Tis the season… Relax, this isn’t another “prep for the holidays” blog post. It’s worse. Because while everyone around you goes into holiday mode, you have to prepare for the worst thing about the end of the year—performance reviews and development plans for yourself and your people. If you lead a long-distance or dispersed team, this can be even more stressful. As with most … [Read more...]
Make Virtual Coaching More Effective
Of all the jobs a manager/leader has, the one that we often feel we could do better with is coaching. Study after study shows that’s the part of the gig we often feel gets ignored or isn’t done as well as we’d like. Your employees, especially those who work remotely, agree with you. So what can we do about it? Here are some things you can do to make your coaching more … [Read more...]
Recovering When Remote Work Goes Wrong
How do you go about fixing work that goes off the rails when you’re not face to face or you work on a remote team? We spend a lot of time around here giving out advice about how to make things work well. And, best as we can, we try to live up to our own high standards. Recently, I goofed. This seems like a good chance for a little radical honesty. The details don’t matter … [Read more...]
How to Lead Remote Teams Effectively-Part 3
Recently, Wayne Turmel sat down with Tom Crea on his podcast “Your Evolving Leadership Journey.” Wayne and Tom discussed a number of challenges facing remote teams and their leaders today. You can catch the full episode here. This is the third and final part of that interview. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them. Tom: Relationships are about building bridges. … [Read more...]
How Remote Leaders Can Manage Conflict from a Distance
We have heard a thousand times that conflict isn’t a bad thing. No match is lit without friction. Pressure turns coal into diamonds. The list of clichés is long. The fact that they’re true doesn’t eliminate a major sticking point: for many of us, conflict is uncomfortable, and we try to avoid it as much as we can. When we work remotely, conflict is just as uncomfortable as it … [Read more...]