Three C’s to Making Remote Work, Work
I clearly remember the 1:1 with the CEO on Monday March 9, 2020. We’d all heard of Covid, and the “plague ship” had graced our conference room windows with much attention hours prior. I told him, with all the confidence a non-medical professional could have, that Covid is not going to be an issue. By Wednesday the office had about 50% attendance, and Thursday there were about 10 of us. I made the call that day. Starting on Friday the 13th (so ominous) we would be closing the office for 2 weeks. I grabbed an empty box from the storage room and packed up my monitor, keyboard, and mouse and left everything else behind. It was enough for 2 weeks. I never went back.
In my past work experience there was always great tension around “working from home.” It was seen by companies as a privilege, a hassle, and by all means temporary. These employees weren’t “team players” and were often accused by many of not working hard or long enough. You sometimes had to sign a contract with the company, prove you were worth enough to skip commuting to an office, or have moved away. But still the movement grew. More employees wanted flexibility in how and where they do their work. Skyrocketing housing prices made many families move farther away from their jobs, not just locally, but nationally. But companies still clung to the idea that to be productive, you must be sitting at a desk, in full view, in the company office. It was too detrimental to imagine the consequences if they were wrong.
Covid was the great remote work instigator world wide. Overnight employees were setting up home work stations in every nook and cranny of their homes. Many were also dealing with their children indefinitely home from school, or without childcare. It was chaos, and it was frightening for everyone. Was this the new normal, and if so, are we okay? Companies rolled out mental health resources, hosted video happy hours, and some even created video conference get togethers for the children. It was all well intentioned, but most didn’t last. We all got Zoom fatigue, forgot to use the Calm app, and skipped video yoga to get our work done. So much was unanswered in the first few months not just from work, but from everywhere. We kept plotting our “Return to Work” plans, only to get dashed month after month. We were rudderless, because it was all temporary, but for how long?
Making remote work intentional is a whole other project. Thankfully the lockdowns have ended, and the greatest threats are behind us. But many employees are still looking to continue to work remotely, and companies must learn how to do so successfully. The world has changed, and there is no going back to what used to be. So let’s create the future we want to see.
The keys to remote work success are very simple; communication, connection, and calibration.
The first is communication. This is vital in any workplace, but when you are remote it is a critical imperative. It is much too easy to get forgotten when people don’t physically see you every day. And let’s be honest, back when everyone was in the office communication was still a major concern as seen in engagement survey after survey. It’s the age-old issue of making sure all employees, regardless of title or level, have information about the company, their team, and their job that they need. Employee engagement hinges on companies showing trust in their employees. Communicating openly and frequently develops that trust. Employees also need to know how their individual work impacts the company as well as to see and understand the bigger picture. Communicating company goals, including financial, helps employees feel ownership in the company’s success. Although there is always information that is sensitive, communicating what is appropriate is better than not saying anything at all. And not just communication from the Company but from leaders and managers. Team meetings, 1:1 meetings, and cross-functional meetings all round out the communication to keep employees informed and engaged.
Tough conversations are, by nature, tough. But with frequent communication between leader and employee these shouldn’t be surprises and will be felt as coaching instead of disciplining. There is a difference, and employees feel it. Make sure that 1:1 meetings are not just status updates. Use this time to understand challenges, successes, and development. Get to know your employee as a person. These meetings are a great opportunity to build trust, so that when you have to have a hard conversation there is a solid foundation you are building on. Your employees will know you have confidence in them to succeed, and make sure you are asking how you can best support them. We all succeed together.
If you are someone who needs more of an agenda or script to have good check in conversations, I advocate using my “3-2-1 conversation” method. Ask your employee the following things: 3 things they are proud of achieving, 2 things they want to work on or develop, and 1 thing the manager (you) can do to better support them.
We’re used to asking where an employee has been successful, but that is not the question we are asking here. When you ask what someone is proud of you get to more of the core of what drives the person. I can tell you things I’ve accomplished, and even excelled at, but you don’t know what I get excited about. I often similarly ask “what lights you up” because when you do, you can visibly see someone’s face change and brighten. Knowing what these things are allows you to tap into their superpowers. Celebrate passion and success, and help guide them to more work that allows them to be proud.
Alternatively asking what you’re bad at is a real turn off! You can sugarcoat it all you want, but it feels awful. No one is good at everything. As much as you may want a perfect employee who can do everything you can think of excellently, they don’t exist. This is why we build teams. We match strengths and challenges of one with someone with complementing skills. But asking what someone wants to work on or develop is a broader question. You may have someone say that they’re not good at X, and their goal is to improve by doing ABC. Or you could have someone bring up something they would like to add to their skill set, a mentoring opportunity, or broad thinking outside the box. It turns “weaknesses” into opportunities. And I’d much rather have that discussion than talk about why I’m crap at something.
And don’t forget the last part - ask for feedback. When you generically ask your employees for “feedback on me” they don’t know where to start. Or they’re afraid of offending you or saying the wrong thing and getting into trouble. For employees this is a massive landmine. Structuring the question in a way that is focused on helping the employee succeed doesn't feel like a trap. For example, I have answered this question by asking for timelines on projects, because if a CEO pings you to do X, you’ll drop everything else. It may or may not be a priority! So I explicitly called out something that is not a character flaw, but information I needed to do my best work.
Remote work calls for explicit communication. Although there are many tools you can employ to help, remember that sometimes picking up the phone or engaging in a video call is better than just putting it in writing. Tone is often difficult to impossible to read, and sometimes you need the audio and video clues to make sure you are being understood. All company meetings are a great way to talk about large company goals and results. Make sure they are recorded and available to employees. Team staff meetings are a good way to disseminate information from the senior leadership to keep everyone abreast of what is happening. And don’t dismiss peer-to-peer communication, especially across functions.
The second key to remote success is connection. For employees to do their best work they need to be connected. Connected to the business, their coworkers, and the vision of the company. We take for granted the connection that can happen inherently in an office setting. When there are only 10 of you and you eat lunch together every day you get to know people - both as colleagues and as friends. Working at a desk alone in your basement doesn’t have this same effect. You have to find explicit ways to create connections.
One of the greatest assets a remote company can have is opportunity for in person meetups at or below the overhead costs of an office space. This may sound counterintuitive to my suggesting an intentional remote community, but it is irreplaceable. We are social creatures, and meeting in person to work, eat, hang out, etc is key to building relationships. Understand what cadence makes sense for your company, but once a year is probably not enough. If there isn’t a company headquarters (we’re remote, remember!) you have the opportunity to move locations for your offsites. This can help control costs if you’re able to be flexible on locations. Plan events for teams to spend time together as well as mixing up groups. Adding an Ask Me Anything of senior leaders is one of my favorites, again showing trust in your employees and engaging them in your company and culture. Make it interactive, make it fun, but make it happen. You’d be surprised at the results of spending a week together a few times a year.
Find opportunities to connect with cross-functional peers outside of an official offsite. One idea is to throw every employee’s name in a hat and match people up for a 30 minute video chat every month. These one on one opportunities can create great conversation or allyship that can be both career focused or a personal connection. Working with people you like, even better with friends, proves to have a much more engaged employee population. Wouldn’t you like to work with friends?
Five years ago the idea of starting a new job having never met anyone in person and a laptop arriving at your house would be insanely daunting! Now, it’s what happens every day. Creating a thorough onboarding experience not only sets the employee up for success but confirms their decision to have chosen your company. You want people to feel like they have access to the community, understand the big and small picture, and how they fit into it all.
A solid onboarding program will inform the employee about the company, the mission, goals, and ways of doing things - it provides connection. It will help new employees understand how to succeed at their job here and what tools and resources are available to support them. Pair them up with someone from their team, and someone from another team. These “buddy” meetings give the employee the opportunity to ask about norms and other questions that they may not want to ask of their boss. Encourage these buddies to connect with their new hire at the offsites. Seeing a friendly face can make everything less scary.
Another great idea for onboarding is meetings with the senior leadership. These can be on a monthly basis, and everyone who was hired since the last one joins in to meet with the CEO, and separately other department leaders. The leaders can talk about what they do, about their teams and their work, and then open to AMA. It’s too easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day work and team to feel like you don’t have any relationship to the senior leadership team. Again, these kinds of opportunities will increase your employee engagement, and encourage a strong and open culture. Leaders should be open, transparent, and welcoming. Show enthusiasm for the teams you are building and create connections.
The last focus is on calibration. Having methods to assess performance and give feedback is crucial to a remote employee’s success. There are many methods to accomplish calibration, so you need to decide what works well with your culture and environment.
9 box exercises are a good way for leaders to calibrate performance across the company. Mapping future potential with past performance will land every employee in one of nine boxes. This is an easy way to visually map your employee population, identify future leaders, poor performers, and make strategic people decisions easier. Gathering your senior leadership to review the output of this exercise is key for two reasons. One, getting feedback from other leaders who may not directly manage an employee, but work with them enough to give insight a manager may not be aware of. Second, is the ability to see and discuss future opportunities that you could either prepare or select employees to contribute. Think of your employees as a collective, not specifically in just one role or department. Opening your mind to the right people for a job or venture could produce interesting and unexpected success.
Goal setting can be a very effective tool for calibrating performance. Companies should be setting overall business goals, based on a quarter, half, or yearly timeline. Use these overall goals to cascade down to department level goals, then individual goals. Everyone in the company should understand where the business goals are leading, how their department and individual work supports these overall goals. There should be regular check ins on goal progress, and discussions about where they stand as well as support needed for their success. All company meetings or CEO update emails are great options for disseminating the information on how the company is progressing towards these goals. And if they are at risk, say so! Again, transparent and honest communication drives performance and success. Individual progress tracking is equally important. No employee wants to waste their time working towards a goal they don’t understand, or is headed in the wrong direction. Also, goals can be living and breathing - as such make sure they are open for adjustment. Often the business sets one goal, but things adjust and change and priorities may rise or fall. Don’t be afraid to readjust the goals. Just don’t give up on them if they are hard. Your goals should be a stretch, but achievable. Abandoning goals without discussion will lead to confusion and frustration. Communicate clearly and openly.
Make post-mortems part of your culture. After a project or goal is completed, talk about it. What went right? What were the challenges? What can we do differently next time? If we are not learning from both our successes and failures, we are not growing. Celebrate failure. Yeah, really. We are more apt to learn when we fail over when we are successful. Creating a culture where you are able to fail, and learn from it, will create a place where employees feel empowered to take chances, to stretch their goals, and be truly innovative. Make asking questions the default, and not a sign of ignorance. Strive to make better mistakes tomorrow.
The keys to remote work success are honestly simple. Communicate openly and honestly, connect with your employees and ensure they are connecting across the company with each other, and calibrate performance so employees understand where they are going and how to get there. Create an intentional culture. One where you would want to grow and succeed.
