Optimal Leadership Styles for Getting the Most From Your Remote Team

Remote work keeps gaining popularity. One notable benefit it generates is the freedom to choose from a variety of international clients.

Many employers have realized that the lower costs of managing remote teams make office work less appealing, which is yet to fully reflect in future trends.

Still, one particular aspect of remote work that is yet to be polished is management. Both the employees and the managers need to adjust to all those digital tools that keep popping up all the time. And we all know how tempting the prospect can be for people used to being executives as opposed to leaders.

Everything considered, various trends have contributed to drastic changes in many companies, with employees either following suit or turning to new remote opportunities that are becoming increasingly available to everyone.

The thing is, managers need to adapt fast to the rapid changes and learn to handle remote teams from anywhere in the world quickly and efficiently.

Let’s see some tips on how to do that.

Do Away With Micromanagement

Many managers still think that perfection can be achieved through micromanagement. The truth is that micromanagement’s insistent need for control first drowns two vital elements of organizational success: employee engagement and trust.

Employee engagement is the driving force of productivity. When employees feel stifled, their enthusiasm will naturally wane.

Also, a failure to innovate and excel at problem-solving can spell doom for a business. Adaptability is only possible when employees feel empowered to make individual decisions and take risks, but micromanagement doesn’t allow either.

Innovation is fuelled by creativity, which only blooms in autonomous environments. Micromanagement doesn’t impact only individual creativity; its effects are far more destructive. The entire organization will be robbed of the collective creative potential as team collaboration will become strained.

Finally, trust is the very foundation of organizational success. Employees incapable of trusting the leadership, co-workers, and their own skills simply cannot drive success.

Nothing undermines trust more efficiently than constant oversight and rigid control. A direct result of these practices is that people will start feeling undervalued and detached.

Not to mention that eliminating employee ownership will kill all initiatives. Instead, compliance will take over.

Finally, micromanagement leads to increased stress, anxiety, and burnout (both physical and mental).

As the sustained pressure of micromanagement suppresses creativity and autonomy, a sense of suffocation and unease materialize. A never-ending cycle of compliance eventually leads to helplessness and frustration.

Perhaps the most dangerous effect of micromanagement is that its demands typically extend beyond work hours. Over time, employees can’t enjoy their personal lives and the vicious circle never ends.

Reversing Micromanagement Practices

Leaders who understand the detrimental effects of micromanagement can make a shift toward nurturing an environment of trust and autonomy. Fostering a culture that values individual contributions is the only antidote for poisonous leadership.

There are different types of leadership to pick to reverse this negative trend. Here are our top picks:

• Holistic — implies a balanced approach and interpersonal connections

• Democratic — implies that employees do things their way, whereby leaders intervene only when there’s no other option

• Visionary — implies a partnership-like relationship where employees are given a strategy and a direction

Employ Best Practices

Always keep communication alive. Make sure to clearly communicate the channels and timeslots when employees can reach you and schedule regular meetings.

Next on, you should provide timely company updates, with "timely" usually translating into quarterly, monthly, bi-annually or annually.

Keep Your Employees Happily Engaged

Much has been said about employee engagement but still, there’s no universal approach.

It’s up to remote leaders to come up with their own strategies, which should be rooted in employee feedback. It’s all too easy to forget the human factor when working remotely, so make it your goal to focus on building a culture that nurtures motivation.

Delegate Work

Leaders should keep in touch with their respective remote teams regularly and make sure that tasks are delegated properly at all times.

Updates can be provided sporadically and the same applies to general meetings. Don’t overdo it! Remote workers have picked remote work precisely because they don’t want to frequent company meetings all the time.

Offer Promotions

Everyone is looking for better opportunities and remote workers aren’t an exception. With the expansion of the gig economy, people unsatisfied with their jobs, work conditions, company culture, and salaries (and pretty much everything else) are already looking for a better job offer.

Make your company the best place to work at!

Allow your remote workers to grow and act on the feedback. For many managers, it is difficult to draw the line between "control" and "communication." Learn to adapt to the circumstances. Remote workers also need a lunch break and if managers make it impossible for them to get up from their chair and go brew some coffee, workers will go elsewhere.

Never ever forget that there is a place for everyone. The gig economy simply offers a little something to everyone, so instead of competing against the rising number of businesses, make sure that your business offers the best conditions.

Build a culture of trust and engagement while promoting company values and showing gratitude and actual rewards.

Employees who trust their managers will grow as the company grows and they’ll also promote company values and give their best to improve the business. And that would be the most important goal: to build a remote team that feels at home with your company.

Angela Ash is an expert writer, editor and marketer, with a unique voice and expert knowledge. She focuses on topics related to remote work, freelancing, entrepreneurship and more.