Remote work has become the new normal for many organisations. While remote work offers many benefits, such as flexibility, cost savings, and access to a wider talent pool, it also poses some challenges, such as communication, collaboration, and motivation.
How can you, as a leader, motivate your remote teams effectively? What are the best practices and strategies to inspire creativity, productivity, and engagement in a virtual environment? How can you support your team members who may struggle with remote work or prefer to work in the office?
Why Motivate a Remote Team?
Motivating a remote team is not only important for the team’s performance and well-being, but also for the organisation’s success and reputation. According to a recent study by Gallup, highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability, 17% higher productivity, 10% higher customer ratings, and 41% lower absenteeism than disengaged teams. Moreover, motivated and engaged employees are more likely to stay with their organisation, recommend it to others, and act as brand ambassadors.
Motivating a remote team can also have positive effects on the team’s creativity, innovation, and problem-solving abilities. A meta-analysis of 65 studies found that remote work can enhance individual creativity and team innovation, especially when the tasks are complex, novel, or require diverse perspectives. As an added bonus, motivated and engaged remote workers can foster a culture of trust, collaboration, and learning within their team and the wider organisation.
Big brands are seeing the benefits and making it a part of their core structure:
- Dell announced a few years ago that it would operate on 50% remote capacity by 2020. They also created a remote work program titled Connected Workplace, which gives employees flexibility, options, and ownership over their work and decisions. Dell’s executive leadership team members also work flexibly and show trust and support for their remote team members.
- Automattic has always been a remote company and has over 1100 employees across 77 cities. The co-founder, Matt Mullenweg, believes that the key to success is engagement, and encourages companies to measure success by creation and value addition. He also urges companies to adopt a distributed culture that is inclusive and people-centric.
- GitLab has a Remote Manifesto which outlines nine core principles that ensure its employees can work and be successful from wherever they are in the world. GitLab sees remote work as a way to empower its workforce and enable them to exist first as individuals, second as members of the company.
What are the Challenges of Remote Work?
Remote work is not without its challenges and pitfalls. Some of the common issues that remote workers and teams face are:
- Lack of communication and feedback: Reduced frequency and quality of communication and feedback may leave remote workers feeling isolated, disconnected, or misunderstood by their colleagues and managers. This can lead to confusion, frustration, or conflict, as well as lower morale and motivation.
- Shortage of collaboration and social interaction: Remote workers may miss the opportunities and benefits of face-to-face collaboration and social interaction, such as brainstorming, sharing ideas, learning from each other, and building rapport and trust. This can affect the team’s cohesion, creativity, and performance.
- Lack of clarity and alignment: Remote workers may have difficulty understanding and aligning with the team’s and the organisation’s goals, expectations, and values, due to the lack of visibility and direction. This can result in lower engagement, commitment, and accountability.
- Absence of recognition and appreciation: Remote workers may feel undervalued, overlooked, or ignored by their managers and peers. Not feeling that their work is appreciated or contributions recognised can undermine their confidence, satisfaction, and motivation.
- Reduced autonomy and empowerment: Remote workers may feel micromanaged, controlled, or restricted by their managers if they are not given autonomy and empowerment over their work and decisions. This may hamper their creativity, initiative, and motivation.
- Imbalance of boundaries: Remote workers may struggle to balance their work and personal life; causing stress, burnout, or distraction, as well as lower productivity and motivation.
What are the Key Factors and Drivers of Motivation for Remote Workers?
Motivation is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, with various intrinsic and extrinsic influences. According to the self-determination theory, one of the most widely accepted and empirically supported theories of motivation, there are three basic psychological needs that are essential for motivation and well-being:
- Autonomy. This refers to the sense of volition and choice over a person's actions and goals. Autonomy is important for motivation, as it encourages intrinsic interest, curiosity, and satisfaction. Autonomy can be enhances by providing remote workers with flexibility, options, and ownership over their work and decisions.
- Competence. The sense of mastery and effectiveness in the individual's tasks and skills. Competence is important for motivation, as it boosts confidence, self-efficacy, and growth. Competence can be enriched by providing remote workers with clear expectations, feedback, and support for their work and development.
- Relatedness. A feeling of belonging and connectedness with others. Relatedness is important for motivation, as it nurtures trust, empathy, and collaboration. Relatedness can be encouraged by offering frequent communication, recognition, and social interaction amongst individuals and their managers and peers.
In addition to these three basic needs, there are other factors that can influence motivation for remote workers, such as:
- Purpose - the meaning and value in a person's work and goals. Purpose is important for motivation, as it inspires commitment, passion, and alignment. You can providing remote workers with purpose by offering a clear vision, mission, and impact of their work, and its value to the organisation.
- Challenge - the sense of stimulation and excitement in tasks and skills. Challenge is important for motivation, as it sparks creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. You can challenge remote workers by providing them with diverse, novel, and complex tasks and opportunities.
- Reward - feeling appreciated and recognised for effort and contribution. Reward is important for motivation, as it reinforces positive behaviour, performance, and outcomes. You can encourage this by giving remote workers fair, timely, and meaningful incentives and feedback.
How to Motivate a Remote Team: Practical Steps and Actions
The theory is sound, the research is solid, but how do you put this into practice for your teams?
- Communicate frequently and effectively: Communication is the key to building and maintaining a motivated remote team. You should aim to establish some communication with your team at least once a day. Your workplace will no doubt have several ways you can do this like phone calls, video calls, emails, chats, instant messages, work forums. Look for ways you can convey clear expectations, provide regular feedback, share relevant information, and canvass input and feedback from your team members.
- Collaborate actively and inclusively: Collaboration is another essential element of a motivated remote team. You can collaborate actively and inclusively with your remote team members, using the workplace tools available, such as online meetings, shared documents, project management software, and brainstorming apps. You can use these as opportunities to foster teamwork, creativity, and innovation, by encouraging your team members to share their ideas and involve them in decision-making and problem-solving.
- Recognise and appreciate frequently and sincerely: You will find that adding frequent and sincere recognition to your remote team members is a powerful motivator. You can use public praise, private messages, virtual awards, and tangible rewards to celebrate your team members’ achievements, milestones, and successes.
- Empower and trust fully and consistently: You can fully and consistently empower and trust your remote team members, by giving them flexibility and ownership over their work and decisions. It is important for you to hold back from micromanagement. By empowering and trusting your people, you will inspire their creativity, initiative, and growth.
- Support genuinely and holistically: Support is vital for remote workers’ well-being and motivation. Your role here is to offer assistance, advice, and feedback for your team member's work and development. Find opportunities to show empathy, compassion, and respect for your remote worker's professional and personal needs. You can do this by promoting your organisation's wellness programs, benefits, and policies.
How to Support Individual Team Members Who May Need Different Arrangements or Accommodations
While remote work can be beneficial and enjoyable for many workers, it may not be suitable or preferable for everyone. Some workers may struggle with remote work or prefer to work in the office, due to various reasons, such as:
- Personal preferences: Some workers may have specific preferences for their work environment, such as the level of noise, light, temperature, and comfort. They may also require a degree of structure, routine, and flexibility that cannot be achieved in their home space.
- Personal circumstances: Everyone's situations are different, and some may find that theirs affects their ability, or willingness, to work remotely. This might be: availability of space, equipment, or internet connection; the presence of family members, pets, or other distractions; the need for special accommodations, and/or support for physical or mental health.
- Personal aspirations: Some might feel that having a physical presence in the workplace offers them more opportunity to network, learn, or advance in their field.
As a leader, it is important for you to recognise and respect the individual differences and needs of your team members, and to support them accordingly. Here are some ways to achieve this:
- Ask and listen: You can conduct regular surveys, interviews, or check-ins with your team members. Give them a space to share with you their preferences, circumstances, goals, and aspirations, as well as their challenges, concerns, and feedback. You can also listen to their non-verbal cues, such as their tone, mood, or behaviour, and look for signs of stress or dissatisfaction. By asking and listening, you can show your interest, empathy, and respect for your team members, and gain a better understanding of their needs and expectations.
- Offer and provide: Find ways to offer choices for your team member's their work environment; allowing them to select the option that suits them best. You can also provide them with the necessary equipment, tools, and support for their work and well-being. By offering and providing, you can demonstrate your trust, empowerment, and care for your team members, and enable them to work effectively and comfortably.
- Monitor and adjust: Lastly, you can monitor your team members’ work and well-being, using metrics like productivity, quality, engagement, satisfaction, and feedback. You can also adjust their arrangements and accommodations, based on their changing needs, as well as the evolving business and market conditions. By monitoring and adjusting, you ensure your team members are motivated - optimising the outcomes for them, the team, and the organisation.
Motivating a remote team is a challenging but rewarding task for any leader.
By applying the tips and best practices from the latest research on remote work and motivation, you can create and maintain a motivated, engaged, and productive remote team.
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