SmartBrief Article: Managing the Virtual Workforce

After 23 year in contact center outsourcing, Kim Houlne, founder and chief executive of Working Solutions, knows the ins and outs of leading an on-demand, out-of-the-office workforce.

Her advice is sound for businesses with work-from-home employees or for those using remote, independent contractors. The same, good-sense guidelines apply for getting the best out of workers when they operate virtually.

Houlne outlines some dos and don’ts for leadership in her recent viewpoint, “Managing the virtual workforce,” which appears in SmartBrief, a digital media publisher for leaders and professionals.
In this excerpt, she writes:

“A three-part workforce management strategy is necessary to succeed. Here’s why and how:

1. Belonging builds a better business. Great care should be taken to create a strong, inclusive culture where offsite workers feel motivated and part of a thriving concern.
2. Remote works well when it’s disciplined. Proven processes, enabled by integrated technology, need to be in place to promote efficiencies and productivity gains of an on-demand model.
3. Distant doesn’t mean being detached. Special effort is required to build and maintain lines of communications among remote workers spread far and wide to foster camaraderie.”

The entire piece is a worthwhile for leaders of virtual workers, whatever their industries.

And they should keep this in mind: As the nature of work changes, becoming much more mobile, a leader’s mindset needs to be as fluid as the workforce being managed.