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...]
The Problem with Checklists
As a leader, odds are you keep a lot of running lists. Without them, a lot of us wouldn’t be able to prioritize tasks, remember who is working on which projects, or whether we need to pick up milk before dinner. For those of us who are chronically absent-minded, they can be life savers. But there are times, especially when working with remote employees, when checklists can … [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...]
Your Back-to-Work Shopping List
According to several sources including the Wall Street Journal, most organizations are looking at late summer or even September for a full return to the workplace. Between vaccination roll-outs, local ordinances and internal logistics it will take that long to implement their plans. That means a mass of people who work from home returning to their desks, at least part of the … [Read more...]
What Will the Return to the Office Look Like?
When the rush to work from home started, most people assumed it was a temporary measure, and the world would somehow right itself in time. While many people are looking to return to the office later this year, nobody can quite agree on what that will look like. One thing is more likely than anything else, though. The number of people working from home on occasion will rise … [Read more...]