7 Tips for Conscious Leaders: How to Efficiently Manage and Motivate Remote Teams

As a leader working from home you’ll want to create an environment where, with your compassionate leadership supporting them, you can trust your team to efficiently manage and motivate themselves.

In these days of flexible working locations and hours, nobody wants to be micromanaged, and people never should be.
Everyone is unique. Your role as a leader is to get each individual to develop his/her distinctive combination of skills and put them to use for the team’s overarching goals.

Here are 7 tips to help you efficiently manage and motivate your
team, from home.

1. Give them the respect of autonomy

Autonomy shows your team members that you trust them and respect them, two core elements of the foundation of any happy relationship.
Autonomy empowers and motivates people. If they get the work done, the proof is in the pudding, how they make the pudding is left to them.
An analysis of 114 studies with more than 21,000 participants found that when people have high levels of autonomy, self-efficacy, and empowerment, it increases their job satisfaction, commitment, attendance and customer service [1]. Giving your team autonomy also frees up your time and headspace. And, importantly, it allows you to see where they need your help. It also frees up their time to spend on achieving your mutual goals in the best way they can.

2. Have clearly defined goals for all

Research finds that we are about three times more likely to achieve a difficult goal when they are written as specific ‘implementation intentions’ [2], or SMART goals. For example, ‘I will perform goal-directed behaviour “Y” when I encounter situation “Z”’, rather than vague ‘goal intentions’ such as, ‘I will achieve “X”’.
SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound goals) are great because they tell you in an instant, what specifically you are going to do and when.
Not only do they increase your chances of achieving them – woohoo – as per the research cited above, they also remove stress out of your day, month and year.
Plus, as the leader, you know what your team have agreed to achieve and when, meaning  you can hold them accountable, all the while giving them that healthy autonomy, and yet you also have a point of focus in meetings to ensure they are progressing. If they are not, you can then more easily, and compassionately, dissect why not, and then work out the solutions to help them.
Remember, everyone setting specific end goals and smaller ‘stepping stone goals’ to be achieved along the way, ensures you all arrive at your destination much more effortlessly.

3. Communicate efficiently

Efficient communication comes down to the content, timing and delivery of your conversations. As this is a huge topic, let’s just consider a couple of helpful points right now.
Time your conversations well and you can help ensure your team members have the headspace for contributing something of value. Doing so also makes them more motivated to get the best out of the conversation because they feel alert. Using the right time also means you’re not taking that time away from something they could better utilise it for.
As the leader of that team, you can intuitively work out the specific best time and day for you and your team based on what you know about your team’s goals, and everyone’s personalities. But to help, remember this.
Each person has their own biological clock – circadian rhythm – which means two people can be alert and able to think critically and problem-solve well at different times.
Performance research finds that, ‘late chronotypes perform worse in the morning across all cognitive and physical measures’ [3].
Therefore, meetings in the afternoon will likely be a more fair and efficient choice for getting the best out of your whole team rather than morning meetings.
Consider posing the question to your team, and yourself, to help you gauge what works best for everyone in terms of time and day of the week.
Furthermore, only contact your team when you absolutely need to, whether by email, phone or Skype/Zoom, once you have thought about whether or not you need to communicate with them.
Sometimes you think you have a burning question to ask but you don’t, and in that period you waste their time and yours, and you may be left feeling embarrassed or even anxious about the conversation that ensues as a result. Better to make a note of such ‘burning’ questions on a digital or physical notepad first. That way you can possibly find the answer yourself or ask the question later if still necessary. Then, if you still do, you will likely word it
much better, too.
The brain subconsciously problem-solves ‘in the background’ so allowing your brain time to do this before starting any conversations with one another, will save you all a great deal of time and unnecessary stress. Encouraging everyone in the team to work this way will benefit everyone’s efficiency and energy.
For example, if you are going to have a meeting tomorrow afternoon, maybe you don’t need to ask the question on email right now. Instead, give your brain the time to construct how you are going to do this to help you deliver your message coherently and extract the information you really need, effectively.
When your teams are working out of your sight, you may have more questions than usual, but in reality, those questions may be more anxiety than necessity. Allowing time to lapse can help you to all work in a more calm and efficient manner.

4. Show them you care

Conscious, efficient leaders are compassionate and solution-focused. Where possible and appropriate, ask open-ended, solution-focused, empowering questions that demonstrate you care about them as well as the work they produce.
That way, even when your people are overwhelmed and distracted, their brain is still, often subconsciously, navigating itself towards the solution, not the problem.
For example, ‘What could you do to help create a better work/life distinction for increased well-being, energy and motivation?’

Notice:

• It is open-ended so the answer requires more than a ‘yes’/‘no’ response allowing for a more meaningful exploration and discussion.

• The ‘could you do’ empowers the listener as it highlights to their mind that they are in control and allows their brain to search for solutions.

• The ‘better work/life distinction for increased well-being, energy and motivation’ focuses their mind on the solution, not the problem.

Other well-being questions you may find helpful, are:

• What would make working from home more fun?

• What would make working from home more productive?

• Can I do anything to help you work more efficiently?

• How do you wind down at the end of the working day to ensure you are well rested every day?

• What can we do to make you feel more motivated to hit your goals?

Ask your team questions so they know you care about them, as well as the work they do, and in turn make them passionate about their own progress.

5. Give recognition for work well done

When people feel they are noticed and appreciated, via your words or actions, they are more likely to work efficiently and be motivated to achieve goals…because they are getting something in return that is much more valuable than money: feeling good about themselves and their future.
Words of recognition can provide a genuine boost to their self-image, e.g. ‘You worked so hard on that campaign, your diligence and creativity shone through. Thank you so much and well done.’ Such sentiments help them to see themselves as talented and personally evolving.
The reward can also be a ‘thank you gift’ or a ‘job well done gift’. And they don’t necessarily need to be expensive. But thoughtful helps. When we feel understood it boosts our well-being and helps us to feel socially connected to that person [4]. So creating a bond with your staff through thoughtful recognition can help motivate them further to want to do an amazing job, partly for you as their leader that they respect and appreciate, partly for themselves.
Maybe you know they need a good massage because they’ve been complaining about back pain, or that they need some fun time with their partner so you get them something they can do together.

Things to consider rewarding for:

(a) working efficiently;
(b) working fast;
(c) thoughtfully improving the business;
(d) working more than expected;
(e) maintaining resilience;
(f) and more.

Recognition is the giving of a reward that in turn reaps more rewards for all.

6. Work on your own well-being

To make you a better leader, one who is happy, healthy, energetic, clear-headed, confident and decisive, you need to maintain your own well-being each day.
I have so many tips I can give you but here are the two daily habits I want to hone in on right now:

• Have me-time every day.

• Get a good night’s sleep every night.

Me-time is vital for boosting our resilience as it allows us time to relax and recharge away from everyone’s demands on our time, energy and focus.
Me-time is time you spend alone doing what you want, exactly as you want to do it. You may want to just think about things, or not think about anything, watch something to distract from worries and relax or motivate yourself, read a book, pamper yourself, sit mindfully in nature, visualise your future, or whatever feels good for you.
Sixty minutes every day is great but have more if you need/want it or take less if you need to, but still aim for at least thirty minutes of uninterrupted me-time.
A good night’s sleep means you get the amount of sleep you need, eight hours give or take depending on your body, and that you have undisturbed, restful sleep. Sleep is vital for so many functions that help us to be great leaders.
One of the reasons is our ability to better problem-solve when we are not sleep deprived [5] and how REM (rapid eye movement) sleep – the phase in which dreaming occurs – enhances our ability to make connections between previously unassociated information stored in memory, for creative problem solving [6].
It can be easy to think that being a successful leader means we should be there for people 24/7 or survive on just a few hours of sleep. But it’s not. A successful leader has balance and leads a team that is balanced, and recognises that the right balance is different for everyone.
If you’re always stressed, overwhelmed and miserable, will you inspire your team to be motivated and work efficiently? No. They will know that you are miserable. It will show up in what you say and do, even in digital communications. And it will affect them, too.
So look after yourself first, and then you can be a great leader, inspiring, problem-solving, and motivating others to be their best.

7. Have one-on-one meetings every so often

Managing a team working from home allows autonomy which is great for everyone in the team, but it can also create anxiety and questions. For this reason, regular one-on-one meetings can help you connect with your individual team members so that you can:

a) coach them to help them solve problems, and inspire and motivate them.

b) allow them to release stress by venting and seeking your advice.

You also gain valuable insights into how they seem to be progressing as the weeks go by so that you can identify issues they may not have recognised themselves, issues you can help them to resolve.
For example, it may be that you notice a lack of self-belief in the way that they are talking over the space of two meetings that helps you to realise that this is an ongoing issue that is sabotaging their motivation and productivity. You can then dig deep to understand where this is stemming from. Doing so allows you to rectify the situation. Maybe you discover that they are overwhelmed with too much work and so this is knocking their confidence. Or that they felt somebody else took credit for their work and that you haven’t noticed, and they are feeling undervalued. Or that they are struggling with a project that does not play to their strengths and needs extra help they have been afraid to ask for.
One-on-one conversations allow your team members to feel valued and heard, and grow; and allow you to glean the information you need to be a great leader.

Conclusion

Be a conscious leader who efficiently manages and motivates from afar by trusting your team to do the work well, whilst maintaining awareness of what’s going on so that you can help where necessary for mutual learning and growth.

References

1. Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. (1998). Self-efficacy and work-related performance: A
meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 240–261. https://doi.org/
10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.240
2. Gollwitzer, P. M. and Brandstätter, V. (1997). ‘Implementation Intentions and Effective
Goal Pursuit’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1): 186–99.
3. Facer-Childs, E. R., Boiling, S., & Balanos, G. M. (2018). The effects of time of day and
chronotype on cognitive and physical performance in healthy volunteers. Sports medicine –
open, 4(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-018-0162-z
4. Morelli, S. A., Torre, J. B., & Eisenberger, N. I. (2014). The neural bases of feeling
understood and not understood. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 9(12), 1890–
1896. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nst191
5. Wagner U., Gais S., Haider H., Verleger R., Born J. (2004). Sleep inspires insight.
Nature 427 352–355. 10.1038/nature02223
6. Cai, D. J., Mednick, S. A., Harrison, E. M., Kanady, J. C. and Mednick, S. C. (2009).
REM, Not Incubation, Improves Creativity by Priming Associative Networks. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(25): 10130–4; DOI:10.1073/pnas.0900271106

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