How To Be A Great Remote Manager
At the end of the day, it all boils down to this: A manager who is there for their people is the best kind of manager there is.
I've been managing people for 10+ years. At first, it was hard and more importantly, I was not the best. All these years later, I still remember a Zoom meeting where two of my colleagues, Barnaby and Ashish, said to me (and I quote), "You don't know what you are doing". I won’t be lying if I said that it hurt. In fact, it hurt a lot.
Before it could sink in, everything changed. As the world went remote and teams shifted to seeing each other across Zoom screens, the job became even harder.
Fortunately, over the course of time, things have taken a positive spin - I've learned a lot and have grown as a manager. These past two years, I have managed hundreds of people remotely and have understood several things (that I didn’t before). Here are some learnings that will help you.
But before we dig in, let me tell you the industry’s best-kept secret.
Becoming a great manager isn’t something that magically happens overnight, it’s a process that occurs by implementing some simple tips and changing your current habits.
And that’s exactly what I did.
Fun fact: being a great manager and being a great remote manager are nearly identical.
Most of these tips would directly translate to an office. If you are a good manager in the office, the transition shouldn't be hard. i.e. you don't need to smell people to manage them. (side note: although smelling your people is not something you should be doing when you want to be a great manager).
Want to know the hacks that make you level up from being a good manager to a great manager? Here are some tips that have worked for me in the past:
1. Schedule those 1:1 calls
Have regular 1:1 calls with all your reports. Remember: these calls are not for reviewing the work. The sole purpose of these calls is to check in with the person, not their performance - no ulterior motives allowed in the quintessential 1:1. You need to go in with the mission of getting to know them, not grill them (unless you’re grilling them about their favourite recipes).
Think of the call as a time you can actually spend with your employee - coaching, unblocking, helping them grow, providing feedback, discussing plans and doubts, etc - there’s no ‘one size fits all’ template here. If there’s one rule to a great 1:1, it’s that you need to care about your employee; sometimes it makes all the difference.
When in doubt, think of it this way: Feedback first, then go strategic, and tactical. Many managers make the mistake of doing this in the other direction (but you don’t want to be one of them!) Want to know what’s the best template for a 1-1? At Dive, we give you the liberty to select a template or create one of your own from scratch!
Pro tip: Do your 1:1 meetings weekly. Limit them to 30-60 minute sessions.Reduce length and frequency based on preferences of either party and/or a feeling of needing it less.
2. Always have an agenda, but keep it light.
This is the exception to the rule of running tight meetings. Repeat after me: No agenda, no meeting. An agenda helps give the meeting some much-needed direction and restricts those one-sided monologues and awkward pauses that stretch longer than the Suez Canal.
Keep it light, because the only thing worse than a meeting without an agenda is a meeting that runs overtime (spoiler alert: they are both terrible kinds of meetings). You want to have the breathing room to discuss more sensitive and/or personal matters (e.g. job performance). And your teammates will only thank you if you don’t rush those.
Pro tip: With Dive, you get to send out the meeting agenda in advance, because it prepares your reportee for the call. That’s a whole lot of ‘why does my manager want to speak to me?’ anxiety that you’re saving them in the long run.
3. Set an example.
Some of the greatest leaders (and most Pinterest boards) will always have the same unanimous advice to bestow upon the world: Be the change you want to see. Practice what you preach. Great minds inspire others. You get the gist.
“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team”
- Reid Hoffman, Cofounder, LinkedIn
The only way to guarantee a great team is to set an example and be a great leader first. You need to ensure that you operate with ethics and integrity in the workplace. In case of any doubt, remember this golden rule: act the way that you would like your staff to act. Greatness is the good kind of ‘infectious’ to pass along.
Communicate in public for everything but personal matters. It's easy to fall back into the habit of DM’ing people, rather than having discussions in public channels (be those @SlackHQ or your project management tool, or @NotionHQ).
Pro tip: This makes you much more accessible, visible, and sets a great example that reinforces async standards.
4. Document things yourself.
As a leader, you need to ‘set the tone. That means doing the scary stuff first. Don't delegate minor documentation tasks if you're directly involved. No one is too big to write documentation. Here’s the thing:
Just because you are someone’s manager does not mean that you are superhuman.
Admit your mistakes, ask for help when needed and let everyone on the team see that you’re just as human as they are.
Pro tip: Build things together. Know that managing people is not a solo sport. When there are decisions to be made, ask for everyone’s input and create solutions as a team. Ownership helps build pride in what people are working towards.
5. Do regular check-ins.
Regularly check in on the workload and working hours of all your reports. Working remotely makes it much easier to overwork, and not everyone will naturally bring this up or even make it visible.
One of the best ways to do this is by using the Icebreakers feature on Dive. At our company, we start off every meeting with an icebreaker to get a quick pulse check, so that everyone feels like they are an equal part of the meeting (and in turn, the organisation). Want to know what kind of icebreakers you can use for your next team meeting? Thankfully, I’ve got a whole list right here.
Pro tip: If you want people to share about their lives, you need to do it first. Be the first to share something personal with your team, just to set an example.
6. You have to ask.
‘I need a break, so can I take some time off?’ said no employee ever.
When you find that your people are overtired, overworked or just need a break - give them that break. Take their work/worries away and let them take off. Don't postpone this, do it right away. Rest is essential.
7. Limit the number of reports.
We are really competing against ourselves, we have no control over how other people perform.”
- Pete Cashmore, CEO Mashable
You should not have many reports. More than 8 is really hard to manage well. Exceptions to this are very experienced people, but everyone needs a coach or someone to help them get unstuck.
Be that coach. But don’t be the helicopter coach.
Pro tip: Share your own mistakes - both past and present. It will only help your team open up to you when they report to you.
8. Be available.
A good manager is available to their team. That means they can make time for everyone (and when I say everyone, I mean ‘everyone’ - right down your company’s hierarchy chain - yes, that means down to the very last intern).
At the end of the day, it all boils down to this: A manager who is there for their people is the best kind of manager there is. No questions asked.
And sometimes, that’s all it takes.