Working remotely doesn’t have to feel like working in a silo –especially when your advisors work across multiple time zones and many states. If you prepare in advance of their deployment to remote work locations, you can easily and successfully run a remote private client advisor team.

According to Forbes, “To start, managers need to understand factors that can make remote work, especially demanding. Otherwise, high-performing employees may experience declines in job performance and engagement when they begin working remotely, especially in the absence of preparation and training.

That said, the majority of many well-intentioned organizations are made up of already actively or passively disengaged employees. So, imagine how working remotely impacts their level of engagement, performance, and connection to the mission?”

The goal of leading a successful remote team is to tear down the silos and bring the team together, even if virtually.

Come Together Using These Tips

Instead of isolating your remote advisors, bring them together with practices like these:

• Establish clear performance expectations. Set goals and milestones from the beginning so that remote advisors know the objectives.
• Use communication technology for scheduling, messaging and maintaining a directory.
• Select self-directed candidates who can set priorities and meet them. Your recruiter can help you assess this trait in applicants.
• Seek out diversity in candidates by interviewing people unlike those already on your team.
• Establish productivity processes that streamline advisory solutions.
• Onboard, train, and support your new hires. Knowledge is power. Provide remote advisors with as much information as possible, and teach them how to research or reference everything else.
• Encourage taking the initiative whenever possible. Remote client advisers who are empowered and confident will be more successful than micro-managed coworkers.

Overcoming Challenges of Remote Work

For some remote private client advisors, the lack of supervision can leave them floundering as they move throughout their day way little direction or purpose. Isolation from colleagues and even mundane distractions like letting the dog out or finishing the laundry can derail personal productivity goals.

As the wealth management firm leader, you can keep your remote teams working just as efficiently as the in-house team by setting crystal clear results-oriented goals.

Focus on their accomplishments, not their active screen time, and avoid the temptation to check in every twenty minutes to ask, “Are you there?”

Be sure to encourage social interaction among the remote advisory team by scheduling online breaks or happy hours where your team can speak with each other.

And finally, make every effort to over-communicate.

With planning and trust, you’ll be able to successfully run a remote team.