I'm a new manager during WFH - tips?

jc2008 · 14-09-2020 2:14pm #1

Team of 6, I’ve been a member for a few years but just taken over management of it as the previous manager is moving companies.

I’m a first time manager, which is always a learning curve but WFH is adding to the challenge.

The team is hard working and good, but quite junior & inexperienced and I think WFH means they may miss out on some of the 'on the job learning' we benefited from by all sitting together, chatting, looking at each other's screens etc.

It feels general engagement is slipping slightly - harder for the team members to get a picture of what's happening with the other teams, and we are all missing the 'craic' element of offices - lunches, Friday drinks etc.

We don’t really do ‘virtual social events’ and introducing one for the team might seem forced. For some reason, webcams not commonly used except by senior people but I’d like if everyone did - it’s nice to see people but can’t force it as the manager!

I’m going to try introduce daily check ins as this was a bit ad hoc before - but don’t want to seem like I’m micromanaging either!

Any tips? Anything that has worked well in your company?

antix80 · 14-09-2020 3:15pm

Webcams on. If you have your cam on, everyone else should too. It's only manners.

If you have time for daily check-in's, great. Just be sure to get feedback from staff individually as some might feel it's a distraction or it might be dominated by one person and have no relevance to most of the team. Just make sure to keep on the agenda and if issues are more complex arrange a separate meeting if it doesn't affect everyone.

I suggest a longer, more social meeting on Fridays. If you can stomach it, do something silly like "best background image". Maybe post some crunchies to their house with a note "do not open until Friday" (I'm cringing writing this).. when you join the meeting, make sure everyone has tea or coffee in front of them and if not tell them to grab a cup .. look you'll know yourself if your team like it. They might be very negative about it, or they might appreciate the effort.

antimatterx · 14-09-2020 3:17pm

We generally always have webcams on. It feels weird if everyone doesn't. It's nice to be able to see people.

We have Friday drinks for the last hour during work and play poker, or Jack box games. It's good fun and usually goes on past work hours.

[Deleted User] · 14-09-2020 3:23pm

We have a daily "standup" call at 9.30 every morning. Just a quick 10-20 minute chat/catchup. This is whats happening today, general news from the top.

To be honest, when we go back to normal, we've all said we'd like to continue this practice as its a nice way of keeping everyone in touch and informed.

No webcams here. No-one needs to see my face first thing in the morning, and I don't want to see anyone elses.

Patsy167 · 14-09-2020 3:30pm

Great advice offered by another poster Wally1990 in another thread...

"I'm a manager and have calls with my team members every day, quick chat, how's things, need help etc.

No day goes by that a team member hasn't been on the phone to me even for 5 min or less.

They get onto me anyway throughout the day themselves for advice and we work on issues together too.

I have a weekly team meeting to plan our work and see where we can support each other and get their feedback and input.

We also have an '' innovation meeting'' every fortnight since covid where I encourage their ideas to change our processes, systems etc and together as a team we all have input and then I work with them in 1 to 1 fashion.

Overall, communication and collaboration has increased due to covid.

We have less meaningless chats and more productive work meeting chats we feel.

We did the general quiz and stuff at the start but it fizzed out fast. My team aren't children and had no interest.

We did it, didn't enjoy it and wanted to get work done.

It's a good atmosphere acorsd the team the majority of the team and I'm not going to ruin that with quizzes which we trialed and tested and didn't like it.

So we dumped it and now the innovation meetings work better than quizzes

Get your teams feedback on this stuff I think.

It's not everyone Cup of tea, I'd rather not waste my work and teams time with such.

There is other ways to increase communication.

Ask them, if no feedback then just engage with them in general more on work issues, get their opinions, feedback, listen more, bring others in on the chats, over time you will notice the communication Increasing.

Don't make it too formal, otherwise it cns be forced and have the opposite effect"

doc22 · 14-09-2020 11:35pm

antix80 wrote: »

Webcams on. If you have your cam on, everyone else should too. It's only manners.

Manager doesn't need to see you or your home. No one wants to let there boss see a messy bedroom or kitchen. My experience is only senior manager in office will have cam on.

silent_spark · 15-09-2020 7:36am

antix80 wrote: »

Webcams on. If you have your cam on, everyone else should too. It's only manners.

Absolutely. Not putting on your camera during a video meeting is highly unprofessional. No one cares about your kitchen, add a background if you’re worried. No one cares about your face anymore than they would in the office. People need to stop being so precious.

TP_CM · 15-09-2020 7:50am

Webcams should be optional because people do care about your face and people do care about your home, even if some people here pretend like they don't.

Some people are housesharing and are forced to work from their bedroom. I won't be letting my manager see me in bed anytime soon and if they insist on it, i will be gone. There are too many companies which understand that not everyone likes a camera in front of them.

whippet · 15-09-2020 7:59am

I have been working remotely for over 90% of the time for the last few years and webcams are really important.

Background images / blurred images take away the argument of now showing your messy bedroom.

Apart from good manners .. it is the closet you will get to eye contact and you can still read facial expressions.

As for advice for the OP .. WFH is slightly different .. don’t micro manage time but manage tasks .. Everyone’s home life is different so allow for some differences.

A 10 min call at the start of the day is great .. set out the tasks / risks / objectives for the day and review progress from the previous day.

Use screen sharing tools (like teams etc) and that is similar to looking over a shoulder to look at someone’s screen

silent_spark · 15-09-2020 8:24am

+1 for morning check ins.

Ours range from 5 to 45 minutes, but are usually around the 15 minute mark.

We go around the room and outline our workload for the day, times we’re unavailable (meetings, webinars, school pick ups etc), projects we need to organise with someone else with, troubleshooting etc.

Most days we also have a chat about what movie we watched last night, something from the news, babies not sleeping etc - normal, boring, cordial, run of the mill conversations that help everyone feel human.

I would be cautious about organised fun.

listermint · 15-09-2020 8:29am

Daily standup. Set it for 15 mins to more no less. And cut it short if necessary anything that goes over warrants a second meeting.

Enforce the cams on. Your the manager it's your job to foster engagement.

Weekly or biweekly one to ones with individuals in the team. Start with weekly and move to biweekly if needed. These should be about finding out any blockers the individuals are having and helping them remove them. Write down actions at the end of them and make sure to come back to the individual with an update from the action that can be at the next check-in or somewhere between.

Finally make sure everyone is aware what the short term and long-term goals are of your group. Being fed stuff on the fly last minute is not good.

I'm not one for the organised fun tbh. But have a chat in the one to ones and get feedback. Might be different to your own thoughts.

HerrKuehn · 15-09-2020 8:45am

+1 for a daily standup. Keep it short, say 1 min per person. Have it at the same time every day. Start even if someone won't be able to make it for 10 min. Have everyone say what they are working on and if they need anything from anyone else. If there is something else to be discussed, those who need to can stay on the call to discuss further. I find some people like to chat and take a lot of time, you need to make sure for the most part you stay within the time slot. If you do this it is easy enough to keep it going. If you allow it to start at different times, drag on for 20-30 min etc, then it disrupts the team members flow and it is harder to keep it going.

eusap · 15-09-2020 9:28am

As you are a first time manager you will find a book on Leadership a good read.

Basically Lead by Example and not by Rules,

1. When you have a call turn on YOUR webcam, gradually people will start to also
2. Set the Ground rules, you don't care about a messy kitchen/bedroom, blurred backgrounds solve this. Its important not to force it to happen but set the boundaries
3. Its also worth mentioning that it is acceptable if the children/pets come into view, we are working from home during covid and not normal times, flexibility is key.
4. Daily Standups, or Mon/Wed/Fri Standups are a good way for the team to interact. But it should be the team meeting and not your meeting.
5. Have scheduled One to Ones with the team

Mrs OBumble · 15-09-2020 7:23pm

The first thing to manage is your relationship with your own manager.

What do they want you to achieve with the team? What is their leadership style? If they tell you "implement X" - will this be consistent, or will they change their mind? Will they support you in dealing with problems?

Second, what is HR's expectation of managers in your company? In some places, you're responsible for a lot but they will coach you, in others you are little more than a team-leader.

OMM 0000 · 15-09-2020 8:44pm

I do a short team call in the morning where people discuss what they did yesterday and what they're doing today, and if there's any problems or if any help is required.

Some of my staff are very bad at prioritising things and will waste time on bull****, so these daily calls are important to make sure they're not wasting time.

Apart from that it's just chatting on slack and being understanding that working from home does not suit everyone.

jc2008 · 27-09-2020 1:19pm

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone here, these tips have been really useful and I’ll definitely incorporate some of them.

It’s a good team and I’m excited to be the manager, but between getting up to speed on the extra workload, a busier calendar than I’m used to and WFH it’s been a bit of a learning curve!

Thanks again

Sam Hain · 28-09-2020 7:44am

antix80 wrote: »

Webcams on. If you have your cam on, everyone else should too. It's only manners.

If you have time for daily check-in's, great. Just be sure to get feedback from staff individually as some might feel it's a distraction or it might be dominated by one person and have no relevance to most of the team. Just make sure to keep on the agenda and if issues are more complex arrange a separate meeting if it doesn't affect everyone.

I suggest a longer, more social meeting on Fridays. If you can stomach it, do something silly like "best background image". Maybe post some crunchies to their house with a note "do not open until Friday" (I'm cringing writing this).. when you join the meeting, make sure everyone has tea or coffee in front of them and if not tell them to grab a cup .. look you'll know yourself if your team like it. They might be very negative about it, or they might appreciate the effort.

Hello David Brent.

I'm a new manager during WFH - tips?

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