Management By Walking Around - With Remote Teams

There are a large number of management strategies that have been pushed over the years.  The study and promotion of these approaches is a cottage industry unto itself.  One of my favorite ideas is Management By Walking Around.  This is a practice that works excellent for traditional office environments.  However, it becomes a bit of a challenge when some or all of your team is remote.

Casual Communication

A key to management by walking around is the idea that you can get all you need from informal communication.  Formal channels like status reports and meetings are sufficient.  These methods are just not the most effective.  There is also the challenge with reducing bias in communication that comes from a formal report.  When you are communicating with remote workers, it can almost always feel like the conversation is formal.  This is only heightened by so many of those workers being kept in the loop via status reports and similar scheduled communications. The disconnected way that we communicate with remote staff makes this even more of a challenge.  Our opportunities to have a conversation are limited when it takes long periods of time between responses.  Fortunately, modern technology has provided us with tools that help us have conversations with remote staff.  This can even happen when someone is on the other side of the world.

Old School

I would be amiss if I did not mention a phone call.  Rather than "dropping in" at the desk of a staff member, you can call them for brief discussions.  Allow these calls to have a sort of introduction period to remove some of the formality.  For example, ask the recipient how they are doing, what the weather is like, and if anything notable is going on.  Keep it light and casual.  Long-distance phone calls can rack up a sizeable bill.  However, you can use voice over IP tools or even video calls to achieve the same result and often at a low or free cost.

Chatting

Online chat tools like Google Talk, Slack, and similar applications are cheap, easy to use, and well-suited for informal conversations.  You often will have the option of including multiple people in the discussion or a one-to-one direct message.  These are becoming very common with teams, and a manager will find it useful to stay in the loop with these as well.  They are great tools for informal and quick conversations as you would have in a "walking around" approach. The very term "Management By Walking Around" implies physical movement.  However, that is not the case.  The modern work environment can allow you to touch base with your entire staff while never leaving your seat.  Take advantage of this way to stay close to your team and maintain a constant, helpful presence.