With the rise of hybrid and remote jobs, many workplaces have adapted to managing their teams over videoconferencing, phone, and email rather than in person. While working remotely offers many benefits and allows team members to have a more flexible work schedule, it can also pose several challenges for team leads that can affect how they offer direction and support. 

Leadership coaching is a great way to combat the issues that come with remote leadership. Our expert coaches at Plum can help you learn new tactics and approaches to keep the lines of communication with your team open and maintain productivity. Below, we’ll discuss the key obstacles of managing remote teams and how leadership coaching through Plum can meet these challenges. Keep reading!  

Key Challenges of Leading Remote Teams

Team leads managing remote workers face several obstacles that differ from an in-person office setting. Communication is a primary difficulty for remote teams. If the majority of your contact is over email or phone, this can lead to miscommunications, like not being able to reach team members in a timely manner or misconstruing messages sent over email.

Another common issue is maintaining the unity and collaboration of your team. Without in-person interaction, there needs to be a more concerted effort placed on fostering the feeling of team cohesion, creating a rapport with your employees, and building and maintaining relationships.  

Productivity can also be a challenge, as you may find it difficult to keep tabs on your team’s workload in a consistent manner. This can lead to either work and projects not being completed, or on the flip side, you may be overly diligent, which can result in micromanaging. Both of these outcomes result in a loss of consistent productivity and can be a serious roadblock to maintaining a balanced and healthy remote workplace.  

How Leadership Coaching Can Help You Manage a Virtual Team

If you’re struggling to lead your remote team successfully, our expert coaches at Plum Leadership Group can help transform your team culture from its current state to one that’s productive and collaborative. Through a series of workshops and training sessions, we’ll help you cultivate the following skills with your team:

Enhanced Communication Skills: We’ll help you refine these skills by providing guidance on active listening, communicating clearly, and keeping the lines of communication open for every member of your team. Using tools like videoconferencing for meetings and one-on-one chats is one of many ways to open up communication in a remote setting.

Connection Points: Remote teams have fewer opportunities to visit and get to know each other in person, which can prevent the feeling of team unity and trust. We’ll assist you in finding ways to create intentional connection points for your team going forward, from regular staff meetings to scheduled recreation.

Emotional Intelligence (EI): Developing your EI is a critical component of remote management, as understanding and regulating emotions between coworkers can be more difficult over email, messaging, or even video conferences. Through various training and techniques, we’ll help you find effective ways to respond to your team members’ needs and emotions effectively using the communication tools available to remote workers.    

Time Management and Productivity: To maintain a consistent workflow, we’ll help you develop various strategies to effectively manage your time and boost your team’s productivity. Whether you struggle with keeping everyone on task or micromanaging their work, we’ll guide you on prioritizing the right tasks, setting clear goals, and creating a balanced work environment that fosters both accountability and flexibility.

Choose Plum for Remote Leadership Coaching

If you’d like to excel as a remote team lead, our coaches at Plum are here to help you reach your goals and take your workplace to new heights. Our Leadership Coaching program will help you focus on the areas of remote leadership where you can improve and capitalize further on your well-established skills. Before you know it, you’ll be able to use your new skills to lead a strong, focused, and united group of professionals.

Contact us today to learn more about our coaching services!