Mediocre managers | Bosses still struggle to lead remote workers - showing L&D needs a revamp

Three years on from the pandemic, and managers are still struggling to manage their remote teams.

In 2020, when the major shift from in-office to remote work took place, 40% of leaders said they felt unprepared to manage their remote teams and 41% said they struggled to keep their team members engaged.

From an employee’s perspective, 40% said that working from home made them feel less supported by their managers, the same research found. You would think after so many years that managers would have all the skills necessary to confidently lead remote teams, however, because of a lack of training in the field, and because of changing attitudes towards remote work, leaders are continuing to struggle to lead remote teams, and are essentially being left to figure out this new way of leading by themselves.

Left to figure it out

A lack of effective learning and development opportunities is certainly a leading reason why managers are continuing to struggle. Most employers haven’t taken the time to design effective L&D strategies catered to remote managers, with the majority of this training still aligned with a more generalised management style built for being in the office.