We have been doing work from home for the past 11 months now so here are my few cents on how you can keep your team motivated during remote work setup:

DON’T MICROMANAGE YOUR TEAM!

Engage with them to build a relationship based on trust but do not micro-manage-it. It is not good for anyone’s mental health.

SCHEDULE REGULAR CHECK-INS

These really help the team become closer. You don’t necessarily always need to discuss work in these check-ins.

WORK FROM HOME BOOSTS CREATIVITY

Encourage your team to propose new ideas and processes and enable them to work on their ideas and help them create action plans.

CELEBRATE SMALL WINS

I am a firm believer in acknowledging one’s effort even if it is the pettiest of tasks. Celebrating wins is always encouraging especially in a remote setup.

TALK ABOUT THE PANDEMIC!

It is so important for us to discuss how our team members are coping up with the global pandemic-staying at home for so long can be daunting to one’s mental health but as leaders, it is important for us to encourage our team members to stay at home and keep their families safe!

HELP PEOPLE TO MANAGE DISTRACTION

Distractions are the biggest reason why many people say homeworking wouldn’t work for them. Think about what your main distractions are and talk openly with colleagues about how you’re managing them — specific break times and little rewards throughout the day work well.

ENCOURAGE BREAKS

It is important to remind the team that working remotely does not come with the expectation that staff should always be working for all hours while they are home. Encourage team members to balance their personal and professional lives, and lead by example by taking regular breaks away from the desk to avoid burnout. It may be useful to suggest that staff create a daily schedule to include multiple breaks and opportunities to check in with other team members.

SET CORRECT EXPECTATIONS (Highly Recommended)

It is so important to set clear expectations from your team members. Every person has a personal and professional life and it’s our responsibility to make sure that they are both balanced. Everyone has different superpowers and as a leader, you have to recognize them and don’t force other team members to absorb them.

At the very least, I hope you all find this article helpful in understanding the current situation and the ethics required in team management. Some of the content has been excerpted by some other leaders of the industry. Thanks for reading.