With teams scattered across the country, many managers are finding themselves working and leading teams remotely for the first time ever. While the challenges may be daunting, established teams are finding ways to stay productive and keep communication flowing.
But what about the challenges facing a manager who never stepped foot in the physical office? Imagine starting a new job in the middle of the Covid pandemic, leading a team of 9 people you never met before. That’s what happened to Sarah Youngbauer, who became Director of Corporate Marketing for Lattice Semiconductor in September of last year.
We were fascinated by Sarah’s story and eager to learn and share the unique challenges she faced while learning to manage a remote team.
What was it like to lead a team that you never met in person?
Starting a new job is always intimidating, particularly as a leader. On a typical first few days, you’d spend time 1:1 with your team members and likely do some group activities (lunches, coffee) with those in the same location to start building more of a rapport. These are invaluable for forming more of a personal connection and for starting to learn team members’ mannerisms. It’s much harder to do this virtually and, as a manager, you have to get creative.
How did you get to know your role and your team on a personal basis?
Role integration
- Ramping in a new role in a completely virtual environment is challenging. Three months in I am still learning, but what I’ve found to be most effective is focusing on time management. Nearly every hour of every day of my work calendar is filled.
- The balance of time I spend on meetings vs email is massively different than it was pre-pandemic. I spent a lot more time in my inbox pre-pandemic. Today, my time is mostly filled with meetings, either 1:1s, staff/management meetings, or project-focused meetings. These meetings help form connections that are essential to being able to navigate a new company and role and help me insert my voice into the company as a new leader.
- If I have personal deliverables I need to complete, I use time blocking on my calendar to ensure the work gets done.
- Emails are handled between meetings, if they end early, or after my last meeting of the day. It’s more important than ever in a virtual environment to stay present in the meeting and not get distracted by emails, chats, or text messages.
Team building
- The number one thing I did was making time each week with my team my top priority – both 1:1 and as a group. Pre-pandemic, I would’ve had similar meetings, but they would’ve been shorter and often times cancelled (based on my experience in my last job).
- As I started mid-pandemic, I immediately blocked 45 minutes with each of my direct reports every week (with a 15 min buffer for run-over or following up on action items). I also meet with my extended team members once per month. In addition to this, we have a 1-hour full team meeting once a week. These may move around based on the week, but they don’t get cancelled unless there’s a company-wide holiday and no place to move them to in the week.
- The 1:1s are great for both work and personal relationship building, while the group meetings help keep the team connected.
- To build the personal side of the relationships, I’ve been much more open with my team about my pandemic experience, the good and the bad. Despite the fact I’m a massive introvert and very private, as a leader, I think it’s important that your team know that everyone is struggling and that it’s ok to admit that, even at work.
Have you established best communication practices – what are they?
- 45-minute meetings are my secret weapon. Because most people book at the top or mid-hour, you leave yourself 15 minutes to either go over with your meeting, tackle any action items or emails, prep for your next meeting, or take a quick break before your next meeting.
- I make sure my team knows I’m always available. My cell # is always in my email signature, I’m always logged into our chat apps when I’m on my laptop, and they know I typically focus on emails at the end of the day.
- I use my company’s recognition system. If you have a tool for peer or team recognition, the power of a thank you or congratulations goes a long way.
- I regularly remind them to find balance. In a virtual work environment, 9am-5pm may not be possible and really isn’t essential. If my team is getting the work done and done well, I’m not concerned when the work is happening. That said, I don’t want them working all the time. To reinforce this, I do my best not to send any emails on the weekend.
How do you set direction and help your employees work effectively?
- When I first started in my role and at the company 3 months ago, I made sure my team understood that I wasn’t coming in and making a lot of changes off the cuff. I’ve spent my first 90 days listening and learning about the company, my team, and my team’s function within the company. As we start the new year, I’ve outlined a handful of top priorities for the year that align with the overall company goals and that my team will use for personal goal setting. We’ll use these priorities as the guideposts for our work this year, regularly revisiting them during our group staff meeting to ensure we stay on track.
- I encourage my team to connect with more of the organization. A virtual environment is a great way to build more autonomy and accountability into our team’s day-to-day activities and decision making. Whereas before there were instances where it would be easier to just get information for my team myself, going virtual has made me see this wasn’t always the best thing to do. I now encourage my team to connect directly with other teams to get answers or information they need. This helps build their network and helps them feel more connected with other parts of the company at the same time.
Does having a remote team add any significant challenges? What are the biggest challenges for you?
Pre-pandemic there was always a dynamic where those in formal offices, usually corporate headquarters, would be privy to hallway and side conversations that remote workers wouldn’t hear or have access to. In some ways, I think everyone going remote has helped open a broader flow of information. While there may still be these side conversations via zoom or chat, the fact that everyone is now scattered has increased my sensitivity to ensuring that I pass learnings from them along to my team to keep everyone aligned. Naturally, there are challenges to not being together. There’s far more reliance on collaborative technology and the lack of a physical presence makes “reading the room” more difficult. There’s also an increased level of trust required that your team is being honest about what’s working and what’s not working for them in these new conditions, that their workload is manageable and that they’re finding a balance in their work/personal lives. As we pull through this pandemic, I feel that these will all make teams much stronger and those that have learned from it will emerge much better, more empathetic communicators.
What have you started doing differently that's actually improved your overall connection to the team?
I’ve found myself talking to my team a lot more about non-work topics than I would’ve pre-pandemic. I want them to know that they have support to prioritize their personal lives and mental health, as needed. This includes small things like letting them know that I’ll be unavailable for an hour or two one day to take my dog to the vet, for a doctor’s appointment, or for a workout. I figure that if I show them I’m making these things a priority, they’ll feel more comfortable doing so. Another thing I’ve started doing is being very conscious about not dominating the conversation, particularly in 1:1s with my team. While it’s always a two-way conversation, I have increased my focus on actively listening so I can pick up on the verbal and non-verbal cues from the conversation. And I always find a way to work into the conversation that I’m here to support them if they need any help.
If you’re leading a remote team for the first time, what are you doing differently? In a future post, we’ll have even more tips and advice from managers and team leaders who are working remotely and hear how they’re keeping their teams motivated and productive.
