The Pandemic has caused many people to shift their operations to hybrid and remote models for the first time. Some people successfully adjusted to remote work, while many have not. As an Executive Coach working with many leaders dealing with this issue, there are many lessons I’ve collected on how to improve the building and managing of remote and hybrid teams.
It is clear that not having a strategy to organize people around the globe to work together successfully and build something amazing will lead to failure. But being intentional about a placeless mindset – an integrated way of thinking, living, and working so we can work from anywhere can be a differentiator. And just because we have seen many early examples of remote work not being done right, does not mean it is a flawed model; it is constantly evolving and can be beneficial when leveraged correctly.
Here are some common challenges in thinking through remote work:
1. Low-performing managers. The managers who struggled in person have continued their challenges. Some leaders got the position because they were good at the technical parts of their job and not necessarily because they were extraordinary people managers. Being a manager is not simply a great individual contributor plus one additional skill in their familiar domain, it draws from a different bucket. You have to have a mindset of really caring for your team and aiming to make them better than they thought possible. The reality is some people pursue that route for the promotion and title, not because they love the people side of the job or are particularly good at it. So, you end up with a pool of people who dislike managing and do it anyway. Their poor performance was exacerbated when they had to do it remotely because the stakes were even higher to do this aspect of their job well and with enjoyment. Previously, some of these people leaders relied on an older management practice called “managing by walking around,” where they gathered information through their interactions, and some could rest on their presence and charisma. Now, that they have to be more intentional about building rapport and in some cases, modeling vulnerability, they feel challenged because it is different and harder.
2. Managers not adapting their approach. Leading a high-performing team can be hard work even in the best of circumstances. But when team members are working from home and scattered geographically and culturally, the task of managing remote employees is even greater. Managers trying to replicate the same approaches online as they did in person are struggling. For example, if you used to give status updates in your meetings and now do it on zoom, it may not have the same impact because of all the additional environmental distractions. There is a real opportunity to take advantage of the tech tools for a more significant impact and to enhance meetings, such as the breakout rooms to encourage small group discussion or the chat to include diverse perspectives. It is not exciting for people to show up, stare at a screen and passively hear somebody talk the whole time. Some of the zoom fatigue is that we are trying to make the online work feel like in-person work, but it is not. There can be copious benefits to remote work when managers appropriately leverage unique opportunities to better utilize the time together.
3. Managers who do not lead with trust and know how to hold others accountable. Some managers who do not trust their workers or fear losing control have turned to micromanaging or overmanaging. If they are not skilled enough to control work and performance, they look to increase surveillance, e.g programs that count your keystrokes; this is never a motivating or inspiring strategy, resulting in rebellion and disengagement from workers. With a lack of visibility, managers are struggling with how to keep accountability. Instead of co-creating the goals, metrics of success, checkpoints, and implications for missed work and allowing people the freedom and autonomy to do their job, they are skipping these steps and doing more telling and less collaborating. Employees who follow managers due to positional power is never a sustainable model, you want to manage where people choose to follow you because they find it to be a valuable, even inspiring experience.
4. Lack of clear expectations. Communicating clear expectations is something we are constantly working on, but with remote work, there is even more of a need to do this extraordinarily well. Do people know their roles, tasks, top 3 priorities, how they will be evaluated, and the specific ways they can excel? Do they know the best methods for interacting with each other? Using more intention in designing those processes will save a lot of time. While you were In person, you may have been able to go up to somebody and request a task, but with remote, you have to be more thoughtful in how you approach people. Email is a terrible way to communicate anything that involves a lot of back-and-forth discussion or emotional topics. If coordination is not effectively done, it will lead to poorly organized projects from start to finish.
5. Lack of intention in building team cohesion and culture. While some culture-building efforts could happen naturally in the office, especially before, during, and after team meetings, remote work requires more planning. Some overlook this essential step which contributes to the overall enjoyment and engagement that can make people feel included, connected, and recognized.
6. Lack of investment in employee career advancement and well-being. A big part of being a leader is to care for those you lead and work to make them successful. That entails having somewhat regular career conversations to ensure they are growing in the organization and investing in their well-being. It is responsibility #1 of a manager to care for and develop others; If you are not doing that you are failing as a manager, regardless of the results you might be getting.
Surely, there can be a lot of advantages with remote work when the model is designed well. Two enormous benefits include increases in productivity and job satisfaction, among others.
1. Increase in productivity. According to a survey from ConnectSolutions, 30% of workers say they accomplish more in less time. While remote work is new for some people, many have been doing it for a while. Cisco started with remote and hybrid work in 1993 and saw a rise in productivity. Sun Microsystems experimented with it early on and saw productivity increase and costs drop significantly; they ended up reducing $500 million in real estate. CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg said. “People are more productive working at home than people would have expected. Some people thought everything was just going to fall apart, and it hasn’t. And a lot of people are saying that they’re more productive now.” When done right, with a strategy in place, remote work can be a boon to business.
2. Increase in job satisfaction. Global Workplace Analytics shows that many people prefer to work at least part of the time remotely. People value their autonomy and flexibility, and when they’re empowered to segment their day in ways that make sense for their personal needs, they are happier. For many, stress levels can decrease when they can spend more time with their families and less time commuting.
The great resignation has been coined to capture the phenomenon of employees voluntarily resigning in mass, and the causes have been multifaceted. This period can also be known as the great reputation of the suboptimal work arrangements we have tolerated for far too long. Power has shifted from the employer to the workers who are demanding how they want to work and where they want to work. People want more from their jobs, they want good managers and will leave mediocre ones. Companies intentionally providing better cultures and offering more remote opportunities are winning.
Quote of the day: Micromanagement is the destroyer of momentum.” -Author Miles Anthony Smith
Q: What’s the biggest remote challenge you are facing right now? Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!
The next blog in this series 2/11 will focus on setting clear expectations for remote work success.
As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to create enjoyable remote work experiences for themselves and their teams, contact me to explore this topic further.
How do you manage remotely for the greatest results?