New remote work situation have you questioning your team’s engagement? Looking for ways to level up their engagement during this time? Start here.
WANT TO KNOW THE SECRET..
..of how to engage and drive performance from your remote team? You’ll be surprised – there is no secret.
The concepts that make your team successful in person are exactly what needs to be fostered, remotely. That means you’ll be driving ownership, empowerment, communication, active listening, accountability and inspiration to name a few. With that said, you’ll need to modify some of your methodologies. Be the charismatic person that your people trust and respect but change up your approach. .
Having led high-performing, remote teams in 27 countries with Navy Special Operations, President Obama, Airbnb and now as CEO of Wishlist, I’ve put a few concepts in my pocket from positive experiences and even more from failures. Let’s highlight a few approaches that are critical to your success.
SWITCH UP THE TOOLS
What works for in-person teams will not work for your remote teams. Invest in the right communication and project management devices right off the bat and don’t skimp.
DEDICATE MORE TIME AND INTENT TO COMMUNICATION.
Understand that communication degrades with distance. That means you’ll need to spend more time [plan on 25%] to ensure you’re communicating effectively, frequently and completely.
BRING GREAT PERFORMANCE TO LIGHT
Track performance and accomplishments in a public place. Let your teams compete against each other and understand how the team is progressing together.
DECENTRALIZE YOUR TEAM’S POWER
Set a ’swim lane’ for your leaders and encourage them to make all decisions that fall in that lane. While they’ll loop you into decisions outside that lane, time zones and distance will paralyze your success if your leaders can’t decide and execute on ideas and plans without groupthink.
WHAT’S NEXT?
You can have the best ideas in the world on a post-it note on your desk but they mean nothing until you check them off as complete. If you want to turn up performance on your remote team, check off these items this week.
