Managing Remote Employees - Remote Managers

Managers who run teams of remote employees have things in common. They work a lot, they travel a lot.

Most importantly when managing remote employees, “Remote managers need more energy, because a lot of what you have to do is transfer that energy to your team,” says Juliana Slye, who manages remote employees at software maker Autodesk.

So what makes a good remote manager?

Passion
As the manager you are the point from where all motivation starts. Your motivation will spread to your employees. You will find, most of your remote employees will pick up your traits, methods, styles, you are effectively the role model, the teacher.

Availability

You will need to make yourself available more often that you would in your local office. You need to go out of your way to address issues that would come up naturally and spontaneously if you all worked in one place. As your remote employees will be spread across different time zones, they should be able to contact you at odd hours. Your availability shows support, which helps strengthen your relationships with everyone.

Remote Employees: Wayne, Mark, Andy, Rachel

Patience
It is usually slightly more difficult to learn or understand ideas and methods from meetings that are held between remote offices. Ensure you use effective mediums to pass instructions and share ideas. Be prepared for questions that may sound obviously silly, working with remote employees happens to be more time consuming that working with local employees.