Managing From a Distance

[khan]

I wasn't sure where to place this, so I've stuck it under General Discussions.

Has anyone got any innovative ideas or succesful strategies for how managers can keep in touch with their staff when they have to travel a lot? A bit like managing virtual teams, but only in reverse...

[kevinh]

Hi khan,

Just to be sure we have this correct - the team stays in one place but the manager is often travelling ?

Assuming that is correct - how many staff ?

Kevin

[khan]

Yes, that's correct, although occasionally the team members will do some travel, but generally it's the manager that is away. The teams vary in size between 4-8 staff.

[Alli]

They could use blogging, wikis, twitter, skype, facebook or other social computing tools. If you would like some references for successful implementation go to cases2.com & for a good Australian story see http://www.e-gineer.com/v2/blog/2007...dy-of-wiki.htm

[kevinh]

How about private blog that you have to log into to view and contribute. The staff could be subscribed to get an email when there's a new post.

EDIT: Crossed post with Alli.

[khan]

Thanks for the ideas and links so far guys. I should have mentioned that I work for the government, so using things like blogs etc may be hard to get implemented because of security issues. Will have a look at what's possible anyway.

Any non-IT (other than email) ideas????

[Moz]

Well in that case I guess you're limited to telephone/video conference calls or perhaps postcards

I know this is another IT solution, but how about an in-house hosted discussion forum of some description (behind your firewall), which is accessible only to people hooked into your network via VPN ?

[kevinh]

Khan,

Despite my suggestion of using a blog, I must admit I would be quite nervous about having internal company discussions on blog, even if it was an externally hosted private blog, but I know some companies who do it.

I think the VPN solution is the way to go, accessing some sort of discussion board behind your firewall (as suggested by MOZ), although a bit more complex it would be quite secure.

Otherwise I think your options are limited to voice/video, again as already suggested.

Kevin

[MetaHR]

Does anyone have any thoughts about how to ensure team cohesion, when working in a national team?

The team in question works across three states. The manager is based in the central headoffice. There are issues based on time differences. The team have good raport with each other, but are conscious that most of their communication occurs via email. Logging in to video conferencing, doesnt always work due to the time differences.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding how communication can be enhanced in this environment?