Much of what you’re hearing right now about remote work has focused on people who used to go into the office or plant every day and now find themselves working from home. Mostly, we are working with our same colleagues, just physically distant. But as this pandemic drags into the fifth month a lot of people are—willingly or not—changing jobs and joining new teams. A growing … [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...]
Why Working Remotely Changes Relationships
One of the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on teams is that even people who have worked together for a long time are seeing differences in how they work together now. And they seem surprised by that. We’re not. In The Long-Distance Leader, rule number 3 is this: “Know that working remotely changes interpersonal dynamics, even when you don’t want it to.” While … [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...]
Planned Spontaneity
We hear all the time that the hardest part of being a connected, engaged member of a remote team is the lack of spontaneous communication. We say it an awful lot ourselves. And it’s true. When you work from home, every communication requires at least a little planning and effort. You don’t just bump into someone at the coffee machine, or see Alice walking down the hall and make … [Read more...]