by Doreen Martel

Created on: December 17, 2009

If you work at home, there is a chance you are going to at some point take on the role of working with a team. If you manage that team, the role of work at home manager will be one that may not seem to be that difficult. Most people understand the role of a traditional manager but, the role of a work at home manager has some interesting challenges.

Communication - While being a manager means being a good communicator, being a work at home manager means that you have to have excellent communication skills.  You will be solely responsible for monitoring the work of your work at home team members, hiring and firing team members and keeping your work at home team members motivated. Your communication skills will have a significant impact on your entire team.  Set up regular team meetings just as you would in a traditional office.  Make time to communicate with team members individually as well.  You can utilize many online tools to do this such as Skype or other communication tools.

Scheduling - Make sure that your schedule overlaps the schedule of your team members. If you are working from 8am to 5pm and your team members are working 5pm to 11pm you are definitely going to face some challenges.  Your team members schedules do not have to mirror your schedule, but there should be at least 2-3 hours a day when they do overlap.  This will keep you visible to your team and they will feel more confident that you are there to assist with problems that may arise during the day.

Empower - One of the biggest challenges that a work at home team manager will face is how much responsibility to give to team members.  Your role as a work at home manager is to ensure that your team feels that you support them when they make decisions.  Empower your work at home team members to make decisions and make sure that you defend their decisions.  Before you give a work at home team member additional authority, make sure you discuss with them what the restrictions and guidelines will be.

Expectations - As a work at home manager, part of your role will be setting clear expectations for your work at home team members. If you find that your work at home team members are not meeting expectations, you will need to find out why.  Ensuring that you are clear on what work is to be done and when will help your work at home team members understand the goals and expectations.

Summary

Your role as a work at home manager is not that much different than that of a traditional manager. These are the most significant differences as you will likely not have the opportunity to work with your work at home team members side by side.  If you interview team members carefully and select your team with overall goals in mind, there is no reason you can't success in your role as a work at home manager.

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