Managing employees while away from the office can be tough, as you lose a birds-eye view of what each team member is doing.
However, whether you are on a vacation, an out-of-town meeting, or simply away from the office on leave, there are ways to keep close eyes on your employees and keep progress moving forward without your physical presence in the office.
Luckily, there are different tactics to help ease your stress when you are away.
Managing Employees While Away from the Office
1. Provide them with a point of contact you trust
This way your employees have somebody to contact with any questions and concerns in case they have an urgent issue and cannot get in contact with you.
2. Logically lay out your team’s workflow, so everyone stays on track
Assign each of your employee’s a concrete list of action items to complete while you are gone.
Ensure that the directions are clear. Further, make sure that each team member understands how their individual tasks fit into the broader goals you are trying to reach as a team or company. As each individual may have more liberty with you out of the office, this ensures that their independent initiatives will keep things moving in the right direction.
Go over these guidelines with each of your workers before you leave to make sure you are both at a consensus.
3. Provide clear directions for tasks
When delegating tasks, go beyond simply saying: “do X.” Provide extra notes and clarifications, or provide examples where necessary. Any files that team members may need in order to complete the task should be stored in one central location to guarantee top-notch organization.
4. Assign clear due dates, and set task reminders, so nothing slips through the cracks
Workers may become distracted or lose track of priorities without management around.
For this reason, you should set strict deadlines with your employees and track their progress step-by-step to confirm that they are on the right track.
Consider creating a certain, central place where they can turn in all of their assignments when finished.
5. Ask your employees to document what they accomplish
This helps them to stay focused on their goals, as well as increase their own productivity.
More importantly, this allows you to hold employees accountable for staying productive while you’re away from the office. Consider asking employees to compile daily, or weekly reports to hand in upon your return.
You and your team can do all of the above using Priority Matrix. You will also have everything in one place to make sure that everything stays organized. With the app, you can also:
- Utilize in-app chat to reduce email traffic and to communicate with your team in real-time
- Improve visibility and accountability across your team
- Use the Master List to view items across all projects
- Compile reports to pass up the chain of command
- and more! Start your free trial by entering your email in the box below this article, or:
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6. Trust that your employees will follow your expectations
In Susanne Madsen’s post, “How good is your Ability to trust?” on her blog Developing Project Leaders, she explains that “trust is essential for working together.” If you do not trust your employees, they are not going to trust you.
While it is difficult to be away from your team, it is very doable; simply approach the situation in an organized manner, trust that the system is in place, and the team you have built will function accordingly. [bctt tweet=”Remember, you hired your employees because they stood out to you in some way, so believe in them.”]
Managing while away from the office doesn’t have to be daunting!
Follow the six steps above to ensure that forward progress continues to be made as you kick back on the beach, work on your new novel, or spend quality time with your family.