5 Things to Do Immediately if You’re Now a Virtual Manager

“We like to give people the freedom to work where they want, safe in the knowledge that they have the drive and expertise to perform excellently, whether they [are] at their desk or in their kitchen. Yours truly has never worked out of an office, and never will,” wrote Richard Branson on his views of letting Virgin employees work outside the office. But while Branson has long adapted into this philosophy, many other companies are rushing to join him among heightened Covid-19 concerns. And many managers are now faced with a completely new challenge — managing virtual reports.

Managing remote employees requires a different set of practices. It requires everyone on the team to prioritize connection, collaboration, and reinforce performance standards. And as people inherently look to their manager for guidance, the actions you choose to take in this position will likely determine whether your team is successful.

Managers shouldn’t assume that simply continuing past practices will continue to bring the same results. New challenges and changing obstacles require adapting our tactics. The dangers of sticking to old practices, working hard at what you’ve always done, and failing miserably are very real in this situation.

So while there’s no one way for managing virtual employees — just as there’s no one way to manage anyone — there’s a number of things you can do to build trust, increase collaboration, and make sure people are still delivering the high quality work that you know they can. Here’s five practices to make sure you’re managing the situation and not letting it manage you.

Set up Virtual One-on-Ones

“One of the fundamental tenets of Intel’s managerial philosophy is the one-on-one meeting between a supervisor and a subordinate.” — Andy Grove, High Output Management

One-on-one meetings between a manager and employee are one of the most important tools we have in tool in both exchanging information and coaching people. It gives employees the chance to relay information and identify concerns. And it provides managers with the chance to help teach others the skills and approaches they’ve accumulated over their career.

I’m always disappointed when managers tell me that they don’t need to hold formal one-on-one meetings. Some will say they don’t have time. Others say they don’t need to since they “meet with their people by walking around each day.” But there’s a big difference between informal conversations and a regular, structured discussion on key issues. And one of the reasons that many managers feel they don’t have time is because they lack this very information and can’t get out of their reactive mode.

A good one-on-one isn’t a status update, but a discussion of current and future problems, and most importantly, the relevant indicators to see these coming in advance. Most importantly, one-on-ones are the employees’ meetings. It’s their opportunity to identify those issues that are limiting their success. And it’s management’s opportunity to help however we can. As Andy Grove described it,

“The most important criterion governing matters to be talked about is that they be issues that preoccupy and nag the subordinate. These are often obscure and take time to surface, consider, and resolve.”

When transitioning into a virtual environment, employees’ top concern is that they’ll become disconnected and less relevant. Which is a top concern for a reason, namely, that it often happens. Neglecting one-on-ones in a virtual relationship only deepens this concern — it sacrifices a regular opportunity to stay connected and build trust. And it tells people that we’re not interested in hearing their concerns and offering our support.

Don’t fall prey to this out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality. Whether it’s by phone or video-conference, make one-on-ones a priority regardless of where you’re located. A small amount of investment here will save you much more later.

Fix Your Meeting Inefficiencies

“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’” — Dave Barry

In too many places, ineffective meetings have become the norm — wasting peoples’ time and sacrificing a key management tool. Because meetings are a tool. Meetings give us a way to communicate vision and strategy, develop responses to challenges and opportunities, and provide forums for debating and creating new ideas. They play a large role in employee socialization and shape the overall culture.

Unfortunately, most of the time they do none of these things. Without proper planning, execution, and follow-up, they simply waste peoples’ time and sacrifice management credibility.

These inefficiencies are manageable when everyone’s working together in an office. There are other opportunities to informally align the team and address issues. Which is unfortunate since it hasn’t created the urgency to drive out the bad practices.

But virtual environments don’t bring this same resiliency. Without the impromptu discussions that happen around an office, we rely on staff meetings and other team discussions as the primary way of discussing collective issues, debating new ideas, and aligning the team.

Take the time to clarify the purpose — you’re either trying to share information, gather input for a decision, or make a decision. Know which it is and make sure everyone else knows too.

Set an agenda and execute to it. Replace broad topics with focused questions that you want to answer. And develop a process that invites everyone to prepare and discuss their points of view.

Take action items and agree on the next steps. Nothing happens afterwards without clear commitments and deadlines. Few things drive accountability like putting someone’s name next to an agreed-upon action. Who is doing what by when? Said another way, nothing happens without names, actions, and dates.

This isn’t hard. Which makes it even more frustrating that so many people refuse to improve. Meetings are a tool — a tool that becomes much more critical in a virtual environment. But like any tool, they’re only effective if we use them well.

And when you make sure your own meetings more effective, you have much more justification to decline others that aren’t.

Clarify Performance Standards.

“All one can measure is performance. And all one should measure is performance.” — Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive

But how do we know whether people are working, is a common concern among remote managers. After all, when faced with the opportunities to relax, binge Netflix, and nap indiscriminately throughout the day, why would anyone do any real work?

You could insist that everyone has their webcams on throughout the day. That way you could watch them like a creepy Big Brother. You’d likely gain a lot of visuals that you’re better off without.

Or you could just look at their work.

It’s easy to assume that if you can’t see people working, they’re slacking off. But if they’re consistently delivering high-quality product, is this something that you really need to worry about?

Too many people fall into the trap of measuring time spent at a desk. It’s easy. It’s objective. And it tallies nicely into a chart that some senior manager can associate with “commitment.”

Yet as a metric, it rarely translates into meaningful product. Which is all that matters.

One of the key priorities for virtual managers is to develop trust with their employees. There’s few better ways of doing this than letting people know that you trust them to deliver a high quality product without monitoring their behavior. I’ve often found that when you give people the trust to do a job well, they typically rise to the occasion. When you take it away, they usually respond in kind as well.

Focus on the final product. And trust your team to get there in the best way they see fit. As Jason Fried wrote in It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work,

“The only way to know if work is getting done is by looking at the actual work. That’s the boss’s job. If they can’t do that job, they should find another one.”

Schedule Time for Feedback Discussions

“When we make progress and get better at something, it’s inherently motivating. In order for people to make progress, they have to get feedback and information on how they’re doing.” — Daniel Pink

Many employees receive their assignments, deliver their work on time, and then only hear back from their manager when he or she needs more information, or has another assignment ready.

It’s a problem in companies everywhere. But it’s especially an issue within virtual reporting relationships. When we see people every day, it’s easier to offer a quick compliment or praise a job well done. But when we’re receiving work virtually, it’s much easier to just move onto the next challenge.

It’s even worse on corrective feedback. Most (non-psychotic) managers don’t like to be critical of their people. It’s awkward and we don’t want to hurt peoples’ feelings. Moving into a virtual environment gives managers another excuse to avoid real-time constructive feedback.

Yet people want to hear these thoughts. Just as top athletes look for the best coaches, top employees always want to move into areas where they’ll receive the feedback they need to grow.

It’s this aspect — in the quality and quantity of feedback — that often differentiates whether people consider their manager is effective or not. In one study, 81% of employees who rated their manager poorly also noted that he or she did not provide sufficient feedback. In contrast, with employees that ranked their manager highly, the percentage that was dissatisfied with feedback dropped to 17%.

Set aside time each week to recognize work that’s worth recognizing. And offer guidance on the work that doesn’t meet your standards. If you don’t tell people that you appreciate them, they’ll naturally assume the opposite. And if you don’t correct bad behaviors, there’s no reason to expect they won’t happen again.

Respect Peoples’ Schedules

“What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50 percent.” — Susan Cain

One of the greatest benefits of virtual reporting is the flexibility people gain in managing their own schedules. People generally want to deliver great work. And with less distraction and interruptions, they’re better able to focus on making this a reality.

Yet with all of the technological tools at our disposal, it’s easy to reach out and interrupt people at our own convenience. Which makes it very easy for us to gather updates and keep tabs on people. But it doesn’t help them focus on, you know, actually doing all of the work.

Few people can accomplish great work amidst constant interruptions. To develop strong technical work, whether it’s software code, engineering design, or a business proposal, people need sustained periods of concentration to develop and execute their vision.

This doesn’t remove the need to gather updates and understand a project’s progress. But by establishing these protocols in advance, it lets people plan around them to maximize their productivity. And by giving people the flexibility to schedule uninterrupted blocks of time, you show them that you value their priorities. As Paul Graham wrote in his ingenious Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule,

“Since most powerful people operate on the manager’s schedule, they’re in a position to make everyone resonate at their frequency, if they want to. But the smarter ones restrain themselves, if they know that some of the people working for them need long chunks of time to work in.”

Relax. It’s All Just Management.

“To make virtual teamwork work this well, you’ll need to move your team to a new set of behaviours, not just to a new generation of technology, with human engagement as the first priority.” — Keith Ferrazzi

While this isn’t the way many people envisioned the transition into virtual work environments, it’s now the reality for many employees and managers. But this represents an opportunity as well as a threat. The increased obstacles to collaboration bring opportunities for increased flexibility and focus as well.

We simply need to manage these obstacles while encouraging the opportunities. It starts with committing to the same principles that define good management anywhere — building trust, prioritizing collaboration, and reinforcing performance standards. And remembering that people want to do great work — it’s our job to make sure that they can do it, whether that’s in an office or anywhere.