In our first article on best practices for leading your remote team, we covered the areas of technology, communication modes, and methods and building connections to help your team thrive. This article will cover how you use meetings to your advantage, norms around understanding each person’s availability and resolving conflicts that may pop up.
We are going to pick back up on our list of best practices.
4) Meetings Let us talk about meetings. I cannot tell you how many people I have spoken with told me, “I am in zoom meetings from 7:30 AM until 5:00 PM, and it is so exhausting. I get tired of being on camera and need a break.” So, let us talk about what creates excellent virtual, in-person, and especially hybrid meetings.
WHAT TYPES OF MEETINGS SHOULD WE BE HAVING?
The first consideration about meetings is what types of meetings you should have with your team to increase the team’s effectiveness. So many kinds of meetings can occur that you and your team become overscheduled. Outline the meetings for your team and the purpose of each session. Review the list with the team and get feedback on the meeting outlines. This allows you to hear what your group finds valuable and solicit what they need from you as manager and the broader team.
Chart 1: Common Types of Team Meetings
The next consideration to having great meetings is the operating agreements and norms of the team. These are the unwritten or unsaid behaviors of each team member that make the sessions effective or send the meetings down the tube. Team agreements or team norms answer the questions beneath the surface of your team, such as what are we expecting from each other? When we come to the meetings, will we all be on time? Are we all participating? What do we expect from each other when we get into the meeting?
The team agreements aim to ensure the meeting is well run and organized. These elements make the team feel the meeting is a good use of time. It may be worth asking the last question and getting honest feedback from your team members instead of assuming you know the answer. The rest of the team may say, “Hey, we can communicate that information in a different way that does not require us to be in this forum or this forum for an hour.”
TEAM AGREEMENTS AND NORMS TO CREATE FOR GREAT MEETINGS
- Goals for the Meeting – agenda setting
- Roles and Responsibilities – do team members share agenda ownership? How do we fill the time?
- Measures of Success – the purpose of each topic (DICE – decide, inform, consult, execute)
- Operating Guidelines
– Communication Norms – no sidebar conversations during the meetings, all on mute until speaking, agenda sent in advance
– Tech Guidelines – all cameras on, digital notetaking allowed, etc.
– Team Meeting Guidelines – no phones or distractions
4) Availability All right, and then the last of the six considerations, when we think about best practices, is availability. Is everybody available when they are needed? We just did some work with the team, and as we went through team norm-setting, one of their biggest challenges was getting people to the right meetings at the right time. It was a 14-member team, and they all had large jobs with many meetings on their calendar. The lack of availability impeded the progress the team made on a business-critical project.
KEY TEAM AVAILABILITY QUESTIONS
- Are we meeting at the best time of day for our team?
- What response times do we expect? Evenings? Weekends?
- Can we “budget” the time necessary for different tasks and agree on deliverable timing?
- Do we need to set core hours or office hours?
Prioritization also needs to be discussed and aligned with you and your team to ensure the business-critical needs are being met along with other strategically important work.
6) Managing Conflict Our last best practice for remote teams is managing through conflict. Have you outlined what acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are for everyone?
Consider a scenario where one team member is not happy with the output of another team member. It is easier in an in-person, in-office environment to be able to go approach that person and have a dialogue with them, to say, “Hey, you are supposed to be getting me some reports,” or, “you are supposed to be working with me.” How are you encouraging these productive conversations in a remote or hybrid environment?
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
- Are you encouraging people to still talk one to one?
- Are you providing any mediation as the leader?
- Are you aware there is tension or a problem?
This goes back to being in touch and being connected with your team. Can you think of some things you have been allowed to brew now? If so, you need to go and address that, and the methods for dealing with conflict do not change in our remote or hybrid environment. It would be best if you were doubling down because sometimes, this idea of being behind the camera allows people to be a little bit more forward than they would have been in person, so do not hesitate to address something. Do not hesitate to bring something up but pack your empathy, understanding, and ability to listen as you approach people about those things.
One of the pandemic’s silver linings was everybody working from home. If you were in an office situation where you were not essential workers, your whole team was at home, so everybody was working from the same playing field. As we continue into hybrid situations, you will have some people still in that environment. You have some people focused in the office, and your key role is ensuring inclusivity, connection, and effective work does not go away.
Ongoing success in continuing to manage your remote or hybrid team is all about holding people to all the agreements and norms we have outlined in these two articles and checking in periodically for feedback. Do not take it personally if, like, “Hey, this meeting is a disaster. We need some help.” Instead, look for solutions. Look for people to help you to problem solve.
In moving forward, I encourage you to make respect non-negotiable. Respecting what people have going on, respecting that everybody has a different home situation, and respecting that everybody is doing their best. And lastly, make sure you are celebrating the wins, and the successes, both personally and professionally.
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