Managing Performance: A Guide to Managing Your Remote Employees

Never before have so many people worked remotely, for this long. When remote working became the only option, organizations focused on the required operational responses to ensure business continuity. As time is passing organizations are facing the unique challenge of translating organizational strategies into a working performance management approach for a remote workforce.

Developing an effective performance management system even before the pandemic was a daunting goal and one that a majority of organizations had difficulty with. Performance management needs to be aligned with the mission of the organization. performance of the organization, its strategy, and goals. It creates alignment between the roles of employees and their individual goals and the wider organizational context. Besides this incredibly important aspect, it should also provide data for the organization. Data can be used for insights into opportunities for organizational change and development.

On a process level, the new work context which is not a just trend anymore will likely augment the challenges organization faced with performance management. On an individual and team level, people are facing anxiety and uncertainty, which translates into them not operating at their best.

What can leaders and managers do?

Well-trained managers. One of the key components of every good performance management system is a well-trained and developed manager. Managers need to be aware of how remote work may affect their team members. They should show compassion and listen for signs of negative influence the situation can have on their team. They should also fully understand the process itself and understand where they can and can not be flexible. Good managers provide a way of work that is inclusive and which ties in with the performance goals. A good idea is to actively manage chances for social interaction and nurturing team culture.

Tackle social isolation and lack of information.  Loneliness is one of the most common complaints about remote work. Anxiety and a feeling of uncertainty are a closed second and third. Employees are facing a lack of social interactions and missing this source of information. Managers should nurture a culture of sharing key information and offer a way of discussion that calls everyone to action. Some choose to have daily check-ins on an individual level and provide support to their remote teams. These social interactions are a great place to set an individual's performance into the big picture and align them with the organizational goals. Managers should however be careful not the put the emphasis on operations rather than building a relationship and setting the stage for good performance. Micromanagement always should be avoided and efforts should be about collaboration and communication.

Support through culture and mission. A good performance management approach always takes into consideration the organizational culture, values, and its mission. How a company treats its employees during a crisis will make or break the culture. Managers or leaders need to think hard about how to manage performance while respecting and nurturing company culture. What leaders do and say now is going to be remembered.

Setting the stage for good performance. Managers should be prepared and stay on top of their game when it comes to performance. They should spend time understanding the environment and situation of each employee to make sure that things are not miscommunicated. They should clearly provide expectations about the new way of work, good behaviors, collaboration expectations, and individual goals. A good performance review is just a summary of the continuous feedback about the performance of a team member.

Looking at relevant data. Managers need to make sure to understand what is relevant data for the performance reviews and how they compare it. Hardly any organization has a previous record of employee performance working remotely in such a way. It is important to understand that the model used before may not be relevant anymore or not objective. Good performance management always relies on multiple sources of information and balances qualitative with the quantitative. Managers should be conscious of biases, and subjective thinking that they may have carried over to the remote setup. It is expected that performance may fall over the total workforce or team, it is equally important to recognize this and compare every single employee to their past performance fairly but also recognize what differentiates employees now and understand it to develop the performance management approach.

Managing high and low performers. Performance reviews are a chance for managers to address low performance and ask for improvement. Managers need to take accountability for their team members now more than ever. They should support them and show compassion but also take a hard look at which battles to fight. Focusing on the reasons for low performance and understanding employee challenges may help to get back on track. In some cases the support and compassion won't bring the desired improvement, managers should recognize this and deal with low performance. Recognizing and rewarding high performance is equally important. Managers should understand that top talent always has options in any job market. Make sure to use opportunities to reward and show appreciation for working hard, engagement, and commitment.

Opportunity for development

Working from home is not a trend anymore. Managers and leaders should recognize the need for change and proactively use the opportunity to gather information and develop their organizations. There is no one size fits all approach but a crisis could be a catalyst for changing your performance culture. Smart leaders and managers will listen and keep two-way communication open to recognizing the exact need. Developing alignment, transparency, and engagement is a good way to start and develop organizational agility and resilience while remaining people focused.