Remote work is rapidly evolving, and as a result, many managers may be struggling to find that sweet spot between micromanaging your team and being “too” hands-off.
In one instance, you wind up being an absentee leader, while in the other instance, you might end up suffocating your team. It’s crucial to find the right balance, because visibility and communication are so very different from managing a team in-office.
What Happens if You’re Too Hands-Off as a Leader?
Sometimes, as leaders, we think of staying hands off as giving our team autonomy. Though it is important to empower your team, trusting them and abandoning them teeters along a very fine line. You definitely don’t want to be an absentee leader, so understanding this is key.
What are Traits of Absentee Leadership?
Good question. You can spot them by looking for a few distinct qualities:
- They lack curiosity. Absentee leaders simply don’t bother taking the time to understand their team, what they’re working on, or how they feel about their tasks.
- They veer to complacency. These are the leaders who are going through the motions, without any active engagement or support of their team members.
- They’re uniformed. If your leader is totally out of the loop on key challenges and obstacles your team is facing, that shows a marked lack of concern for addressing problems.
- They avoid responsibility. Sadly, a lot of leaders love their title and collecting the check, but have little to no interest in the duties that come along with it.
- They’re detached or aloof. You can recognize this by their failure to listen to feedback or remove roadblocks, making it evident they’re less interested in supporting their team and more about their own interests and success.
Unfortunately, absentee leaders wind up making team members feel undervalued, unsupported, and disconnected. This leads to low morale, low productivity, and high turnover. Talk about a lose-lose situation.
What About Micromanaging?
This is the opposite extreme, and it can be just as damaging to your team. By being overly involved in minutia, you stifle creativity and make the work unpleasant. This leads to team members feeling incapable or untrustworthy, which leads to poor motivation and burnout. Again, a lose-lose situation.
How to Do It Differently and Be a Great Remote Manager
It’s all about striking the right balance. You want to support your team without breathing down their necks. Use strategies that foster autonomy, trust, and support, yet still keep you actively engaged with your crew.
- Set clear rules and expectations. Outline your goals for the team, give them hard or soft deadlines, and detail your performance standards to give them a framework. But, and this is the kicker: then give them the freedom to figure out how to work within that framework in their own way.
- Stay curious and check in with your team. Show them you’re interested in their challenges and needs, and you’re curious about their progress. Keep an ongoing dialogue to help them stay connected.
- Support ‘em, but don’t control ‘em. You want to provide resources and guidance to help them tackle any obstacles, but you don’t need to dictate how they do it. Think of it more like a partnership and supporting role, rather than a dictatorship.
- Empower them to make decisions. You hired them for a reason, so if it’s within their scope, let them do their jobs. You don’t need to swoop in and take over everything. Coach your team, guide them in making informed choices, and allow them to learn from the results.
- Feedback loops are your friend. Make sure all channels are open for feedback, and that it goes both ways. Welcome input on how you can better support your team and tweak as-needed.
- Invest in the growth and development of your team members. Help leaders become leaders and equip your team with what they need to be successful and efficient in their role.
Some good questions to ask of yourself and your team are things like:
- What can you do to support them better?
- Are you too involved right now?
- Are you stepping on toes by getting into the details too often?
- Are you facilitating their ability to problem-solve or giving them the solutions?
Ask your team some of these questions too, and invite their feedback directly. Ultimately, the goal is to balance how you manage your team remotely and avoid extremes.
Offer a framework with clear expectations and foster both autonomy and trust. This kind of balance is what creates healthy teams that feel valued and empowered.
