6 Ways To Deal With Challenges In Mentoring Remote Teams

Due to the pandemic, IT businesses and companies had to shift to remote work. As they realise the benefits of remote working, many are now looking for ways to mentor their remote teams. However, it can be challenging when you’re not physically present with your team. To help you out, here are six common challenges that you may face as a mentor and how you can overcome them.

Challenges In Mentoring Remote Teams

The section below highlights the most common challenges that mentors face while mentoring remote IT teams. Feel free to customise the suggested solutions as per the business requirements. 

Challenge #1: Lack of face-to-face communication

The lack of face-to-face interaction between team members is a big challenge for remote teams. If you’re looking to mentor a remote IT team, it can be difficult to determine whether your team members are doing their job correctly. While video calls and instant messaging platforms help, they don’t provide enough information about what’s happening behind closed doors. 

Solution: Create a culture that values communication

When you start working remotely, it can be easy to forget the importance of communicating regularly with your team members via phone calls, video chats, or email. The first step toward creating a productive remote work environment would be to establish clear goals and expectations regarding communication. 

For example, you could set aside specific hours during the week where everyone is required to check in with their teammates. It’s also recommended to have regular meetings with the entire team. Promoting transparent and frequent communication between team members can go a long way in preventing any issues from arising. 

Challenge #2: Difficulty keeping track of work progress

Another challenge that comes with remote work is that it makes it difficult to monitor the work progress of each team member. There’s no way to get an accurate idea of how much time has been spent on tasks and projects without having someone physically present. In some cases, team members don’t update project statuses until they finish them. This leads to potential delays in projects and tasks. 

Solution: Use technology to its full potential

As mentioned earlier, mentoring remote teams is a challenge since there aren’t many opportunities to observe each person daily. However, technology can play an essential role in helping you address this issue. Using technology to its full potential means using a secure communication app, project management software, collaboration platforms, and cloud storage services. 

Mentors can use these resources to ensure that their remote teams stay connected and on top of their tasks. With the right tools, remote workers can easily collaborate with one another and improve their overall remote work experience. 

Challenge #3: Limited opportunities to ask questions

In remote work, there simply aren’t many opportunities for team members to meet in person. It becomes extremely challenging to have thorough one-on-one conversations when you can only communicate via email, video calls, or chat apps. This can lead to misunderstandings, which could cause conflicts if not resolved quickly. 

Solution: Actively listen to the feedback

Communication goes hand-in-hand with listening. If you’re able to actively listen to what your employees are saying, then you’ll be able to provide better support. For instance, you can ask questions about specific topics such as job assignments, deadlines, and performance reviews. As a mentor, you can also encourage your colleagues to voice their opinions by asking them how they feel about their day-to-day activities. Listening to your employees’ feedback will allow you to identify potential problems before they escalate into conflict. 

Challenge #4: Struggle to foster a great company culture

Although most people agree that remote work can be very beneficial for both employers and employees, there are still those who question why so many companies have started shifting towards remote work. One reason could be the inability to effectively foster good cultural practises among remote teams. There isn’t always a way to enforce a good company culture within the team because of limited face-to-face interactions. For instance, regular team-building activities aren’t present during remote work. 

Solution: Show Empathy

Showing empathy can range from celebrating small accomplishments to providing adequate time off when someone needs it. Empathy is essential for remote teams because it allows people to understand each other’s situations. There are a lot of emotions that can get lost behind a computer screen, but actively showing empathy can make you a better mentor and help foster a better company culture. 

Challenge #5: Lack of motivation

Remote workers may find themselves lacking motivation, especially when they don’t see any immediate results from their efforts. Working from home can be lonely, especially if you’re not used to working in isolation. As a result, remote workers who lack motivation often tend to procrastinate, which leads to poor productivity. 

Solution: Establish clear objectives for your team

Creating clear goals can help motivate remote workers. You should set goals that are realistic and measurable. Do this by creating milestones along the way and giving your team members deadlines. These goals will keep your team focused on reaching a particular milestone.

Challenge #6: Growth as a mentor

In remote work, it’s not just the team that needs to grow; mentors need to grow too! Mentors play an important role in helping new hires learn how to become successful leaders. However, as a mentor, you may struggle to maintain growth in a remote setup. This is because you might not see your mentees or learners in person. 

Solution: Continue to learn

Mentoring takes a lot of practice. While it can be hard to gauge your growth in a remote work setup, you shouldn’t let this stop you from continuing to hone your skills. Many people have taken online courses to gain industry knowledge and skills to help them become better mentors. You may even ask your team which areas you can improve as a mentor. This allows you to objectively view your strengths and weaknesses and enables you to focus more energy on areas of improvement.

Final Thoughts

Remote work isn’t going anywhere. While remote work poses different challenges for mentoring, these challenges shouldn’t stop you from becoming an effective mentor. By identifying different ways to overcome these challenges, you’ll be able to contribute to the growth of your own team and your organization.

Looking to implement a mentoring program to overcome challenges in mentoring remote teams? Chat with our experts.