Leading a remote team is not easy. One of the most difficult things is knowing what, and how well our people are doing at their jobs. This impacts everything from the daily affirmations and “atta girls” that keep people engaged and motivated to year end performance reviews. The biggest question many managers ask is this: “How can I give feedback on performance when I can’t … [Read more...]
Remote Work Isn’t Real until the CEO Says So
Of all the people predicting doom and gloom when entire organizations began to work from home, none were doomier or gloomier than CEOs. Many had resisted implementing wide-ranging work from home options. They had to implement remote work in practically no time, often without a real plan, and hope the company didn’t implode in the process. What were they so worried about? When … [Read more...]
The Hundredth Monkey Works from Home
What do monkeys have to do with successfully working from home? A recent article from Harvard Business Review online studied how the COVID-19 inspired surge in working from home has impacted business. We’ll probably do a better examination in a future article, but one of the things that surprised the authors was this: Despite all the fears and past bad experience … [Read more...]
What If You Just Want to be Left Alone?
You hear a lot of negative things these days about working separate from everyone else on your team. We’ve all heard the complaints (heck we’ve written enough about them here). Remote workers sometimes feel isolated. They don’t interact with their team members enough. People who work remotely sometimes go down the wrong trail and spend a lot of time on tasks that don’t add … [Read more...]
Going Back to Normal? Why It’s Neither Possible nor Enough
If you lead a team, odds are you’re exhausted. Helping your people stay productive when working from home or under other kinds of constraints hasn’t been easy. Add to that here in the US (and in large cities around the world) more than a week of protest and civil unrest and the flood of news and social media that goes with that, and it is no wonder your stress level is … [Read more...]