Jul 19, 2024 6 min read

Management Over Zoom

Like pretty much all of us, our daily routines were turned upside down in February 2020 when COVID lockdowns hit. Most of us who were used to braving Bay Area traffic for an hour found it a relief that we could just work from home in the comfort of our pajamas, waking up 2 minutes before our 9am standup and gaining back all that lost time. I too shared that mindset in the first few weeks of the lockdown.

But over time, I began noticing some unique challenges in working with a fully remote workforce. While Individual Contributors (ICs) loved the fact that they could work uninterrupted, I was a manager - and a manager needs to understand where things are, how people are doing, influence and take decisions - all without micromanaging and scheduling endless catch-up calls. What could be done subconsciously while observing people work at an office suddenly became anxiety-inducing.

A Head Start with Remote Management

This wasn't entirely new territory for me. Since 2016, I was one of the few people working out of the San Francisco office for my startup while my entire team was based in Bengaluru. When our startup got acquired by Hearst in November 2020 (entirely over Zoom, I must say), I was tasked with leading a growing engineering team during the 2.5 years I was there. This presented a new challenge: managing people I barely knew in a completely virtual environment. Continuing that trend, in my currently role leading engineering for radar360, I am building teams in Chennai and Bengaluru while sitting 12.5 hours away in San Francisco.

Key Strategies for Effective Remote Management

1. Lead with Empathy

When you're not seeing someone face-to-face, you miss out on many subtle signals about how they're doing. It's easy to overthink delays or assume "away" statuses mean someone is slacking off. Remote management requires developing a new kind of emotional intelligence.

Let me share a personal example: I once had a team member who seemed unfocused and wasn't completing tasks on time. In a remote environment, it's easy to jump to conclusions about productivity issues. Instead of making assumptions, I scheduled a one-on-one and simply asked how they were doing. This opened up a conversation where they shared that their spouse was dealing with medical conditions, requiring frequent doctor visits and support. With this understanding, we were able to adjust their schedule to accommodate these important personal needs.

While such situations might have been noticeable in an office setting too, remote work tends to magnify our perception of productivity gaps. When we can't see the human behind the screen, we need to be even more intentional about:

Pay attention to written communication tone and patterns
Schedule regular one-on-ones focused on wellbeing, not just tasks
Acknowledge the challenges of remote work openly
Give people the benefit of the doubt when communication hiccups occur
Create safe spaces for personal conversations

2. Overcommunicate, But Don't Overwhelm

In a remote environment, there's no such thing as too much clarity, but there is such a thing as too many meetings:

Document decisions and discussions thoroughly
Use asynchronous communication channels effectively; no communication should be on private chats unless absolutely necessary
Set clear expectations about response times
Create structured channels for different types of communication

One additional method that I practiced was always emphasizing the "why" rather than the "how". I spent a lot of time documenting my intention and vision, and I spent a lot of the meeting times explaining why I wanted to take something in a particular direction. I also always welcomed collaboration and input from others but the final decision was always with me. This was tiring and time consuming in the beginning but this turned out incredibly helpful when the team size grew. Teammates began to understand "how" I made decisions and they could take day-to-day decisions without inputs from me. This also meant fewer escalations to me.

3. Empower Regional Teams

Since I clearly communicated the "why", I could essentially delegate and empower people within the same region:

Create regional pods or sub-teams where possible
Account for time zones when structuring teams
Enable local decision-making where appropriate
Foster regional team culture while maintaining global connectivity

What this allowed me to do was to have a sync up my night with my Indian team leads on priorities for the day and I wake up in the morning to progress updates and sometimes even completion. This meant my team could effectively work 24/5 since my other teams were based out of New York and Ukraine. This definitely cannot be done on day one and needs one to gain some trust in the first place. But once established, it is truly empowering.

Building Trust in Remote Teams

One of the most critical aspects of remote management is building trust, which becomes even more challenging when you can't have casual coffee chats or impromptu hallway conversations. Here's how I approached building trust with teams I had never met in person:

Start with Small Steps

Begin with well-defined, smaller tasks that allow team members to demonstrate reliability
Provide clear success criteria and regular feedback
Celebrate small wins publicly and learn from setbacks privately
Gradually increase responsibility as confidence builds on both sides

Be Consistently Available

Maintain predictable "office hours" across time zones
Respond promptly to messages, even if just to acknowledge receipt
Follow through on commitments, no matter how small
Be transparent about your own challenges and mistakes

Create Psychological Safety

Make it safe to ask questions and raise concerns
Encourage experimentation and treat failures as learning opportunities
Share credit for successes and take responsibility for failures
Protect your team from external pressures while keeping them informed

Demonstrate Trust First

I found that to receive trust, you need to extend it first. This meant:

Sharing strategic information openly
Involving team members in important decisions
Backing their decisions publicly, even if you might have made a different choice
Giving them space to implement solutions their way, focusing on outcomes rather than methods

Trust Takes Time

Building trust remotely requires patience. In my experience, it took about 3-4 months of consistent interaction before team members felt truly comfortable taking major decisions independently. The investment in building trust pays off exponentially - what starts as needing approval for every decision eventually becomes autonomous execution aligned with team goals.

The Reality Check

While remote work has its advantages, we must acknowledge its limitations. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pointed out, there are consequences to embracing remote work permanently. The key is finding the right balance for your team and organization.

What We've Gained:

Eliminated commute time
Increased flexibility for team members
Better work-life balance for many
Access to global talent
Reduced office overhead

What We Need to Work On:

Building and maintaining team culture
Spontaneous collaboration and creativity
Mentorship and learning opportunities
Mental health and burnout prevention
Clear boundaries between work and personal life

The Blurred Lines of Remote Work

One of the most significant challenges of remote work is the blurring of work-life boundaries. Without the physical separation of an office, people tend to fall into one of two extremes: they either work constantly because their home has become their office, or they struggle to focus because home feels like it should be a place of rest.

Setting Healthy Boundaries

As managers, we need to actively help our teams establish and maintain healthy work-life boundaries:

Encourage the creation of a dedicated workspace when possible
Respect and model regular working hours
Avoid sending non-urgent communications outside of working hours
Support team members in setting up "work start" and "work end" rituals
Recognize that different team members may need different scheduling flexibility

The goal isn't to enforce rigid schedules but to help people find their sustainable rhythm. Some team members might prefer early mornings while others are more productive in the evenings. The key is having clear boundaries between "work mode" and "personal mode," whatever those hours may be.

Looking Forward

The future of work will likely be hybrid, combining the best aspects of remote and in-person collaboration. As managers, our role is to continue adapting our leadership style to support our teams effectively, regardless of their physical location.

The most important lesson I've learned is that successful remote management isn't about controlling or monitoring - it's about enabling, supporting, and trusting your team to deliver their best work, wherever they are.