More than half of the non-self-employed U.S. workforce have jobs compatible with working remotely. Gallup reports that over half of these workers are combining remote and in-person work, while one-third are working remotely full time. And perhaps most importantly, two-thirds of employees rank the opportunity for remote work as the most important aspect of a job — even higher than salary, schedule flexibility, and satisfying work-life balance. This is the current reality and a window into the future. As a consequence, the need for leveling-up remote and hybrid team leadership is paramount.

Increasingly, managing remote employees has emerged as a key leadership skill. And now, more than ever, leadership success can benefit from assessing and improving the ways that your existing leadership skills interact with a remote or hybrid working context. And if leading a virtual team is a new experience, it presents a chance to reflect on your current practices, while identifying fertile opportunities for change.

Ask yourself:

1. In what specific ways does the remote working context pose constraints which may undermine your previously effective leadership?
2. Which elements of your leadership style and strategies will play a more significant role?
3. In the new workplace context, which previous practices have become less effective and require modification (or complete reconception)?

Fully Remote vs. Hybrid

Remote work comes in several distinct flavors. Whichever one you are working in will influence how you manage your team. Fully remote work teams, for example tend to be easier to work with as all team members share a common  situation. Hybrid work contexts—in which on any given day some people are onsite and some are remote—can be trickier to navigate. For example, employees say their primary motivation for making the commute into the workplace is the promise of seeing their teammates “in real life.” For this reason, leaders benefit greatly for facilitating the discipline and coordination of schedules necessary to insure  people are in the office on the same day. This, however, requires a delicate touch; rigid policies commonly provoke resistance from employees.

One of the most significant leadership landmines relating to management of hybrid teams is proximity bias. This is the sometimes-unconscious tendency to favor those physically close to us, and it can result in inequities between how leaders treat remote vs. onsite employees. Careful and conscious consideration of this potential pitfall can be beneficial when offering opportunities for advancement.

Flexibility

Your ability to effectively lead your remote or hybrid team critically depends on a foundational leadership trait — flexibility. Resist the urge to “double-down” on doing things the way they’ve always been done at your organization. Be flexible, while embracing opportunities to iterate on new practices and approaches. Discuss — with your team and other leaders in your organization — what’s working and what’s not. Share lessons learned. And encourage dialogue about any needs for improvement or change. You won’t necessarily get things right the first time, nor should you expect to. Flexibility in the process is key.

How to Improve Your Remote and Hybrid Team Leadership

To improve your leadership of remote and hybrid teams, focus on the following skills many of which have synergistic benefits with respect to team success.

Be proactive and foster trust.

Trust is a more-crucial-than-usual component for maintaining a successful remote team; it must be built across every level of the organization. For remote teams in particular, establishing trust depends on creating a safe space where employees feel valued and confident that their leaders have their best interests at heart.

Here are some effective strategies for fostering trust to incorporate into your virtual or hybrid leadership training efforts:

• Don’t micromanage. Lack of team visibility can nudge leaders toward assuming the worst about their team. Rather than increasing oversight, assume that your team members are trustworthy and convey this to them explicitly. Micromanaging can make employees feel as if they must always be “on,” which can lead to burnout. Respect downtime; avoid contacting employees during their off hours. This is especially important if you have employees in different time zones.
• Appreciate your team. Regularly acknowledging — explicitly and publicly — the efforts of your team can significantly boost trust. Appreciation conveys to your employees that you value them and recognize and appreciate their contributions.
• Be accessible and available. Remote environments necessitate extra effort connecting with your team. Popping your head into someone’s office or chatting at the coffee machine are less readily available — but such regular connections are still essential. Be approachable and have regular communication with all of your employees equally. Regular team meetings, one-on-one sessions, or updates via email, all contribute to conveying that you respect your team and value their role in the organization.
• Be consistent. Your team must see you as a fair, transparent, and consistent role model. It can be easier to hand plum projects to people close in proximity, but such favoritism fosters distrust and harms team dynamics. Consistency and actively avoiding even the appearance of proximity bias helps remove uncertainty, decreases stress, and boosts employee confidence.

Build community and belonging.

Maintaining a strong sense of community and belonging with a remote team who rarely see each other in person presents unique challenges. Train leaders to build community and belonging on remote and hybrid teams by:

• Prioritizing on-site team presence for onboarding. Certain things are more effective when in person. At the top of the list may be new employee onboarding. Onsite presence is valuable for helping new employees to learn about and experience the company culture and creates a greater sense of belonging and team cohesion. Research has documented increased feelings of disorientation and reduced job preparation among employees beginning new jobs remotely.
• Creating in-person events. In-person events can be effective in cultivating a sense of belonging and team cohesion, but only if you are intentional about how you use them. Simply bringing your team together in one place will not necessarily nurture relationship-building. Bringing teams together for projects or topics that involve significant team collaboration, conversely, has long-term value.
• Embracing hybrid scheduling. Research shows a productivity boost associated with “well-organized hybrid” work environments. In particular, there are significant benefits to arranging for employees to come to the office on the same days, allowing them to maximize collaborative time. Keep in mind, however, that you may need to be more flexible in the scheduling arrangements for different teams or specific roles.
• Building intentional opportunities for remote connection. Effective team building for remote teams can be challenging. Mary Shapiro, a professor specialized in leading teams says: “You have to be more intentional and design structured interactions that will create connection — even from a distance…” One strategy is offering hybrid workers the option of engaging in “communal co-working.” For example, some teams at job search company Indeed block off time each Friday for an optional “work and mingle” session. This offers team members an opportunity to log onto their virtual conferencing platform and chat as they get their work done together.
• Picking up the phone. Interacting online can be exhausting. If you want to check in your employees just to say hello and see how they are doing, instead of adding more screen time, consider picking up the phone. One senior leader makes short unscheduled calls to several employees each day so he can check in with them the same way he would in the elevator or at the coffee machine.

Establish clear expectations and norms.

Employees experience less anxiety and stress when they have clarity about their role, how success will be measured and evaluated, and how they fit into the bigger organizational picture. In a remote environment, however, there is a greater risk that workers feel disconnected, less engaged, and unsure about what exactly is expected of them.

Train remote and hybrid leaders on these tips for establishing clear expectations and norms:

• Clarify tasks and processes as well as roles, team norms and expectations. In a remote setting, employees need guidance not just about what they are supposed to be doing, but also how their tasks must be completed. This requires clarity as to who does what, when, and how, as well as how performance will be evaluated. Employees also need clarity with respect to their team’s purpose and goals and how decisions will be made.
• Communication protocols. Communication among members of virtual teams often is less frequent and less rich than face-to-face communication. Potential pitfalls can be avoided by establishing clear norms for how specific methods and tools for communication should be used and when. Some situations may be best handled via email, or messaging channels, while others require a conversation.
• Meeting protocols. Much has been written about virtual meeting protocols; how you run them typically depends on company norms and preferences. But keep in mind that online meetings can be draining. Identify when meetings are absolutely necessary, and when alternative interactions can suffice. Make an extra effort to plan and distribute meeting agendas prior to the meetings. Develop (and adhere to) clear guidelines for accommodating the needs and leveraging the contributions of both in-person and remote participants effectively.
• Rethink performance goals. An important mindset shift for effectively leading remote teams is to focus on employees’ progress toward organizational goals and results rather than simple accountings of hours worked. Emphasizing results encourages autonomy and empowers team members to take ownership of their work. You can also, as software company GitLab does, develop tailored performance metrics that vary by role and function.

Leading remote and hybrid teams requires leaders to adapt traditional leadership skills to new contexts and embrace flexibility to establish clear norms and expectations, build trust and foster a sense of community. By focusing on these areas, leaders can nurture strong, cohesive and productive teams, no matter where employees are located.