A high-five emoji over Slack doesn’t have the same effect as the real thing.
Until managers can high-five their direct reports safely again, senior leaders across New York City are equipping them with extra support to translate their leadership skills to a virtual environment.
At real estate company Reonomy, HR Director Olivia Pucci said managers are trained in “personality-flexing” — the ability to understand and adapt to different personality types, such as their direct reports. In the office, body language was a huge tell of emotion; However, it doesn’t translate over video calls. Pucci said they are now training their managers to look for different cues, such as participation levels, as indicators of burnout or fatigue.
Simultaneously, many managers are proactively doing what they can to adjust and thrive in a remote work environment. At freight company Transfix, Human Resource Business Partner Samantha Menjor said managers have their own weekly meetings on how to lead in remote settings. It’s a safe space for them to discuss which managerial styles work and which don’t.
Remember, managers are future executives in training. Letting someone suggest and implement new ideas might be the opportunity they need to show they are ready for the next step in their leadership journey.
At property management company Common, Senior Manager of Leasing Jodi Farbish said all managers have recorded each process of their entire sales funnel so direct reports always have access to training. Across the country, managers and their teams are held accountable to the same metrics. Being transparent about overall goals means time zones won’t get in the way of clear communication.
What steps have you taken to train your managers on how to lead remote teams?
Leading a remote team spread across the country presents many unique challenges and pushes us to rely heavily on virtual training and individual manager accountability. For our leadership team at Common, every manager has recorded the entire sales funnel process, from how to use our integrations to best practices for handling objections during the close. While still conducting face-to-face video training, each manager sends recorded videos for the team to refer back to when necessary.
To keep my team accountable, I’ve trained all of our leasing managers to hold their teams accountable with metrics. To do this successfully, clear and open communication needs to be paired with trust. We believe that managers are most effective in leading when they are transparent about how the overall goals affect the performance of each team member as well as the long-term objectives of the company.
Recognizing “wins” of all sizes truly matters to us — even something as simple as shouting out the scheduling of a new leasing specialist’s first tour can go a long way in welcoming a new team member and building a sense of camaraderie, despite the distance.
What role does emotional intelligence play in managing teams remotely, and how do you support managers in improving their EQ?
To keep improving my managers’ emotional intelligence, I have them perform time and energy audits. This allows them to assess their own time management skills and look for classic pitfalls such as switching gears too often or multitasking, both of which can result in never giving anything their full attention.
In these audits, I ask for them to notice where they direct their focus. I emphasize to the team that they need to keep fueling their engine and take care of themselves to successfully manage their direct reports, help with organizational communication, adhere to deadlines and support their teams’ needs.
Leveraging technology for a remote team is key.”
What’s a new tool you're providing managers with to help them lead their teams remotely, and why has this tool been particularly impactful?
Leveraging technology for a remote team is key. Virtual teams rely heavily on trust, so we use tools to be able to communicate effectively. We try to be always available on Slack or Google Hangouts. Additionally, we have a Wiki microsite specific to the leasing team to make all training materials and best practices easily accessible in one place. The best part of having five leasing managers on my team is that there’s always someone available to jump in and assist.
Olivia Pucci, an HR director at real estate company Reonomy, said it was important that managers had the tools they needed to be able to “personality-flex” when they transitioned to remote work. The phrase refers to understanding and adapting to an individual, either a prospect or direct report. It is crucial managers know how to recognize signs of burnout and offer support when needed.
What steps have you taken to train your managers on how to lead remote or partially remote teams?
Before COVID-19, Reonomy was a largely office-based company. At the start of the pandemic, we moved quickly and were ahead of the curve transitioning to a remote environment. We started by developing a toolkit for managers preparing for the “new normal” by focusing on communication and the importance of mental health. Rather than reinventing the wheel, we utilize current tools and adjust them to fit a remote period.
We have started to incorporate breakout rooms via Zoom, pairing our managers up randomly with a discussion topic related to the agenda that day. Within our last meeting we trained on management competencies and held a discussion in breakout sessions around which competencies managers felt were their strengths versus areas for improvement. After the conversation, our team was able to identify managers in different departments who could provide additional support when facing challenges or roadblocks.
When remote, especially unexpectedly, it’s easy for the lines between work and life to become blurred.”
What role does emotional intelligence play in managing teams remotely, and how do you support managers in improving their EQ?
When remote, especially unexpectedly, it’s easy for the lines between work and life to become blurred. Managers have to be in tune with their individual team members to understand how they feel and ensure they feel supported. This is where “personality-flexing” becomes so important. Educating our people leaders on this type of management has been essential to our team's success and continued happiness, despite the abrupt changes we’ve all undergone over the last six months.
We include EQ and personality-flexing within our manager standards, and it is a competency expectation regardless of departments. We facilitate EQ improvement through training and resources and want to ensure that managers have a support system with other people leaders. Additionally, we’ve made it a priority to provide mandatory days off every month and encourage PTO.
What’s a new tool you're providing managers with to help them lead their teams remotely, and why has this tool been particularly impactful?
We have been providing additional resources to help managers and all Reonomists better utilize our systems and tools. When we first switched to a remote setting, we created a one-page Slack guideline document that outlines etiquette and best practices. Using this resource, managers can create more consistency and increase transparency around how they’re using the tool, ensuring their teams can shift communication styles and cadence accordingly while out of office.
To support managers, Senior Human Resource Business Partner Samantha Menjor said her team built a “managing remote teams” guide to outline best practices for remote working and effective communication tips at freight company Transfix. Weekly meetings just for managers allow for an open forum to discuss different managerial styles.
What steps have you taken to train your managers on how to lead remote or partially remote teams?
We made sure to provide our managers with a variety of resources that gave them effective yet creative leadership methods for remote working. Firstly, we created a “managing remote teams” guide that outlined the important aspects of working from home and maintaining consistent and effective communication in a virtual setting. This guide existed as the foundation for how managers should be supporting their teams.
Secondly, we have weekly management meetings called Transform, which focus on different discussion topics relevant to people managers. Transform sessions consist of leaders from various levels and teams and create a safe space for managers to discuss what's working and what's not.
Emotional intelligence is a significant part of how our leaders manage their teams remotely.”
What role does emotional intelligence play in managing teams remotely, and how do you support managers in improving their EQ?
Emotional intelligence is a significant part of how our leaders manage their teams remotely. It is often a topic revisited in our Transform discussions because it's so pivotal to being a successful manager. We’ve guided managers to continue cultivating a genuine interest in the individuals on their team by being proactive and consistent in their modes of communication. They need to balance work and non-work-related conversations so employees feel supported in all aspects.
What’s a new tool you're providing managers with to help them lead their teams remotely, and why has this tool been particularly impactful?
Instead of introducing new tools, we've focused on using our current tools effectively and creatively. Slack, for instance, is widely used at Transfix for internal communication. We decided to introduce a people manager channel for questions and discussions that are relevant to that population. We also encouraged managers to create team channels to share information and funny tidbits.
