{"id":6006,"date":"2020-04-09T14:31:31","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T21:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?p=6006"},"modified":"2024-10-16T14:11:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T21:11:19","slug":"dont-let-remote-leadership-bring-out-the-worst-in-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2020\/04\/09\/dont-let-remote-leadership-bring-out-the-worst-in-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t let remote leadership bring out the worst in you"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With remote leadership, it’s easy to succumb to management practices that hurt our team. Here’s how to avoid doing so.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"remote<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’m deeply troubled: Remote leadership can bring out the worst in us as leaders if we’re not mindful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst COVID-19 with more teams are becoming remote<\/a> than ever before, leaders who are working from home for the first time are trying to navigate the transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One reaction to moving to remote leadership? The title of this article in Bloomberg says it all: “Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep<\/a> tabs on remote workers<\/a>.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading the article was like entering a time warp where 18th-century factory management practices had been resurrected. Sixteen-hour workdays enforced by technology under the guise of “productivity.” Or perhaps it was a jump forward: A manifestation of an Orwellian dystopia where constant surveillance had become the norm. Managers asking staff to “stay logged into a video call all day while they work.” Leaders installing software that takes screenshots on employees’ computers “every 10 minutes or so.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All are the makings of a bad dream that I want to wake up from. Perhaps you do too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you contributing to the bad dream?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you’re reading this right now, working from home<\/a> as a manager, it’s likely this thought has crossed your mind at some point:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I wonder if the rest of my team is actually<\/em> working?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, you’re used to “seeing” people be productive in the office. Meetings are happening. Energy is flowing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now? It’s Slack messages, Zoom video meetings\u2026 and that’s it. (And of course, your dog yapping or kids piping up in the background.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’re worried if it’s “enough.” You concerned about the work getting done. You want your team’s objectives to be met. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what do you do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You apply pressure. You drop a “What’s the status on XX?” in Slack as often as your anxious brain thinks the thought. You expect people to respond within 10 minutes and to be accessible by email at night. You hold more meetings to “just make sure folks are on task.” Perhaps you even purchase employee tracking software\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony is that this pressure massively backfires when it comes to remote work (and work, in general). The psychologist Edward Deci, who spent 20+ years researching<\/a> human motivation, observed that several side effects when you try to exert control onto others: (1) The person’s performance goes down (2) the outcome suffers (3) the person doesn’t learn as much and (4) the person doesn’t enjoy the task, itself, as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, as you hover over your team and apply pressure on them \u2013 yes, you may achieve your goals in the short-term. But in the long-run? You disintegrate the whole purpose of having a team in the first place: To enable the capacity to accomplish things you wouldn’t be able to accomplish on your own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are left with shadows of people going through the motions of doing the work, not because they care about the work itself or the purpose behind the work \u2013 but because you’re breathing down their necks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to get remote leadership right<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If we don’t want remote leadership to bring out the worst in us, what can we do? Here are five recommendations\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice when you’re reacting to feeling a lack of control.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Recognize that the pressure you apply is a reaction to a construct of control. You think you can control people \u2013 and things \u2013 and the reality is you can’t. The quicker you can realize this, the sooner you can shift to a frame of mind where you can focus constructively on the things that actually help your team, such as: (1) Making it clear why the work matters (2) Creating milestones to help that person achieve that work (3) Giving as much context as possible so they can make the best decisions (4) Helping them think through tough problems they encounter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember: Time applied does not equate to progress made.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a remote manager<\/a>, you have to kill that paranoid voice inside that asks, \u201cIs my team working?\u201d You can never answer that wholly, even when you are in-person. So why burden your mind with it in a remote environment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather, instead of enveloping yourself in uneasiness, remind yourself that you want to concentrate on the results. And, the path to results is creating the best environment for a person to achieve those results.
Effective remote leadership<\/a> \u2013 or leadership, period, for that matter \u2013 is trusting that the team you picked, and you hired, and you chose, can follow-through on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otherwise, you create an environment where “looking busy” is more important than doing the work in reality. For example, I’ve known employees to spend more time preparing for meetings to show their boss that their working, than spending the time on the work itself. Are you guilty of this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make expectations absurdly obvious. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Oftentimes, we resort to tracking and imposing pressure on our team when we haven’t established clear expectations on how everyone is supposed to communicate and collaborate remotely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is your<\/em> job as a remote leader. You need to make clear what the proper channels of communication and modes of work are. Specifically, here are some key questions you’ll want to answer for your team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n