3 ways to thwart employee distraction

Business News Daily has published an article that lists 20 concerns CEOs will face in 2016 not the least of which is employee distraction. This is especially the case with employees that work from home.

As technology advances and workplaces become more flexible, working from home is becoming increasingly doable. From holding meetings on Skype to doing a group project on Google Docs to engaging—yes, engaging—live online training, there is little difference between the traditional setup of an office to working from home. So, as a senior manager, you may take a step back and trust your employees to be doing their work. Hold your horses though, because looking past the initial appeal of the option, one may find many challenges of working from home and how you handle employee distraction can impact your organization in the output of your work, your deliverables and possibly even your team members’ relationships if they are not putting in as much effort as their colleagues.

The question then arises: Whether your team is around the corner from your office, scattered across a continent or even spread across the globe, how do you reduce employee distraction and ensure employee engagement? The key is to first know how to look for warning signs. Ask yourself: Are your employees showing interest in their projects? Are they passive participants in your virtual team meetings or are they providing less feedback and more opinions?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes and studies indicate that it is the case, the following three tips can help you build an engaged virtual team:

1. Create a highly communicative environment.

If you’re going to have a highly efficient organization, you need to build an entire infrastructure of communication for your team. Let me break it down for you. Not only do you have to provide your team members the virtual tools necessary to keep in constant touch with each other but also create a space that rewards communication as a behaviour. This can be in the form of recognizing highly active members in team meetings or even praising engaged members one-on-one. If done consistently, this type of positive reinforcement can go a long way. As well, don’t let your team members get comfortable with one tool over another. Educate your team what each tool brings to the table by pointing out the benefits. Most importantly, lead by example. If your team sees you as an effective communicator, it will rub off on them.

2. Provide clear expectations.

Don’t expect your employees to know what you want from them. Lay it out further. During virtual meetings, ensure your team understands your expectations, write follow-up emails with deliverables and due dates, stay in constant touch with your team members Your team needs to know more than just the due date for projects.

3. Invest time and effort in team building.

Just because you have a virtual team, doesn’t mean your team members have to be reduced to mere email addresses and phone numbers. Bring out the human element of your employees by creating a scheduled space for team building. Team building is about spending time building authentic relationships, this is not a one time event, it is ongoing and will pay off big time. Besides creating a team of loyal employees, it will bring about an environment where people share ideas and feed off each other’s energies by virtue of healthy competition. What’s more, team building will result in greater trust and collaboration among team members.