How can you make remote work productive and positive?

Manager must be trained to track the progress of remote workers. These working types are new to global workforce so planning, goal setting, tracking, monitoring is required. Regular check-in's and feedback is important for them to stay positive and productive.

Couldn't agree more that having alignment and clarity of goals makes work more meaningful. To do this, my experience has been that regular and robust discussions conducted regularly is what is required to achieve the highest levels of performance.

Use collaborative tools like video conferencing, project management software, and instant messaging to facilitate seamless interaction and teamwork. Schedule regular check-ins to maintain connection, provide feedback, and address any challenges. Encourage work-life balance by promoting flexible hours and regular breaks, helping employees manage stress. Foster a positive environment through virtual team-building activities that enhance camaraderie. Recognize and celebrate achievements to boost morale. Provide resources for professional development, ensuring employees feel supported in their growth, ultimately enhancing productivity and job satisfaction.

As mentioned here, setting a dedicated workspace is critical. No one does their best work from their bed while in pajamas. Brain science reveals that we tie spaces with activities. Not every remote employee has a dedicated office space, but being mindful of the space still plays a key role -- weather it's a kitchen table, a coffee shop, or an office.

Establishing a routine with clear boundaries is key to productive remote work. A consistent schedule boosts focus and efficiency. Begin by setting specific work hours that align with your team's needs, fostering discipline and helping delineate work-life balance, often blurred in remote settings. A dedicated workspace, whether a room or a home corner, is vital for the mental transition into "work mode." Encouraging your team to share their schedules and workspaces is essential, as is creating a culture of mutual respect for time and environment. Additionally, regular breaks are crucial for sustained productivity and well-being. Techniques like the Pomodoro Method, involving structured intervals, enhance focus and prevent burnout.

Having clear expectations for total productivity and impact is important. Monitoring and removing unproductive and lazy employees is critical. Employees should know how their work contributes to the bottom line and why their work is important and appreciated. A good remote work policy balances flexibility in hours/days worked with clear expectations and measurement of contribution. Employee monitoring and workforce analytics systems are examples of the types of solutions that help with this.

Productivity tools are NOT ENOUGH to lead people remotely. Remote-first companies have SPECIFIC challenges. Leaders need real-time employee engagement metrics to compensate for the lack of seeing people in person and sensing that something is off. Pulse-check survey that monitors 8 engagement categories, predicts quitting, raises flags, and jumpstarts conversations can help big distributed teams fortify their cultures and resolve specific issues. Your choice to have a remote-first company is a valid one, but keep in mind that it comes with a cost and you need to make adaptations to support your team to stay strong and connected while reaping the benefits of remote work. It is possible, I promise. :)

Prioritize asynchronous communication. Almost all of the benefits of remote work are compounded when your team is good at communicating asynchronously. This also frees up your sync time to do more important things!

One thing I have found useful, is establishing how each team member prefers to celebrate their wins, and what the best teams they have ever worked with did that made them feel like they belonged there. Once you have that picture, you can start building a picture of what a great team would look like, and workshop it with the team.

Remote work often leads to employees feeling like they're working in silos, so it's absolutely crucial to develop a culture where your team feels supported and recognized. Every employee has a different definition of what it feels to "belong," so it's helpful to have 1:1 conversations with each of your team members to understand what they need most to feel recognized and included, even while working remote.

Utilize LinkedIn to expand your knowledge through LinkedIn Learning, or try the search function to locate potential thought leaders to follow and connect with. There are numerous Top Voices across several fields and industries who have tons of knowledge to share.

Having external perspectives in your learning experiences can also shake you and your team mates out of organisational group think.

1. Go outside and get some sun every morning and afternoon (even if it's cloudy) 2. Change where you're working from, even just another room in the house for at least part of your day. 3. Find ways to exercise between meetings or tasks. 4. Take control of your calendar and don't let yourself get booked into meeting marathons where you can't follow your normal routine.

While I agree that the above is true, the complexities of some peoples lives makes even the simplest of self care management extremely hard to maintain. Therefore I think there is an onus on leaders and managers to implement systemic changes to the way organisations or their teams work, to provide boundaries. Things like 'no emailing after 4pm' or 'no meeting mornings' or company wide lunch time... whatever works.

My champion organising in this space is Carsales.com.au They implemented a practice where they asked their staff if they wanted to: - Work from the office 3 + days a week (are assigned a permanent desk), - Work 1-2 days a week in the office (had access to a hot desk) - wanted to work remotely (but committed to show up to 4 team events a year) Staff committed to their choice for 6 months, and then could revise. Carsales.com.au could then project out the floor space they needed. What a smart and flexible way for an organisation to support their team members. Hats off to #Carsales.com.au

Line managers have a huge role to play here. Through working with lots of them in different sectors, we’ve pinpointed four things for managers to focus on to better support remote teams: 1. Fostering trust - using Lencioni's dysfunctions of teams and the ‘trust pyramid’ as a basis 2. Hosting better remote meetings - using the POP method to run more purposeful, structured and action-oriented meetings 3. Establishing a team charter - to agree goals, ways of working, and accountability 4. Ensuring development and coaching of team members - this can more readily be lost in hybrid/remote teams but it is imperative to driving productivity and performance