Telecommuter Manager - do you have the right stuff?

Managers of a distributed workforce (Telecommuters) should be:

1.  Comfortable using results oriented management. Managers should not feel that “Out of sight means out of control”,

2.  Experienced in easily identifying & setting objectives, goals, and milestones,

3.  Experienced in establishing metrics to monitor activities,

4.  Technologically literate - have experience w/relevant hardware, software, and equipment,

5.  Able to clearly communicate expectations and standards,

6.  Able to coach, mentor & counsel staff to help ensure their good performance,

7.  Able to evaluate performance & be gutsy enough to then reward (& discipline!) their staff to achieve the desired performance results, and

8.  Able to procure, for their team, the resources - IT connectivity, collaborative tools etc. - needed to get the job done. Without the resources being available to achieve the results expected, managers have their hands tied before they start.