Remote work has become a staple in our modern working lives. With advancements in technology, the gig economy, and the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have had to shift to remote work to maintain business operations. While remote work has several benefits like flexibility and cost savings, working remotely presents challenges, including dealing with difficult team members. Remote work can make it harder to deal with team members who may be unpleasant, irresponsible, or uncooperative. This article explores tips for managing difficult team members when working remotely to create a productive and harmonious remote work environment.
Remote Work and Difficult Team Members
Remote work environments require heightened communication, flexibility, and accountability skills, but when working with difficult team members, these elements become even more critical to maintain work and team effectiveness.
Difficult team members can come in different forms. They can be uncooperative, overly aggressive, negative, and inconsiderate, among other traits. Remote work environments exacerbate these traits as it becomes harder to provide feedback and lean on social cues as one would in an in-person office setting. Remote work elements like emails, messages, and video calls strip away body language and subtle cues, making it hard to understand intent or tone in communication.
Difficult team members can put a significant strain on the team’s productivity, collaboration, and morale. Therefore, managers need to be adept at dealing with such team members to keep the team’s morale and productivity high.
Tips for Dealing with Difficult Team Members
- Communication
Effective communication is integral to managing difficult team members. When working remotely, communication becomes the lifeline of your team’s productivity and engagement. However, as mentioned earlier, remote work elements make it harder to convey intent, tone, and urgency in communication. Therefore, it is essential to establish clear communication channels and protocols to manage difficult team members.
Start by setting clear expectations, building rapport, and maintaining positive interactions within the team. Establish guidelines and channels for communication, including email, phone, and instant messaging apps like Slack, Skype, or Zoom. Ensure that every team member understands the communication policy and knows how to access every channel.
When dealing with difficult team members, express yourself as clearly as possible. Ambiguity can confuse remote workers and discourage open communication. When communicating with team members, be specific, clear, and concise. Use tools like bullet points, bold font, and subheadings to emphasize essential points.
Finally, maintain clarity in your organization’s work structure and procedure. This clarity ensures that everyone is aligned with what is expected of them. Establish regular meeting times and maintain a sense of routine as this helps everyone stay informed and structured.
- Create a clear plan of action
A well-defined plan of action creates cohesion, a sense of purpose, and a roadmap for success. When working remotely, it’s easy to lose track of milestones and goals, so a clear plan of action becomes even more crucial.
Start by setting deadlines for each project. Establish clear roles and responsibilities for everyone on the team. Ensure everyone agrees to these guidelines. Collaborate with team members to develop a plan of action that is specific, measurable, and achievable.
To keep everyone aligned, encourage team members to document their progress regularly and share it with the rest of the group. This shared documentation helps everyone keep track of work progress, set priorities, and make adjustments as necessary.
Finally, be open to modifications and suggestions from team members for optimizations or better ways to handle various tasks. Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to remote work.
- Reinforce deadlines and responsibilities
When working remotely, team members can quickly lose sight of deadlines, leading to missed targets or a lack of accountability. Therefore, it is essential to reinforce deadlines and responsibilities to maintain work momentum.
Set timelines for each task or project, and ensure that every team member understands the urgency and consequences of failing to meet deadlines. A missed deadline for submitting a project could mean missed client expectations, which could hurt the reputation or financial performance of the company.
Track the progress of each team member. Software tools like Trello or Asana can help visualize timelines and task progress. Use these tools to track the progress of each team member, celebrate milestones and motivate the team to keep going. Establish regular check-ins to review the progress of each task or project.
- Address problems as soon as they arise
In remote work environments, problems can escalate quickly if not addressed immediately. Therefore, it is essential to address any problems as soon as they appear.
As mentioned earlier, remote work environments remove the usual social cues of the in-person office environment, making it easy to misunderstand tone or intent in text-based communication. When dealing with difficult team members, clarify all communication and be specific about the problem to avoid ambiguity. Verify the facts and ask the difficult team member to share their thoughts.
Empathy is crucial when addressing problems. Start by identifying the issue and how it affects the team’s work. Ask the difficult team member for their thoughts and work together to identify a solution that benefits everyone involved. Conflict resolution strategies can help you navigate situations where you need to manage conflicts within remote teams.
- Build a positive work culture
A positive work culture is fundamental to the success of any remote team. Cultures serve as the foundation for morale, behavior, decision-making, productivity, and growth. Therefore, creating a positive work culture is essential when dealing with difficult team members.
Start by creating an open-door policy where everyone can voice their opinions and share feedback. Encourage team members to share information about their lives outside work and the challenges they face. This sense of community fosters collaborative teamwork and empowers team members to take on new challenges.
Icebreakers like virtual coffee breaks, short team-building activities, or slack channels can also help create a sense of community and build team morale. Regular celebrations for small wins help boost the morale of team members and encourage them to stay motivated to achieving bigger goals.
- Offer coaching and support
Work environments are not perfect, and team members may struggle to meet their responsibilities or understand new tasks. Therefore, it’s essential to offer coaching and support when handling difficult team members.
Offer resources such as professional courses, webinars, and reading materials to help team members improve their skills and knowledge. Managers should also make time to coach team members and provide feedback on their progress. Emotionally, and mentally, offering support is critical in helping difficult team members overcome challenges.
Managers can facilitate this by offering safe spaces for difficult team members to voice their concerns or seek feedback. Encourage team members to support and assist each other in tackling challenging tasks, and foster a work environment of collaboration and teamwork.
- Set clear expectations
Clear expectations are crucial for the success of any remote team. Setting expectations ensures that every team member understands their responsibilities and what is expected of them. When working with difficult team members, setting clear expectations becomes even more crucial.
Start by outlining job requirements, deliverables, timelines, and responsibilities for each team member. Clearly define each team member’s role and provide a detailed description of what they are expected to achieve. Also, outline the consequences of failing to meet expectations.
Setting clear expectations helps to reduce misunderstandings and provides a framework for measuring performance. It also ensures that all team members are aligned with the company’s goals and objectives, promoting transparency, and accountability.
- Encourage feedback
Regular feedback is essential to the success of any remote team. Encouraging feedback creates a culture of open communication, where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions. Feedback also serves as a valuable tool for identifying areas of improvement and addressing underlying issues.
To encourage feedback, start by setting regular feedback sessions where everyone can share their thoughts and opinions. Create a feedback policy that outlines how feedback is given and received, including constructive criticism. Encourage team members to be specific in their feedback and to avoid personal attacks.
Regular feedback sessions ensure that everyone is kept in the loop regarding the company’s progress and performance while also serving as an opportunity to identify any issues and address them promptly.
- Lead by example
Leadership is critical to the success of any remote team. Leaders must set the tone for how the team operates and ensure that everyone is aligned with the company’s vision. When working with difficult team members, leaders must lead by example to create a positive work environment.
Leaders should model the behaviour they expect from their team members. As a leader, you should be patient, respectful, and empathetic when dealing with difficult team members. Establish a culture of open communication, where everyone’s opinion is valued and respected.
Leading by example also involves setting realistic expectations, providing feedback, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Creating a positive work environment that demonstrates respect and inclusion helps to maintain team morale and cohesion.
- Remain objective
When dealing with difficult team members, it’s important to remain objective. Becoming emotional or taking things personally can lead to the situation spiralling out of control. Therefore, it’s essential to approach the situation with a clear, level head.
Start by identifying the issue and objectively assessing the situation. Evaluate the impact of the issue on the team’s work and performance. Seek feedback from other team members before making a decision.
Remaining objective also involves avoiding making assumptions or jumping to conclusions. Seek clarification on any unclear points and avoid reacting impulsively.
- Provide training and development opportunities
Providing training and development opportunities is essential to the success of any remote team. It helps to improve team members’ skills and knowledge, which can increase productivity, efficiency, and output. It also helps to create a sense of loyalty and commitment to the company.
To provide training and development opportunities, start by identifying areas that require improvement. Create a training plan that addresses specific skills or knowledge gaps. Use a variety of methods to deliver training, including webinars, workshops, mentoring, and coaching.
Offering training and development opportunities to difficult team members helps to improve their performance and behaviour. It also promotes a culture of continuous improvement, fostering a sense of direction and purpose within the team.
- Celebrate successes
Celebrating successes is an essential part of creating a positive work environment. Celebrating small or big achievements helps to boost morale and fosters a sense of team spirit. It shows the team that their hard work is valued and appreciated.
Start by setting milestones and goals for the team and celebrating when they are achieved. Use simple gestures like sending personalised messages or virtual high-fives. Celebrating successes fosters a sense of community and encourages team members to continue striving for excellence.
- Use technology to your advantage
Technology plays an essential role in remote work environments. It helps to keep team members connected, promotes collaboration, and improves productivity. When dealing with difficult team members, technology can also help to manage their behaviour.
Using software like Trello or Asana helps to visualise the team’s progress, manage deadlines, and assign tasks. Video conferencing tools like Zoom or Skype can help to maintain a sense of connection and facilitate discussions. Instant messaging tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams can help to promote real-time collaboration and improve communication.
- Be flexible
Flexibility is a critical element of remote work environments. It helps team members to balance their personal and professional lives while still delivering exceptional work. When dealing with difficult team members, flexibility can help to manage their behaviour and promote open communication.
Start by establishing a flexible work schedule that accommodates the needs of team members. Allow team members to customise their schedules to fit their personal needs. Provide team members with the necessary tools and resources to work remotely.
Flexibility also involves being open to feedback and suggestions. Be willing to adjust your approach based on feedback and suggestions from the team members. This promotes a culture of continuous improvement and fosters a sense of empowerment within the team.
- Establish boundaries
Boundaries are essential to managing difficult team members. They help to establish the rules of engagement and provide a framework for managing behaviour. Boundaries also help to maintain professionalism and promote respect within the team.
Start by establishing clear boundaries regarding communication, work expectations, and behaviour. Establish the times when team members can or cannot be contacted. Ensure that everyone knows what is expected of them and the consequences of not meeting expectations.
Establishing boundaries also involves holding team members accountable for their behaviour. Ensure that everyone adheres to the established boundaries and address any violations immediately.
Conclusion
Managing difficult team members in a remote work environment requires patience, communication, and flexibility. By following the tips outlined in this article, managers can create a positive work environment that fosters collaboration, productivity, and growth. Remember to lead by example, provide feedback and coaching, establish boundaries, and celebrate successes. Finally, be open to feedback from team members and adjust your approach as necessary to foster a culture of continuous improvement.