coaching Solutions page, which details different specialised options. You can also download our Coaching brochures, which give detailed overviews of the process and some example bios of Expert Coaches we could pair you with.

Coaching Remote Teams