There can be no lasting effective remote management unless if the teams are autonomous and competent in their missions and it is natural for them to remain so.
The technological tools allowing efficient remote work are constantly evolving, requiring recurring adjustments. It is by developing in everyone a taste for questioning, curiosity, that the maintenance and development of skills are possible.
Beyond the help that HR and training services can give you, it is a state of mind to create.
Develop and maintain skills on the core of the mission
The documents used to assess the skills of employees during the annual appraisal interview are a good basis. You can use the job descriptions and job descriptions to do this assessment. The appraisal interview is the perfect time to do it, but it can be done at any time of the year.
Carry out a diagnosis with the employee of his level of mastery of the position. Adjust together the evaluation criteria and your perceptions. Give him a big picture of what is expected.
Set development goals together and build the associated action plan and planned over time, with precision of the means implemented (training, mentoring, specific missions, mentoring or referent [surtout à distance], etc.). Regularly monitor the progress of the achievement of these objectives through individual interviews in addition to routine business interviews (one per quarter for example).
Cultivate curiosity and the desire to learn
A good global vision of the activity and missions over the year allows everyone toidentify warm-up periods and more flexible periods when it may be possible to explore new topics and ask for training times.
Refuse to let problems rot and instead encourage questioning in daily missions. Invite your teams to share unusual information, benchmarks, good ideas observed outside. Set up a virtual suggestion box. Encourage creativity and the unexpected. For example, Teams channels can be used to store this information.
Share good practices
Particularly appreciated on irritating or time-consuming subjects, draw inspiration from others (internal and external teams) to change processes and question practices is particularly effective.
It is always interesting to go and see what others are doing, within similar or completely different structures. Some structures offer this possibility through “business visits” or “learning experiences”.
Sonia Levillain, author of “The small remote management toolbox”
– DR
THE AUTHOR Sonia Levillain is a responsible management consultant. She also teaches management at the IESEG School of Management. This text is taken from his book “The small remote management toolbox”, by Dunod editions, 128 pages, 16.90 euros.
