The current global situation with respect to COVID-19 has led to many companies requesting remote employee engagement, often from their homes. These measures were taken in response to government advice – however, many companies found themselves unprepared for such a scenario. In fact, chances are that this overnight change has negatively impacted many businesses.

When team-based operations move towards working remotely, workplace paradigms are often taken and replicated in the remote space. This may result in several issues, the most common being the lack of coordination between different team members. Another concern that leaders may face is the inherent lack of visibility over team activities. This can result in uneven capacity as the workload for each team member cannot be measured easily. Remote workers describe collaboration and communication as their biggest challenge when remote working.

In an on-site environment, requesting assistance from a team leader is simply a question of passing by their desk and asking for guidance. In contrast, in a poorly functioning remote working environment, the team member must call the team leader and hope they are available at that moment. As a result, the team member will often have to get by without assistance or call fellow team members and disrupt their own tasks. 

To overcome this, the leader may see fit to organise virtual daily meetings. It is all too common for these virtual meetings to start late or overlap one another, resulting in a feeling of unrest amongst employees who start to see a crucial part of the day as a waste of time and effort. Add to this working with virtual tools and platforms which teams have not been trained to use, and it becomes very clear just why companies still tend to prefer the classic office environment to the online one.

The challenges discussed above have several common root causes. Most common among these is the fact that companies have had to move to a radically different way of working without having built a structure for these new daily routines in the first place. We must keep in mind that many team leaders have received little to no formal training in supporting a team in the remote space and thus will find it difficult to put effective standards in place to maximise the output and efficiency of their team. Without adequate standards in place for issuing information and conducting a meeting correctly, it is only natural that teams are not getting the full benefit of daily meetings.

In an office environment, most teams will begin their day with a daily briefing to align daily expectations and deliverables with team members. So, with the previous concerns in mind, let us now design the ideal virtual team-meeting environment. A daily team meeting should begin at the exact same time every day, without exception. This ensures team members shape their daily routines around the meeting and minimises absence and lateness. When communicating virtually, the best way is to engage in a video chat. Not only can a visual meeting allow for better communication, it also allows for the use of visual tools that add dynamics to the agenda, via screen-sharing.

The daily meeting should have a structured agenda that follows a work plan, performance indicators and improvement cycle. Progress can be tracked through visual performance indicators which should be easily understood, updated and interpreted so that team members can better track their own performance as well as that of the team as a whole. This should also boost the sense of accountability among team members when the work plan is clear for all and shared. Being publicly praised for good work can be a great motivation to perform and work well.

When assigning work, it is best to divide it into short sprints (of about 90-120 minutes each) each with its own set target. This helps team members maintain their work pace and eases follow-up. This way, the team leader can provide better guidance and assistance to his team. Furthermore, completing daily deliverables enables employees to switch off after work, which addresses one of the main struggles of remote working.

Remote team leaders should also try to make the most of available software. Having a centralised file sharing platform such as Dropbox or OneDrive is crucial. SharePoint can enable team members to edit documents and programs stored in this centralised platform simultaneously. Having a team chat room in Slack or Microsoft Teams can help keep communication strong between team members. Using powerful but accessible data analytics tools such as Power BI or Tableau enables data to be communicated in such a way that it can tell a story. Tools such as Microsoft Teams, Miro or Trello are a great help for leaders to build visual digital boards and manage meetings remotely. 

With more companies currently being forced to work remotely, it is easy to foresee that with employees having experienced the potential benefits first-hand, this will soon become the norm and not the exception. It is now up to companies and business owners to ensure that they are prepared to take advantage of this new reality. Redesigning business processes to leverage the benefits of remote work may prove to be a competitive advantage once the economy is ready to recover.

Nicholas Grixti

This article was written by Nicholas Grixti, senior consultant, Kaizen Institute Western Europe.

For more information visit mt.kaizen.com