A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard. -Eliphas Levi, French educator 1810-1875 One of a leader's most important jobs is to help develop the skills of their team members. For many of us, this is why we became managers or leaders in the first place: we love helping others learn and succeed. But remote working … [Read more...]
Building a Culture of Trust
by Chuck Chapman, Content Strategy Coordinator Kevin and Wayne spend an entire chapter (chapter 11 if you want to reference) in The Long-Distance Leader talking about the importance of trust with remote teams and unpacking their model (see below). Trust is one of those "squishy" concepts, however, that can make some leaders uneasy. While it's usually pretty apparent when … [Read more...]
History Shows Why Succession Planning on Remote Teams Matters
Here’s a question I bet you’ve never been asked before: What would happen to your team’s work if the boss suddenly wound up dead in a pickle barrel? This is kind of a morbid (okay, downright weird) question, but on remote teams we seldom have a good plan in place for who does what if something major happens. And there’s a historical lesson here for why succession planning is … [Read more...]
How to Delegate to Remote Team Members
If we ask managers, “should you delegate tasks to remote team members?” the answer is almost always a resounding, "Yes!" After all, they are smart, talented people and we’re paying them to add value to the team— of course we should delegate to them. The reality doesn’t always reflect this, though. Many remote workers complain that the plum assignments go to “those suck-ups in … [Read more...]
How to Coach Better Remote Meeting Etiquette
By Wayne Turmel “My remote team members are terrible at virtual meetings. They’re multitasking and not participating, and when they do take part they talk over each other and generally don’t get much done. What can I do? How can I coach better remote meeting etiquette?” I can’t tell you how often I’ve had a similar conversation with clients. The problem is that changing a … [Read more...]