Remote and Asynchronous Work
How Leadership Changes With Remote Work
When leading remote teams, a leader has to be more proactive. You cannot “lead by walking around”, but you can do something similar: you can check in with people to see how they are doing, by sending them a short message or asking for a quick video or audio call.
One thing that is really effective is something that leaders should do whether people are in-person or remote: examine people’s work. If a team member is very experienced you will likely not need to do that; but if they are less experienced, there is no substitute for looking at their work before they finish it. This is not for the purpose of criticizing: it is so that you know what is actually being done. If you notice a problem, then rather than criticize it, you can engage in a discussion with the person, or perhaps get them some help.
Of course, be aware that in-progress work often looks incorrect and low-quality. Some people work by creating polished product along the way, gradually adding more; others work by doing a broad-brush—perhaps incomprehensible to everyone bu them—and then gradually polishing. It is necessary to learn how someone works, and learn to interpret their material. The goal is to get them help as soon as they needed it, and be careful to not make them feel exposed or micromanaged.
How Work Behavior Changes
In-office work usually includes a lot of time-wasting. That is because people often need a break after working for awhile, and they might take a break by surfing the Web, chatting with a colleague, or going for coffee. When people are remote, they tend to take breaks and use that time to do errands, do some exercise, or check in on a family member. That is not “wasting the company’s time”—rather, it is essential cognitive restoration.
Some people who work remotely divide up their workday. For example, they might do some work in the morning, do some non-work things, and then do some more work later in the day. They are trying to be effective. Not everyone is effective working in a contiguous eight-hour block of time. In fact, people who do intellectual work usually cannot actually focus for eight hours a day: if they are forced to work for eight hours, they will find a way to covertly waste some of that. That is why it is a bad idea to manage people doing intellectual work using clock time. It is far more effective to stay aware of what they are working on, and keep abreast of progress.
Importance of Async
Remote teams often need to shift to more asynchronous forms of communication. Agile 2 reminds us that some people communicate best in writing, while others communicate best verbally. People vary. In-office work might favor verbal communicators, while remote work might favor—some might say empower—written communicators.
Regardless, it is important to make sure that communication and collaboration occur when people work remotely. A leader of in-person teams needs to make sure that people are collaborating effectively; the same is true for remote teams, but the communication modes need to shift somewhat. That is not a bad thing; there are pros and cons for asynchronous communication. Some of the pros of asynchronous communication are:
People can collaborate globally, across time zones.
People can think deeply before responding.
Written communication can be re-read, which enhances communication—but only if people make an effort to write clearly.
Some people communicate better in writing, or reading.
Some of the cons are:
There is a delay before one receives a response.
Some people do not like to write, or to read.
Make the most of your situation.
People Need Training In These Things
Communication and collaboration require experience, and people benefit from training.
It is actually the more experienced people who often need training. Younger people today are very accustomed to communicating with others over a screen: it is commonplace to see teenagers today in groups, looking at their phones while they also talk to others next to them. It is older people who “just cannot imagine” how we can collaborate remotely. They need training in effective remote team management.
Related Topics
Coming soon