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3 tips to make your remote team better being a leader in a digital environment
The homo sapiens is about 300.000 years old - the commercial internet about 30 years - about 20 years ago some companies were already working in a hybrid setup (for example my former employer IBM) and since covid we have the technological infrastructure to work remotely in most of the white collar jobs in theory. Even before the age of the homo sapiens there was collaboration and we were in touch with one another working together on “projects” at the same geological location.
We are right now in the middle of a change of how collaboration is working and will work in the future and we will need to adapt on every level and in every role and play our parts if we want to make remote work work. Leaving old habits and beliefs behind opening up for the challenges that remote work brings us.
Fortunately it’s already proven that there are surroundings where remote work already had its breakthroughs. For many companies the sales process changed completely in the last couple of years - with success. In the gaming scene successful teams were welded together remotely for years. Building teams 100% remotely can work.
CHANGES TAKE ENERGY, NEED FOCUS AND FORESIGHT
These changes (as all changes in our teams and human brains) take time and energy. They might be sometimes annoying and stressful. We might make mistakes while changing and it will sometimes look like we take a step back instead of moving forwards.
Unfortunately not all of us are self-reflected enough and equipped with the right tools to work on this individual and organizational change.
I don’t know what you’ve experienced so far (please let me know) but I’ve seen employees taking part in our leadership workshops out of their beds. I got distracted by cats passing back and forth in front of people's webcams. Clouds of vaporizers blew up while people were more hanging than sitting in their gamer chairs working from their bedrooms. Such behavior of people always seemed unprofessional and disrespectful to me but most likely they just didn’t know better.
LEADERS SHOULD TAKE CARE AND GIVE FEEDBACK ON REMOTE BEHAVIOR
We have to change towards a self-leading, autonomous, self-responsible way of working.
Some people who (out of my opinion) never understood how to behave respectfully towards others in a remote setup need clear guidelines and leadership that gives immediate feedback on their behavior. They need support to develop self-leadership skills and support to understand what their own (social) needs are.
Most of the leaders we are working with are still using old solutions for these new problems. Many of them are trying to get the situation under control again instead of trusting more in the individual and helping them to develop into a remote workforce.
“Educate in way that people could work from home but treat them well enough so they want to come to the office.” This should be the answer to the problems we are facing instead of making new rules that show a lack of understanding the new situation and the new tools that are needed to be established.
Leads/managers have to put effort in building suiting processes, goal systems and cultural guidelines AND they will need to change themselves, be role models and live this new work style. That will make them lose effectiveness and productivity in the short term. But it’s worth it because they will otherwise not be competitive in the future.
Don’t get me wrong. Office time is great. I love to be together with other people in one room. I am writing this from a coworking space and not my home office. Making jokes, having social connections, seeing others work keeps me creative and motivated. Getting out of home, bringing my body into movement makes me happy. But I don’t have to be in the office all the time with my own team to get this.
TO DOS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
It’s more than just having the technological requirements. Throughout the whole employee lifecycle remote or hybrid companies have to rethink their:
- (self-) leadership
- processes
- guidelines & etiquette - I recommend to have a look at the culture design canvas by Gustavo Razetti for that
- employee-fit
- pop up office strategy & team events - (no - not only eating, drinking, partying and escape rooms)
- education offerings
- supplied home office equipment
TO DOS FOR LEADS
What does that mean for us as leads?
- establish with your team a clear set of rules what you expect from each other working remotely and enforce those rules
- double-check if your colleagues are really capable or working remotely (or if they just think they are)
- support yourself and your team with the skills and resources that are needed to be a well-equipped remote workforce (coaching, home-office setup, time for remote socializing)
Sure - it’s a tough transformation for many “old” companies that have “old” employees that had been working for decades in an offline world, but if older companies want to make the transition into the more (digitized) future they have to consciously work on that.
Some top managers seem to rather try to reach their yearly goals and get their bonuses instead of shaping a vision of their organizational future. We’ll need to be courageous and take risks to manage that change
PS: If you need any support in your team, feel free to get in touch and direct message me.