Welcome to a new world order of working remotely. Although working remotely is not a new concept, it is new to many individuals. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, many organizations rapidly shifted their way of work from face-to-face operations to working remotely.
The shift to a remote environment was difficult for many leaders who lacked experience leading a remote team. Why? Because leading others is challenging under traditional circumstances. However, typical leadership challenges are exacerbated in a remote working environment.
During my career, I have worked remotely in many different environments. I would love to say all of my leaders were highly effective in leading in a remote working environment; however, many of my leaders struggled just like I did initially.
As a young leader, I thought I could lead in a remote working environment the same way I lead in a traditional office environment. I quickly learned my assumption was not accurate. My remote team struggled! Instead of performing the team spent most of the time storming.
I couldn’t understand why they weren’t performing. Every one of the team members was highly qualified for their position. When I worked with them as individuals or as a small sub-group, things went well. However, when the sub-groups needed to connect, they struggled.
When we would meet to review and update the project timeline, the team would spend their time pointing fingers and justifying their actions. As a result, I spent most of my time trying to resolve misunderstandings and miscommunications.
After a couple of weeks of going back and forth with different team members, I was so frustrated I called a team meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to chew everyone out for not doing their job. But, before the meeting, I decided I needed to take a different approach.
To prepare for the meeting, I decided to use an approach my mentor used with me during our sessions. My mentor would ask me three questions.
- What is going well? Why?
- What was frustrating to me? Why?
- What actions can I take to address my frustrations?
The questions were designed to generate solutions.
During the meeting, my mentor would remind me to focus my efforts on things I could control. She also reminded me, as the leader, I was responsible for setting the vision and expectations for the team.
Before the meeting, I sent the three questions to my team. To start the meeting, I reminded everyone to check their egos at the door and to speak truth to power with grace. As we worked through each question, team members began to lower their defenses and connect on a personal level.
Over the next several weeks, team performance increased significantly. Leading a remote working team requires leaders to be intentional in building a highly productive team.
“What you don’t do determines what you can do.”
Tim Ferriss
Leaders of remote teams must go the extra mile to build a high performing remote team.
Do YOU have what it takes to be a remote leader?
#YourLeadershipGuide
Kim
Click HERE to register for my free, live, 60-minute “Remote Work Master Class” on June 13th.
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