Great Expectations is superb reading, but clear expectations are what sets your remote team up for success. For distributed teams, where geographic boundaries and time zones separate members of your team, clarity is not simply helpful—it’s essential.
The importance of clarity in remote work
Establishing and developing your remote team gives your business, and your team, ultimate flexibility and access to global expertise. There’s a significant challenge, however, that you have to overcome to ensure your team operates at maximum efficiency. In a traditional office setting, getting clarity on a task or a question would be as simple as walking over to someone’s desk. In a remote work setting, however, that’s not possible. In this context, ambiguity can lead to misunderstandings, missed deadlines, and reduced productivity. That’s why you need to set, and stick to, clear expectations. These expectations act as a roadmap for your team members, guiding them on what needs to be done, how it should be done, and when it should be completed. When everyone is absolutely clear on what’s required of them, you build a business culture that operates on the key principles of accountability, excellent communication, and goal achievement. Most importantly, clear expectations reduce the stress and uncertainty that can arise in remote work environments, empowering your team members to focus on their tasks with confidence.
What happens when you don’t set clear expectations
If you don’t set clear expectations, your remote team will suffer. Miscommunication becomes a frequent issue, as different team members may interpret tasks differently. A lack of explicit guidelines leads to inconsistent results and confusion. This lack of clarity can also lead to missed deadlines, as ambiguity surrounding priorities or timelines disrupts project progress and coordination. Unclear expectations can negatively affect your team’s morale, leaving team members feeling frustrated or uncertain about their roles and responsibilities within your business. Inefficiency is another consequence, as time is wasted clarifying misunderstandings or correcting mistakes that could have been avoided with proper communication.
How to set clear expectations
While it is a significant challenge you’ll need to overcome, it’s not impossible. A deliberate, focused, and effective communication plan helps you to set clear expectations. Here’s how to set clear expectations for your distributed team:
- Clearly define roles and responsibilities: Every member of your team should have a clear understanding of their role within your business. Make sure they fully understand their specific responsibilities, reporting structures, and performance metrics. Detailed job descriptions are a must, as these help you ensure that everyone is on the same page, from day one.
- Establish measurable goals: Every member of your remote team should have a set of metrics, or KPIs, that you and they can track to ensure that their job is getting done, in accordance with your business goals. Make sure these goals are extremely specific. For example, a badly described goal would be “improve social media engagement. A well defined, measurable goal would be “increase Instagram engagement by 20% within 3 months.”
- Build a communication framework: Effective communication is the backbone of any successful remote team. Establish clear protocols for how and when team members should communicate to ensure that everyone stays informed. Schedule regular check-ins via video calls to discuss progress and address concerns. Use project management tools like Trello or Asana to track tasks and deadlines. Encourage open channels for asynchronous communication through platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams.
- Set clear deadlines: Your team members will not know how to prioritise their tasks if you don’t set clear deadlines. When you set clear deadlines, you empower your team to structure their work schedule and assign priority levels. When you assign projects or deliverables, specify due dates and any interim milestones. This helps your team members prioritise their work effectively and ensures that projects stay on track.
- Give detailed guidelines: The enemy of clarity is ambiguity. Ambiguity leads to a loss of productivity across your team. Give every team member highly detailed instructions for tasks whenever possible. This includes outlining expected outcomes, preferred methods or tools, and any relevant resources or references.
- Support feedback loops: Feedback is a two-way street that supports mutual understanding between managers and team members. Regularly ask for feedback from your team about their workload, challenges they face, or areas where they need more clarity. Similarly, provide constructive feedback on their performance to reinforce expectations and guide improvement. You can provide feedback through your structured check-ins or on individual tasks.
Build trust through transparency
Setting clear expectations is not just about defining tasks. It’s about building trust within your team. Transparency helps you build and maintain a culture where each team member feels valued and informed about how their contributions affect your business success. Share insights into your business goals, upcoming projects, or changes in strategy with your team on a regular basis. As a business leader, your transparency builds trust, and helps to set clear expectations that every team member fully understands.
At Remote Team Connect, we know that clarity is the foundation upon which great remote teams are built. Whether you’re managing your first remote hire or scaling a global workforce, setting clear expectations will pay dividends in productivity, morale, and your business success.
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