For years, the conversation about remote work has centered on the differences between working remotely (often from home) and the way we always worked in co-located situations. But what if that comparison is outdated? Specifically, how do you train and on-board new workers who don’t have that frame of reference. In short, you can’t compare anything to working in an office if … [Read more...]
How to Find the “Right” Answer through Collaboration
One of the big challenges we hear about hybrid and remote work is that “collaboration is difficult.” One CEO I spoke to said, “My people just come up with better answers when they can work together physically.” That led to an interesting discussion: What does it mean to come up with the best, or right, answer? What makes it "right"? Before you can make a great decision … [Read more...]
Lessons Learned from a Pain in the Neck
Have you ever had an employee who was a pain in the neck? One who you just didn’t like interacting with, and who created more work for you than everyone else? If you’re honest, the answer is yes. Don’t feel bad, every manager has, and we won’t ask the person’s name. Your secret is safe with us. What have you learned from them? I recently heard that a former employee of mine … [Read more...]
How Do You Define Your Team?
by Kevin Eikenberry It seems like a pretty simple question – how do you define your team? Most leaders would immediately describe or list their direct reports. Most teammates would list their immediate co-workers. Then ask people to think about their working relationships and they will think about that same list of people – the people on “their team." That is … [Read more...]
Inventing Fire and Getting People to Use Teams
Humans have a love-hate relationship with technology. We curse the need to be tethered to email and Slack for work while not being able to avoid our personal screens for more than a few minutes at a time. Everyone complains about the tools they have at their disposal, but shudder at the thought of learning even one more software package or remembering another password. As we … [Read more...]