What are effective strategies for supporting remote team members with personal or family issues?

1. Constante comunicación, siempre preguntar como están. 2. Ganarse la confianza, mostrarse vulnerable es un buen inicio. 3. El verdadero aprecio e interés es evidente. Muéstrenlo. 4. Constancia y consistencia entre el mensaje y las acciones.

Recognize that people are human first and employees second. I feel in our pursuit of productivity it's easy to lose sight of the human element. If your goal is to have to long lasting employees who are loyal and will work toward winning, then there must be a sincere wish for the well being of your staff. When supporting team members facing outside work challenges, empathy is key! Open door policy, 1:1 meetings, and just plain asking... how the heck are ya!? And finally live by the golden rule... Treat others as you would want to be treated.

To me "Empathy" is the key word. It's also key to facilitating remote team members in order to ensure their optimum out put and performance. While agreeing with all distinguished contributors, I would add my two cents with respect to supporting remote members: 1. Timely performance and out put should be sole criterion; how and when they actually undertook task may not be of concern. 2. There are several ways to perform a task so it's always the end (out put) which matters. 3. The responsibility of virtual Team Lead is more responsible and challenging to identify the needs, be it financial or competency through capacity building. 4. My experience has made me believe that every human has its own kind utility to be explored.

En mi experiencia he podido comprobar que es muy valorado por las personas que su supervisor se preocupe no solo por los resultados de su trabajo sino por el bienestar personal. La preocupación sincera generará un lazo fuerte de confianza, respeto y reciprocidad; que se verán reflejado en los resultados de su trabajo

Help the employee opt for an Employee Assistance Programme to boost his/ her mental well being and confidence Schedule regular meetings with the employee to check on his/ her progress with respect to coping up with personal issues. The meeting should always carry a personal touch and words of caring Genuinely appreciate their contribution to work during these difficult times and also give them the assurance that the organization is there for them to support in these troubled times Seek open feedback with respect to any special assistance required by the employee and provide the same if viable.

To assist remote team members in resolving personal or family issues, offering flexibility and autonomy is key. By providing flexible schedules or remote work options, you afford your team the freedom to tailor their schedules to accommodate personal needs. Encourage autonomy in task management by setting clear goals and allowing varied working methods. This approach promotes a work-life balance, enabling team members to address personal issues while maintaining productivity.

You get what you give. If you treat people as grown ups, they behave like adults. With my team I agree on impact, not hours of work. Manage your own time, be responsible, know how to be available even if out of your desk. Work from home, from the park, from a coffee house. Work as you prefer. If your family needs you, be there. If a Friday afternoon the sun is out, go and get sunshine. Add your value, respect the rest of the team, let your colleagues know what is going on, do not let people down. Isn’t this just being a responsible grown-up? You get what you give.

Providing flexibility to a remote colleague facing personal issues is very important to earn his/her overall long term engagement to the teamwork. This may be exercised by prior planning for back up options in the projects each team member is working on, who can help a needy colleague in time of personal emergencies. In such time, each of them will have a delegation advantage, hence not affecting the team outcome. This way everyone can feel respected and engaged by having the benefit of trust.

Support them as best you can. Give them time and space as required without pressure. A drop in their productivity now is not important if you value them.

Here is when EMPOWERING plays a critical role and I believe we can take it a step further to truly empower our remote teams. Here's how: Establish Clear Communication Channels: While flexibility is key, it's equally important to have clear, open lines of communication. This ensures that team members feel comfortable sharing their needs without fear of judgment or professional consequences. Regular Check-ins Ocasional one-on-one meetings can help managers stay attuned to the evolving needs of their team members

Work with your HR team to ensure your employees are aware of all the benefits available to them. This includes child care, mental health benefits, and anything else that could be of benefit.

Working from home blurs the lines between life and work, creating a jumble of challenges in one pot. The fix? Remote workers need regular breaks and better sync-ups with the team. It's like teaching them the art of separating work and personal life ingredients. Leaders, remember: remote workers often mix personal stuff into their work stew more than others!

Fostering a culture where people take care of themselves physically, mentally and emotionally has competitive advantages for a high performance operation. Focusing on their overall health will reduce any risk of loosing great employees.

The vast majority of my department work remotely, and this year we have had a huge focus on self-care and well-being. We now have initiatives each month. It doesn’t take much, just a simple nudge towards looking after yourself will do, but the benefit is significant. There was an initial fear that it would create more problems, or raise concerns that we weren’t equipped to deal with. However it helped our team, as we better understood what people were going through outside of work. It actually made us more productive. When the situation came up that we weren’t equipped to deal with we had our external resources available. An employee support program through Perkbox. It helps to have such an amazing HR team also.

In my experieince having conversation about self care is very important and reaching out to people when needed be it somebody they trust in thier closed circle or external help with a counsellor definely helps

- During meetings, acknowledge specific contributions publicly despite personal challenges. For example: "Thank you [team members] for their outstanding work [on the project] despite personal challenges." - Personal challenges need to be shared and openness expressed. For example: "I too have faced difficult times; let's support each other. Reach out when needed." - Encourage sharing of coping strategies. For example: "What strategies work for you? Let's exchange tips for effectively navigating personal challenges."

This is probably the most important thing one can do as a team leader for members who are going through tough times. In my experience of managing a remotely operating team, I have found that celebrating individual successes during daily/weekly calls for such members, makes them form a reliable connection with their work. On the other side of the coin, it's better to avoid public critique of some inconsistent lapses in their work.

In my opinion, every team member contributes something to the greater picture, and achievements and accomplishments are a result of collective efforts. Hence, as a leader, I feel the responsibility to provide recognition and credit to outstanding individuals in my team, and the recognition should not be limited to the individual or the team, but rather be to the leadership of the organization to showcase the efforts, hard-work, and commitment of the team.

When praising a team member, I do it in public in front of colleagues so that they learn on what's best to do. When rebuking or repremanding, I call the affected person and we have a dialogue on how to proceed to avoid such misfortunes.

The number one reason why people leave jobs will always be a lack of recognition. Recognition comes in many forms: salary, promotion, praise etc. But most of the time it's simply the feeling that effort goes 'unseen' that makes people leave. As a leader, make it a habit to always voice what you perceive. Be fair, be straightforward and be reflective.

A good leader must always be approachable and your team should always feel they can talk to you. Including speaking about confidential/personal issues which may be affecting them achieving a high level of performance. This will only be achieved through building trust with each member of your team.

If you are a leader, you should keep your self close to each one of your team! Offer your help when needed and you will notice a positive payback!

إذا لاحظت تغيراً في السلوك أو الأداء فاسأل؛ السؤال دليل اهتمام كبير، ثم اعرض المساعدة، مجرد اللطف قد يكون أعظم حافز وهدية لأفراد فريقك.

Lors de mes différentes expériences, 3 modes ont été utiles pour la vie de l’équipe et l’avancement dans la sérenite et l’efficacité malgré les difficultés : > Disponibilité pour répondre aux questions - un manager est là pour son équipe > Flexibilité - si la relation de confiance existe avec son équipe alors aucun problème pour que chacun gère son emploi du temps selon ses contraintes personnels - un manager doit fixer un cadre pour favoriser l’autonomie > Bienveillance - avoir une écoute bienveillante avec son équipe - un manager doit accompagner La contrepartie de cela pour créer un pacte gagnant / gagnant est >l’exigence >la confiance mutuelle >la transparence

You stay close! Working remotely does not mean you won't be able to help when needed. Ask how you can help and don't focus on if you can help. Show your team empathy is the way, so that you build a supportive ecosystem.

In the short term, it may be necessary to temporarily adjust their workload. This can create space for them to better deal with what they are facing. This can include delegating some tasks to others, extending deadlines, or reducing the complexity of their work. This approach acknowledges the challenges the employee is facing and provides tangible support to help manage their work-life balance. Do this transparently and in collaboration with the employee. Set time bound parameters around the adjustments and stay connected through regular check-ins. When short term adjustments are not enough, encourage them to pursue longer term options, such as leaves of absences or short term disability. Through all of this, consult with HR for guidance.

It is crucial to create a supportive and empathetic culture within your team. You can achieve this by encouraging team members to support one another and promoting a sense of community. This can help create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their struggles and asking for help when needed.

Integrating remote team members became the norm during Covid times, but of course it can still be a challenge. I make sure that I have regular 1-1 meetings, even to just checkin and have a virtual coffee, making sure people feel supported and part of the team is key to building trust and collaboration. If a personal or family situation occurs with a remote team member, I treat them the same as any other team member, to do this I put all business topics aside and really focus on the issue. Family is the most important thing, so giving employees the trust and flexibility to have family time is important. Create a safe space where employees know the management and team has their back when personal support is needed.

Il serait réducteur de penser qu 'il existe une seule et unique façon de gérer une telle situation. Pour apporter la bonne réponse il faut déjà bien comprendre et connaître son équipe et avoir une empathie sincère. Sans être exhaustive, certain vont avoir besoin de plus de flexibilité, d autre de support ou d'encouragement, d autre encore juste de conseil et d'écoute. Dans tous les cas la clé reste la communication et la confiance la marque d'un vrai leader.

First and foremost is to consider yourself being in that position. Then feel and think of what would you expect as support from the organization. Once you have the list ready, identify all supporting actors to keep the show running in absence of the impacted team member. Explain how a team manages for one of their own in such cases, and how this would remain the same for others. Once you have a realistic commitment, convey the plan to the team member as coming from their team, not from the manager or organization. Assure them that they will not be penalised for this, in fact, they can count on the support to the extent of taking liberty till things come back to normal and then they can always make it up to the rest of the team.