Fostering team cohesion, collaboration, and a sense of shared purpose begins with communicating expectations and performance criteria. A strong training program gives remote team members the grounding they need to understand what is expected of them not only in performing their responsibilities, but in interacting with colleagues. What are the keys to training remote employees?

• Establish expectations immediately. It’s up to you to establish your expectations and requirements clearly. Don’t make people guess, because the guessing game leads to misunderstanding, misunderstanding leads to conflict, and conflict creates trust breakdowns. 
• Understand how your people work. Make a point of learning about new employees’ work styles and preferences rather than focusing entirely on their skills, experience, and background. Take the time to start developing a personal as well as professional relationship, which in some cultures is the basis of mutual confidence.
• Use real metrics. By creating and articulating clear parameters for individual, group, and project performance, companies support the staff’s ability to contribute their best to the organization. Programs like Trakstar, Reviewsnap, and Appraisd  can help you gauge the progress of your remote people.

Training and building expectations can be especially challenging when your team

Fostering team cohesion, collaboration, and a sense of shared purpose begins with communicating expectations and performance criteria. A strong training program gives remote team members the grounding they need to understand what is expected of them not only in performing their responsibilities, but in interacting with colleagues. What are the keys to training remote employees?

• Establish expectations immediately. It’s up to you to establish your expectations and requirements clearly. Don’t make people guess, because the guessing game leads to misunderstanding, misunderstanding leads to conflict, and conflict creates trust breakdowns. 
• Understand how your people work. Make a point of learning about new employees’ work styles and preferences rather than focusing entirely on their skills, experience, and background. Take the time to start developing a personal as well as professional relationship, which in some cultures is the basis of mutual confidence.
• Use real metrics. By creating and articulating clear parameters for individual, group, and project performance, companies support the staff’s ability to contribute their best to the organization. Programs like Trakstar, Reviewsnap, and Appraisd  can help you gauge the progress of your remote people.

Training and building expectations can be especially challenging when your team has culturally diverse attitudes toward titles and seniority, expectations regarding supervision, and willingness to speak up about ideas or problems. A vigorous training program can help them to become the employees you need and ensure their comfort with the workplace and job satisfaction.

Read the Managing a Distributed Workforce guide to learn how setting the right expectations and helping your people follow through can fuel a productive remote team.

has culturally diverse attitudes toward titles and seniority, expectations regarding supervision, and willingness to speak up about ideas or problems. A vigorous training program can help them to become the employees you need and ensure their comfort with the workplace and job satisfaction.

 

Read the Managing a Distributed Workforce guide to learn how setting the right expectations and helping your people follow through can fuel a productive remote team.