March 2020, and just in a matter of 2 hours, I was told to wrap up everything I had in my office and be prepared to manage my projects from my home office until further updates were shared. With my house only a 7-minute walk from work, I was thinking, as I walked home, that this should not change anything until a daunting thought emerged… “How would I communicate with all the trade crews and listen to their concerns? How would I go to the site to see progress and perform safety inspections? How would I attend the joint safety meetings where I build relationships with new crew members? How?”
In the rapidly evolving landscape of modern business, project management methodologies have undergone a revolutionary transformation. Gone are the days of conventional, office-bound workflows; instead, a new paradigm has emerged that embraces the power of remote project management. As technology continues to advance and global connectivity strengthens, businesses of all sizes are increasingly adopting remote work models to optimize their operations and empower their teams.
Having said that, the primary responsibilities of a project manager remain the same, whether it be a traditional office workspace or team members spread across the globe. What has really changed during the recent digital transformation is the need for greater adaptability to changing business needs. This could be leveraged through many transferable skills learned through different experiences. Decision-making, communication skills, and leading teams are just some of the skills that an individual can bring to his/her life as a Program Manager. Project Managers are still responsible for an effective flow of information within and between teams and ensuring stakeholder engagement is maintained at the desired level. How this could get accomplished in a remote environment is the center of our focus today.
With the recent shift from traditional project management to remote project management comes a need for the exploration of tools and methods that optimize the evolving communication media. Where traditional in-person meetings allowed stakeholders to have access to communication cues such as body language, the remote environment needs to make an extra effort to leverage this digital transformation to share the same quality of information.
In my view, remote communication offers greater flexibility and efficiency employing digital mediums of communication. There are many options available now: e-mail messages could be used for formal communication, MS Teams chat creates an environment for a continuous flow of information, and MS Teams calls (audio and video) provide channels for urgent and face-to-face communication. I agree that virtual meetings do not offer the same human experience that is leveraged to build relationships in face-to-face interactions, but this era of remote project management provides many benefits, which outweigh the sacrifices team members have to make. One of my personal habits to build relationships is to take 15 mins on a weekly basis to engage a team member through MS Teams chat and discuss things outside of work responsibilities. It could be sharing pointers for the next travel destination, sharing ideas on investment plans, or discussing the needs of aging parents. You would be amazed at what wonders a simple chat can bring to your team dynamics.
Remote project management environments not only create higher productivity within teams, but also establish trust between members as did in-person environments. Trust is something that is established when people hold themselves accountable to what they promise. Virtual environments remove the added anxiety experienced in office environments with respect to deadlines and allow teams to create the most suitable work environments for them. The more the environment is adapted to a member\’s needs, the greater his/her productivity and the greater the chances that the team member will deliver on his/her commitments. This environment is also beneficial to organizations as it enables early identification of members who might not be a good fit for the team.
With the advent of remote project management, there is great flexibility for project managers to choose from several mediums of communication (MS Teams, e-mail, phone), but at the same time, it increases the accountability on project managers to ensure teams deliver. How the future of remote project management shapes is entirely in the hands of the current project management community and its adaptation outlook. In my view, the realization of benefits of remote project management has just begun and the coming few years are to see nothing but more benefits to organizations, stakeholders, project teams, and customers. This is an exciting era of exploration that will be followed by optimization of remote and hybrid work environments.
