{"id":33009,"date":"2020-04-13T11:10:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T09:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.targettraining.eu\/?p=33009"},"modified":"2020-07-01T13:57:52","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T11:57:52","slug":"leading-a-team-that-is-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.targettraining.eu\/de\/leading-a-team-that-is-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading a team that is working from home"},"content":{"rendered":"

When workers are suddenly sent home to work they will face plenty of challenges, especially if they\u2019ve never done it before. Team leaders will face an additional challenge: Leading a team that is working from home. In this post we offer a range of tips and advice for how you can do that. To keep it simple and easy to implement we\u2019ve stuck to a 3-step approach:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Start by understanding the challenges<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Keep the team working together<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Lead your team as they work from home<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Go

    What are the challenges?<\/h2>\n

    Technical<\/h4>\n

    An immediate priority for leading a team that is working from home is to ensure that team members have the tools to do their jobs remotely. This includes both productivity and communication tools. As a leader you can approach this with the whole team by checking they have what they need and discussing which kinds of communication technologies work well for them. Not everything will work as it did in the office and as a team you may need to decide to use ad-hoc technologies as a temporary solution.<\/p>\n

    Emotional<\/h4>\n

    Some team members may feel isolated and this can have a serious impact on motivation. This is best discussed in a one-to-one setting. Individuals will all have different emotional and psychological challenges and you need to know what these are in order to help them. A simple question like, \u201cHow are you looking after yourself?\u201d can open up a discussion and go a long way to making team members feel supported individually. Read more on this topic in our post Dealing with Loneliness and Isolation when Working from Home.<\/p>\n

    Personal<\/h4>\n

    Don\u2019t forget to also look after your own needs and work through your own personal and logistical challenges. If you don\u2019t address these, you won\u2019t be as effective at helping other people with their issues. Get advice on how to do this in our post Three Steps to Adapt to Home Working.<\/p>\n

    How do I keep the team working together?<\/h2>\n

    In the 1970s, MIT Professor Thomas Allen<\/a> discovered that team cohesion is strongest when employees are physically closer. His ideas have been taken forward by some of the most successful companies who engineer \u2018collisions\u2019 between employees to strengthen bonding and group affiliation; simple things like coffee-machine conversations, team social events, sharing stories, etc. So, how can you do this with a team that works in physical isolation from each other? Here are some ideas we have seen that work:<\/p>\n