Optimizing Your Remote Workforce in Times of Crisis

On a typical day at the office, managing a workforce in-person is challenging. As more and more businesses are evolving toward a virtual workplace, the need for leaders to optimize their remote teams is more critical than ever. While typical office communication problems have no discretion for the type of workforce they will go on to plague, remote work teams can be most vulnerable.

Not only does communication become a concern, but how we actually communicate as leaders with our remote workforce becomes a concern.

According to FlexJobs, within the last 10 years, 91% of businesses have drastically been making the shift towards a more remote-based infrastructure. With more flexibility, a remote workforce presents many opportunities to businesses, including:

• Lower cost of operation
• Higher rates of retention; lower rates of turnover
• A happier, more productive workforce
• Accessibility of markets, customers, vendors and additional resources
• A broader pool of qualified talent
• A 90% higher rate of job acceptance

While we experience the same types of conflict and communication issues in a brick-and-mortar environment, in the virtual team scenario you can almost always expect disruptions to occur – especially where globalization is concerned. Whether we are experiencing challenges related to time zones and language, or barriers associated with differences in culture, we will find communication is king and the greatest difference comes from understanding the various personalities and behavioral styles that make up our team. And, with a greater number of remote employees and different personalities to manage, collectively brings the need for business leaders to learn how to overcome the top challenges of teams working remotely.

Understanding DISC personality types, underlying behaviors and motivators of others will help you better understand and optimize your remote workforce.

DISC is a comprehensive tool used by organizations across the world. It allows us to understand the people we encounter, and more effectively predict their behaviors. Used in various situations, we are able to predict how a person will act within certain environments, their strengths and how they operate under pressure. We are able to understand complimentary personality types and place talent into positions where they would cause the most resonance, industry-wide.

A remote workforce, no matter how nontraditional the team dynamic, can really benefit from a DISC-based assessment and 4D behavioral analysis. Not only can we optimize our teams, based on these findings, but we can establish a clear vision that serves as a motivator for all within. We are better able to identify our weaknesses and enhance the strengths of all those involved.

By understanding our workforce, we can separate those personalities that clash, while pairing those that inspire. Training programs can be provided to develop those traits which most benefit the team, and minimize those which cause the most harm.

DISC has been said to be the international language of human behavior and no matter the cultural differences, DISC personalities “speak the same language.” Nonetheless, it’s also important to note how you can use DISC for a globalized workforce.

DISC can be used to combat the most common issues plaguing the remote workforce.

Businesses need leaders who understand people, and who can address the needs of local cultures, values, and expectations. They need leaders who keep projects and remote team members on-task and accountable, while working together to meet client needs and company goals. Leadership is situational and directly tied to the behavioral style of each personality, based on what they value most. In essence, you can have one type without the other.

An “I" type personality, for example, may excel in driving collaboration by initiating healthy conversation between team members, while “S” styles excel in the ability to resolve conflict by acting as peacemakers, ensuring satisfactory results in all we do. “C” styles might assess the remote infrastructure and develop training programs to combat all we’re doing wrong, while the “D” takes unorthodox measure to make sure we get the job done!

Open communication with your remote community is more necessary than ever in continually meeting customer-related needs. However, without the right mix, we aren’t going to reach our full potential and may not necessarily reach our ultimate success, whether replicating top performers, engaging in predictive hiring or building successful teams.

Get DISC certified and learn how understanding the behaviors and motivators of your team members can keep your business moving forward and managing remote teams less daunting.