Tips for Managing a Remote Physician Liaison Team

Managing a remote physician liaison team for the first time? I have been there & done that. Here’s my cheat sheet.

I’ve worked from home on and off throughout my career. While managing my work environment and productivity now feels natural, I began leading a remote team after joining Marketware in 2016. Honestly, that transition required me to adjust how I work and lead.

When a team first goes remote, leaders may wonder how to ensure their team is effectively working without being physically present. They may also question how to lead by example when others can’t see them in action. Additionally, concerns arise about whether team members can collaborate to achieve goals while being separated. This concern grows when, like me, teams are also spread across different time zones.

From experience, I can confirm that it’s absolutely possible to make remote teams work effectively. My team and I have implemented a few strategies that have proven successful for us. As a former physician liaison team manager, I’d like to share these insights, hoping they might help your organization as well in the coming weeks.

Collaborative Technology

Emails and texts are certainly the most frequent ways team members pass information back and forth. There are other great options that physician liaison teams can use to help recreate more “in-the-moment” check-ins. Our team uses Slack for quick 1-on-1 exchanges, as well as team channels where we can quickly raise our hands to ask questions or for support. We also use other collaborative programs like Trello or Jira to manage and communicate the status of key projects. This helps people know when to step in based on their assigned roles. Also, for those teams using physician relationship management software (PRM), you can easily check your team’s progress by having them record virtual activities and track current initiatives.

Effective Web Meetings

Whether you use GoToMeeting, Skype, or Zoom to hold your virtual meetings, it’s important to set the stage for effective web meetings. This includes disclosing an agenda prior to your call so everyone can be prepared and in the right mindset, as well as using screen share and annotation tools to help you keep the team engaged and following along from afar.

I dislike feeling like I’m talking into a void during web meetings. On conference calls, it’s easy to rely on showing and telling instead of engaging in a natural dialogue. To address this, my Director of Client Development recently introduced video feeds for all team meetings. Additionally, he scheduled meetings on the same day each week, accommodating those who enjoy the comfort of working from home in yoga pants and without makeup or hair.

This move to meetings with live video feeds has been a positive change for our team in several ways. 1st, those who might have normally multitasked (guilty) during the call have to be present and stay engaged because there is a camera on them throughout the meeting. Second, we can see one another’s facial expressions, which makes it easier to know when someone needs you to slow down or pause for questions, or when someone might have something they want to add to the conversation. Third, seeing each other in our natural habitats is like walking into their physical office or pod and seeing what or who is important to them based on the puppy sleeping nearby or the photos surrounding their monitor. This has contributed to my next point,t which is relationship building.

Relationship Building

Leading from a distance can feel lonely, especially if you gain energy from brainstorming with others. To combat this, focus on nurturing relationships. It’s important to connect with your boss, direct reports, peers, and other colleagues within your organization. I recommend setting aside time for intentional connections. Also, try to make a mix of these interactions face-to-face, especially when discussing sensitive content.

Define & Visualize Your KPIs

To support remote physician liaison team members, it’s important to define the key outcomes they must deliver. By setting SMART targets and creating dashboards, you can offer visibility into their progress. This approach helps both individual and team effectiveness.

So, if you haven’t already, kick off your next team meeting by asking what goals or priorities each of your team members is focused on today, given our current environment. What does the team need to do over the next few weeks to achieve these? Are there smaller, incremental targets you can identify to create opportunities to connect on everyone’s progress over the weeks ahead? These connections can also be used to offer coaching, guidance, or moral support for those struggling with working from home. Just be careful to agree upon the right cadence of check-ins in advance, so that you position yourself as a supportive manager versus a micromanager.

Encourage Balance

Studies from the Harvard Business Review and others show that remote employees often get more done on a task-by-task basis, either because they face fewer interruptions or work more collaborative hours (since they don’t always have a set start or end time like their office-based peers).

At this moment, your liaison team is likely adjusting to working remotely full-time for the first time. Even though many have been road warriors and worked independently before social distancing became the cool thing to do, working from home can still be an adjustment. For example, I have three new coworkers (ages 9, 11, and 13) who are working remotely for the first time. They are a little noisier and needier than my past officemates for sure, and I am sure that I am not alone in this new normal.

As a leader, having grace during these unusual times and allowing your team members some flexibility can be invaluable. This might mean letting them break up their workday and work some non-traditional hours depending on their childcare situation. It may mean using smartphone apps like Marco Polo to record check-ins at each team member’s convenience. It may also mean encouraging them to set limits on answering emails or calls when it’s technically their personal time. And, it may mean you lead by example, permitting them to seek out that balance (something I need to work on a bit more for sure).

Other Tips to Connect Your Remote Physician Liaison Team

These are just some of the ways that you can use technology, goal setting, and team building to ensure that your remote team continues to feel connected to you and to one another.

For other ideas, check out Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel’s book The Long-Distance Leader. This guide and some of the tools they offer their readers helped me better understand how to reframe my role and my work style to better support my remote team. Or, you can download our PRM Adoption Tool Kit to help your liaisons turn downtime from fewer field visits into PRM optimization.

Tool Kit — Physician Relations

PRM Adoption Best Practices

Whether you’re already using a PRM platform or considering one, this toolkit offers key insights to help you secure buy-in and optimize your system. With best practices, essential features, and practical tips, you’ll have the tools to effectively implement and maximize your PRM solution for stronger physician relationships and better engagement outcomes.

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Demo — Physician Relations

An Inside Look at Marketware’s PRM Platform

Explore our healthcare-specific PRM and analytics platforms designed to help you plan, track, and measure liaison activity across key growth initiatives. With powerful business intelligence, seamless data integrations, and dedicated support, our platforms provide the tools you need to drive better physician engagement and demonstrate ROI.

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