The 50 steps you need to do to be better at remote management - Part 1
We spend a lot of time arguing about things that we need to do or things that we need to avoid—endlessly participating in "why" debates.
While I love asking the question 'why,' it is my favorite question at any given time; I still value certainty—not worrying about the why is convenient, fast, and effective.
So, by now, most of us have accepted that working remotely stays with us, and it will be part of the norm in terms of "how we work," it is time to lay out some ground rules for remote management.
How do we manage better remote teams?
How do we create more efficient remote operations?
How do we build better remote companies?
I sat down and wrote a list of 50 things you NEED to do to be a better remote manager. I intentionally used the word "need" not the word "can" - this is not an á la carte scenario. All steps are equally important. The more you do, the better you are.
One more thing: it's not just for remote managers. Yes, most of these will work mainly in a remote company with distributed teams, but you can use these for your hybrid or fully in-office teams.
Buckle up; time to crush the status quo. It's part one, the first 25.
1
If you are doing work with a laptop, you are working remotely - regardless if you work from an office.
To be frank, I hate the term remote work. In 2023, it has nothing to do with location or offices. Every manager should understand the most basic principle: if your team is working online, it doesn't matter where they are. It means one challenge for you, dear manager: you must be better at remote management skills, regardless if you work with/for a remote company.
2
People work at workplaces to create value.
There is a major shift in people's needs and focus. They are working to support their lives, not live to support their work. It's 10x more true for remote companies and people working remotely. We spend time at your company to work and then live our lives.
3
Culture means how you work together.
Company culture is a combination of values that the company stands for and processes that support workflows for collaboration. Workplaces are not kindergartens or college dormitories. We are not there to have fun but to create value.
4
Operations above else.
Remote managers are the operators of work. Your priority is to support efficiency and foster honest, transparent collaboration between people. Before you do anything for your team, ask yourself: will this new thing help better teamwork efficiency? If not, or you doubt it, don't invest in it.
5
Remote teams are, by default, flexible.
Flexibility should be at the core of anything you do as a remote manager. When people work remotely, it means they work flexibly. They are flexible in their location, their time, and else. As a manager, your job is to support this flexibility in every way. Otherwise, you end up with high churn at all levels.
6
Transparency creates trust. Trust creates productivity.
Yes, bet you were familiar with the first part but not the second. People trust the process when they understand and see what they need to do. If they trust the process, they are more productive as they are more likely to collaborate openly with each other. As a remote manager, you must ensure that all operations are transparent.
7
People are loyal to themselves.
I know we are going hard on the most common misconceptions and are still at point 7. But it's true - we are loyal to ourselves first. In a remote scenario, it's harder to create "team spirit" (whatever it means). But it's not a problem: if you give individuals a path for growth, they will stay loyal. On the surface, to the company, but in reality, to themselves, as they are achieving more and more.
8
Meeting in person > meeting online.
No one can deny that. Even if you work remotely, gradually and regularly meeting with your team IRL is priceless. Shared memories, bonding, and creative flow - it's a jumpstart for growth for any remote company. Investing in meetups and retreats is mandatory for you.
9
Remote work is different for everyone.
As the team manager, you need to support the work environment for everyone. You can't just invite people to your Slack and call it a day, let them figure out how they work online. You also can't force one solution on everyone. You should have a strategy to support everyone individually.
10
Remote work perks are flexible too.
When it comes to perks & benefits, they should be flexible too. A global team with flexible individuals needs a flexible collection of perks and benefits to support their work. A coworking stipend might not be useful for someone living in the countryside. Design a library of interchangeable perks for maximum flexibility.
11
Write down everything you do.
You can wing a lot of stuff in the office by just talking to people. You can't do that remotely. Documentation is the heart of everything in remote. If something is not written down, it doesn't exist. Remote managers are excellent writers.
12
Create templates, frameworks, and SOPs to reduce chaos.
By writing down everything, you can standardize the way you work. Any process document helps reduce operational chaos. Since your priority is to support efficient collaboration between people, preplanning with processes is the best ally you can have in that.
13
Performance is about outcomes, not about outputs.
It's true, especially when we talk about remote work. Tracking the outputs (ours worked, tasks completed, etc.) is not just a hideous thing to do (regardless of remote work). It's also inefficient. People work at workplaces to create value, so you should track their performance based on the value they create.
14
You need three tools for remote work, not more.
Please don't fall into the trap of tool abundance, as it creates friction and operational chaos. You need only three tools. A tool to manage synchronous communications (a shared chat). A tool to manage the documents & files you create (a company hub). And a tool to manage your projects and workflows (a project management tool). Before signing up for anything else, ask yourself the Big Question: will this new tool help improve teamwork efficiency?
15
Anything that you can automate should be automated.
The more processes you have, the more clarity you have on where you can automate things. Automation is the new frontier, especially in the knowledge-focused remote work environment. With the addition of AI, remote managers need to spot things they can automate to make work more efficient.
16
A remote company is, by default, a minimalist business.
You have no office. You invest only in a couple of tools. You drive work with processes. You automate everything you can. A remote company is a minimalist company. Minimalism means investing in new people, tools, and processes only if necessary.
17
Not just employees but employment is flexible as well.
The age-old internal/external and on-payroll/on-contract terms sound like things from the last century. Remote teams have a colorful variation regarding "employment" or terms of working together. As a manager, look for the most flexible solutions and embrace part-time, fractional, and external freelance work.
18
Want more productivity? Kill 80% of the things you do.
Remote work is sometimes even more distractive than classic office work. What's a "can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute" in the office is an endless chat talk and 100+ notifications remotely. There's no glory in juggling 500 plates with one hand. But there's a comfort in retaining your focus on what really matters.
19
Never have a meeting without an agenda. Ever.
Speaking of focus. Efficiency and productivity start with eliminating the routine when we waste each others' time. And let's face it: most meetings are a waste of time. Having an agenda forces everyone (including yourself) to consider why you need the meeting. That's the first step in efficiency.
20
Never scale without solid foundations.
Only be active on a different social media platform once you've mastered one first. Only start another avenue for growth once you know what you do with the existing ones. It's true for every aspect: don't hire an entire department of people. Hire one first. It's easier to scale if you are a remote company but never sacrifice efficiency over speed.
21
Embrace modularity.
Since people work at workplaces to create value, the company exists only to create value. If you can create value without internal people, it's okay. A remote company can be, and to some extent, should be, a modular company: a core team of remote leaders and specialists accompanied by external providers of agencies, consultants, freelancers, and more. It helps with speed, clarity, and growth.
22
Your core leadership skill is the ability to listen.
People tend to withdraw when they work remotely. As a manager, keeping people engaged is a top priority for you. By asking questions and listening to their answers, you can gather better information on how they work and show support and trust. Just listen and talk less. Counterintuitive to most leadership practices, I know. But it works.
23
Your core leadership practice is acting with intention.
Most leaders, at least in the classic office setup, wing their way with organic practices. They "walk the floor" or simply pull people out from their work to get some orientation. You can't do any of these remotely. So you must create missions, processes, habits, and workflows with intention. Plan out things, describe why and what you do, and share it with others transparently.
24
Transparency is a matter of access.
The more transparent your workflows are, the more trust you cultivate within your team. To create more transparency, you need to provide more access to information. The higher the access for your team, the more they trust the process. Default to transparency, and when you don't, ask yourself: why should I share this with my team?
25
Companies don't grow. People do.
There's no such thing as growth for companies. It's a made-up metric resulting from collaborative work by people at that company. As a manager, you must not forget this - companies grow only if people do. Your goal is to create a culture that supports individual growth, even in a flexible, remote work environment.
That's it. That was part 1. I will share the next 25 tips next week.
In the comments, what did you like, what did you miss? Let me know.
