By Chuck Chapman, Content Strategy Coordinator To say this last 12 months has been a struggle would be one of the bigger understatements ever. This pandemic has quite possibly been the greatest challenge our world will ever face in our lifetimes. The good news is that all indications point toward lower case numbers (and with that, fewer hospitalizations and fatalities). … [Read more...]
What Nobody Says About Inclusion on Remote Teams
Prior to the COVID pandemic, there was a movement afoot to intentionally enhance diversity and inclusion in organizations. For many companies, those efforts then took a back seat to just staying in business, helping existing employees work remotely and keeping the business afloat. Now, as they take a longer view, they are once again thinking about how to create workplaces that … [Read more...]
Where Does Mistrust Come From?
One of the great paradoxes of remote work is that it requires a lot of trust, yet that trust is hard to build at a distance and easily damaged. Most of us start out assuming positive intent, and that we trust in people until they show us they're more deserving of mistrust. At worst, we take a wait-and-see attitude. As we point out in both The Long-Distance Leader and … [Read more...]
Help Others to Help You Succeed
Are you training your remote teammates to get in the way of your productivity? Of all the discussions we have in our classes with long-distance workers, one of the most fruitful is when we talk about how we teach our coworkers and manager to work with us and help us succeed. Sometimes, however, they learn behaviors that are counterproductive. It sounds crazy but stick with … [Read more...]
Engagement is NOT Your Boss’s Job
All companies worry about employee engagement, especially those who work remotely. There are books written (see below) about what a problem it is, and how to better engage with your people. It’s a big deal that will cost you if you ignore it. Turnover and lost productivity are just two of the problems you'll have to deal with when your people don’t care enough to give that … [Read more...]