Keeping Virtual Teams Real: Successfully Managing Off-site Staff

by Phyllis Cartwright,RHIA, CCS

For managers of staff who work off-site, good communication is the key to establishing more than a remote connection. Gone are casual practices such as "management by walking around."

HIM departments understand firsthand the need to tap into talent across geographic boundaries, and many already benefit from advances in networking and collaborative technology. Over the past decade, working remotely from home, client sites, regional offices, and on the road have become common work arrangements.

Those advances are reconfiguring HIM departments, creating teams comprised of staff who work on- and off-site. In other departments, staff may be entirely remote. Managers must adapt in order to effectively lead cohesive, high-performing teams in the new virtual workplace.

That’s not always easy. The physical separation of manager and staff challenges many traditional management techniques. Gone are practices such as “management by walking around.”

Virtual offices change how people communicate and work with each other, transfer information, establish authority and rules, and perform and measure performance. Although emerging collaboration, networking, and remote-access technologies provide the IT infrastructure for a virtual workplace, changes in organizational culture and behavior are the key to its ultimate success.

Real Communication for Virtual Staff

Successful remote workers are disciplined and self-motivated; however, they do not want to be ignored. Poor communication is one of the most common complaints of virtual employees, and it often is caused by a lack of interaction with the manager or other team members.

Virtual staff need contact with their coworkers and managers to maximize productivity, quality, and a sense of community. Managers must find the right mix of technology and communication to provide remote staff with the connection they need.

Organizations that rely on virtual workers have four main areas of management concern: building trust; establishing commitment; ensuring self-efficacy; and managing communication among the virtual work force. Strong communication is at the heart of each issue.

Trust is the key to any relationship, but it’s particularly important for managers and staff who don’t see each other daily. Just as in an office, if an employee doesn’t immediately answer the phone doesn’t mean that the person is goofing around. Remote staff are entitled to a lunch hour, breaks, and trips to the restroom, just as office-based staff are. Being within sight does not guarantee staff are being productive. Managers need only recall the many distractions in a traditional office—surfing the Web, e-mailing friends, and visiting colleagues at their cubicles.

Managers must remember that employees were hired to perform specific jobs and that the results are more important than the settings. Managing staff by results is critical in a virtual setting, and managers should focus on what’s accomplished.

Clear Expectations, Consistent Communication

All staff, whether on- or off-site, rely on clearly defined goals to direct and measure their work. For staff working off-site, communicating those expectations fully is especially crucial. A great amount of information is communicated informally in office settings—through hallway conversations and chats at a cubicle.

Remote staff deserve that same access, and providing them with full and current information requires a more organized effort. Managers should document project expectations, changes, and updates in writing and distribute them via e-mail or fax.

Most coding professionals now working remotely, for example, once worked on-site at a hospital. There, deciphering clinical documentation and coding puzzles was made easier by walking to the next cubicle and consulting with a colleague. Now, coding in more isolated surroundings requires creative solutions to maintain coding quality, monitor productivity, and staff appropriately.

Collaborative technologies that allow for document sharing and shared project tracking help keep everyone in the loop. Good use of teleconferences, e-mail, and instant messaging can boost connectivity with coworkers and managers. Webinars and interactive online software enable staff to see the same presentation whether on-site or off.

As helpful as these technologies are, managers must be highly organized and adept at communicating both in writing and over the phone. Managers once familiar with keeping the lines of communication open by stopping by offices throughout the day are seeking new ways to replicate that interaction virtually.

Regularly scheduled conference calls are essential. They help managers understand if the expected results are on target and, if not, whether adjustments or further discussions are needed. New staff in particular benefit from regularly scheduled check-ins to discuss their work and progress. Consistent communication also lets the new hire know that the manager is accessible.

Regular contact is also important to maintain staff morale. In a traditional office setting, it is easy to compliment someone by stopping at his or her office to say “good job.” For off-site employees, acknowledgment can require more effort. Sending a simple e-mail or picking up the phone to say “I’m thinking of you and the high quality work you’ve done lately” can make a world of difference to a remote worker.

In addition to investing in adequate IT, companies must have an IT department capable of clearly communicating with virtual employees through any tech crisis. Companies should also have a plan for troubleshooting an employee’s computer, quickly recovering important files, and overnight delivery of new equipment when necessary.

Measuring Program Success

HIM professionals must assess the effectiveness of the program and position organizations for improved operational performance. In using this approach, managers can select a blend of short-term and long-term quantitative and qualitative measures of success.

Expected short-term quantitative measures would include productivity (e.g., if remote staff have sufficient hardware and connectivity to accomplish the required work for each assignment). From a long-term perspective, managers must provide the support necessary to ensure that high-quality technology is available to the virtual work force. From a qualitative perspective, both short- and long-term measures are validated through stable high-quality work, the goal of every HIM department, no matter where its staff work.

Phyllis Cartwright (pcartwright@precysesolutions.com) is director of remote coding at Precyse Solutions, LLC.