October 14, 2025 • 19 mins
"If you can’t trust your team to work unsupervised, you may have hired the wrong people or need to look in the mirror first."
Notable Moments
[03:37] The importance of hiring self-motivated people before implementing remote processes.
[04:52] Why trust issues with remote work often stem from hiring decisions, not management style.
[08:04] Setting up tools, technology, and data policies for remote employees.
[09:48] Onboarding for culture, not just compliance.
[11:03] Defining communication expectations and channels for hybrid teams.
[13:30] How Dan Cockerell’s “What It’s Like to Work With Me” document inspired Tim’s own approach.
[16:15] The “touch people before you touch work” leadership philosophy.
[18:29] Helping organizations transition from in-office to remote environments effectively.
In this episode, Tim Dyck and Jody Maberry discuss how to create effective processes and guidelines for remote workers. They explore the role of trust in leadership, the importance of hiring motivated individuals, and how culture, communication, and clear expectations build successful remote teams.
Read the blog for more from this episode.
Connect with Tim and his team:
Website: https://bestculturesolutions.ca/
LinkedIn: Best Culture Solutions, Inc
Instagram: @best.culture.solutions
Email: tim@bestculturesolutions.ca
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign.
Welcome to the World at Work podcast, where business leaders and
job seekers come together to create winning cultures and fulfilling
careers. I'm your host, Jody Mayberry, and I'm here with Tim
Dick, the founder of Best Culture Solutions. Tim,
(00:22):
before we get going on the wonderful content
for this episode, I've got to tell you a little story. I was on
a call with somebody recently from Toronto,
and I mentioned, hey, last year I had the privilege to do
a lot of work in Canada. And she said,
oh, where at? I said, alberta. She said, oh,
(00:44):
I'm originally from Alberta. And I thought, okay,
probably Calgary, Edmonton. And I said, oh, yeah, I
really enjoyed Alberta, but I was up north in
Fort McMurray. And she said, Fort McMurray is where I was born.
No way. And then I had instant credibility. Her
parents moved there in the 80s during the oil boom, and that's
(01:06):
where she was born. So did you tell her that you curled
here and that you have. I did. So I tell
that story every chance I get. I had the most Canadian
day an American could ever have. I went to Fort McMurray.
I got out of the car and it was six degrees. So there's item
one. I went dog sledding for the first time. Yeah. Six
(01:29):
degrees Fahrenheit. I went dog sledding for the first time. I
went curling for the first time. I saw the northern lights for the first
time in a single day. Has there ever been a more Canadian day
than that? Never, ever. And that's why you should just retire
now. Probably the only thing missing is you didn't
take me to Tim Hortons for a cr. That would have, like, topped it off.
(01:52):
Yeah, but there's a reason for that. I'm not a big Tim Hortons guy.
And it's funny, because a lot of people who hear that I'm Canadian, they're like
Tim Hortons and maple syrup. Those are two things that I don't even touch.
And as we're recording, I'm even having a trusty old Starbucks from
Seattle. And not any Starbucks, but a Pike Place roast
from Seattle. Tim is also wearing Seattle
(02:14):
Mariners hat and shirt. So he's. And here I am
bragging about how Canadian I feel, and Tim
is being about as American as he can. Undermining
it all. Yeah, Undermining it all. Yeah. Sorry. But,
you know. Well, at least he got a sorry in there that made that
at least brought back the Canadian feel a little bit. All
(02:36):
right. We recently had an episode with Chelsea Brinkley about
remote work, and the feedback was wonderful. People
Loved that episode. But how could you not? Chelsea Brinkley is wonderful.
But here's what's now stirring, Tim. We've got
people interested in remote work. We've got people thinking
it's a good idea. Yeah. But here's the concern.
(02:59):
If you've never had remote workers before, the
management of it seems a little far
out there. So I thought, okay, well let's just tackle that.
Let's talk about processes and guidelines for, for
remote workers. And I know you've helped organizations with this, Tim, as
they bring in remote workers to put the right processes in place,
(03:22):
put the right procedures in place and the guidelines to
make everything goes right. So let's start there.
We've just brought on our first remote worker. What do we
do? What guidelines do we want? What processes do we want?
But I bet you you're not going to be surprised. I'm going to say we
got to start one step before that with who are you hiring? Right.
(03:44):
You know, I'm going to go there and you know what I'm going to say.
Now I think all this starts well before their
first day because I'm a big believer. So the biggest reason why
people do not like remote work. Now granted
there are some jobs that are going to require in person attention.
You probably can't be a waiter remotely, you probably cannot be a cook
(04:06):
room, you probably cannot be a family doctor remotely. Although I know telehealth is a
thing now, but there are situations where you need an actual doctor. And but
for jobs that could be done remotely, the number one reason why
I hear it can't be done or it shouldn't be done is because I cannot
trust people to work unsupervised. People need supervision to work.
And I would tell you, and Lee would, Cockrell would tell you this, and I
(04:27):
got this line from him, no surprise is that if you
cannot trust the people that work for you to do their work, then
you maybe have the wrong people or you might need to go see a psychologist.
And for a lot of people it's the second problem. But we won't get into
that. I'm not qualified qualify for that. But the first thing you need to
do before you start anything remote work wise is you need to hire the right
(04:48):
person, somebody who's self motivated to the job because when they're self motivated to the
job, they're going to want. To do the job. And that is how that's the
number one thing that you can do to make sure that it works out. Well.
Does it surprise you that I took it there first. No, not at all. And
really, what Tim just told us, I wouldn't say it
solves the problem of processes and guidelines,
(05:09):
but it makes it easier. It makes them less important.
It helps you understand. Processes and
guidelines for remote workers are not something you
put in place to make sure they're doing their job. Because if
you're hiring, right, that part's covered. You've hired
people based on motivation, not to fill a rule.
(05:32):
You don't have to find ways to prod them into doing work.
You don't have to find ways to check up on them to make sure they're
not goofing off. You've covered that when you've hired them.
So, Tim, let's assume we've been
listening to you all this time. We've hired the right people. I
think, though, there's another reason for
(05:53):
processes and guidelines for remote workers. Yeah, because you
do have people who are not remote workers.
And I get some of this is done by hiring.
Some of it lingers for cultural reasons, though.
You will have people that are not remote workers that will always
say they're probably not doing anything if they're working remote, who's
(06:16):
watching them? Who's making sure they're doing something? So processes
and guidelines, yes, are in place for the remote workers,
but they're also in place for people that are not
remote workers to just help with the assurance things are
going the way they should. Yeah, that's right. And to be honest, I
don't know how much I manage them too differently, to be honest, because, like, I'm
(06:38):
somebody who already keeps in touch with people regularly, you know, focuses on
deadlines and how people are coming with their assignments and stuff like that. But I
mean, if I were to think about processes and what to think about first, it
would be, look, if you're going to have remote workers, do you have the right
policies and processes in place before you unleash them
around? Things like technology, right? Can they access your
(07:00):
servers if that's required? Can they access your cloud? Like a lot of people are
going to clouds now instead of servers, you know, stuff like that? Can
they access all that first? Can they functionally do the job? Do they have the
technological means to do it? Do you have. Sometimes
what companies do in order to recognize the saved costs
on office space and equipment is they give remote workers an
(07:21):
allowance, right, for their own home office space. Sometimes it's $500
a year for something that's going to improve your office
space. You know, stuff like that and make sure. That
first of all, like, you have the functional and technical things in place
to support the remote worker, do they have access to the software
that they need? You know, basically just do they have the tools? Right. Do you
(07:44):
have processes in place for the tools? But not just making sure the tools
are in place, but do you have actual policies in place around data governance,
protecting your data, protecting your servers for a remote work situation?
A lot of times, from what I've heard, not being an IT guy,
there's not a lot that has to be that would need to be changed if
you already have them in the first place. But it's a great time for you
(08:05):
to revisit. What are your electronic usage policies,
what are your rules for data and intellectual property, stuff like that,
making sure that those are aligned. That's a great first step. Well,
I have to step away from the topic for a moment to say I have
done hundreds and hundreds of interviews,
thousands of podcast episodes, until this moment, I have
(08:28):
never seen anyone mid sentence take a sip of coffee
with no transition. Like, Tim was in the middle of a
sentence, and he sipped his coffee and kept going like nothing happened.
Hey, I like my Seattle Starbucks. I guess you do.
I guess I was on such a. Roll that I needed to eat, charged
up, you know, I needed the caffeine to keep going. Well, Tim
(08:50):
hit on some very important points there and helped me
realize when we talk about processes and guidelines
for remote workers, I was thinking, perhaps you were thinking
that this is to make sure that remote workers are
doing what they should, when they should, how they should. But I know
now, hearing what Tim was saying, there's another side to it.
(09:13):
You want processes and guidelines in place for
onboarding a remote worker the right way. You want
processes and guidelines to make sure remote workers have access
and they're involved like the rest of the team.
So these are important not to keep an eye on
your remote worker. Don't look at it in just that way. These are important
(09:36):
to make sure your remote worker is
included, involved, and a part
of the team, not excluded because they're
not on site. That's right. They have what they need. And I
mean, let's move next into like the. On the onboarding piece, right?
So like, so first of all, I mean, everybody knows that who's listening to
(09:58):
show that when it comes to onboarding, you know, I
am a big believer that you need to do more when you onboard
people than just tell them the rules. Right. You need to onboard them
for culture. Right. And, and your brand and how are they the
brand, what is your purpose, what are they meant to do, what are they meant
to think about? But if you have somebody that's remote
(10:19):
working, you also need to onboard them for how the remote work,
processes work. How do you access our servers, what are our expectations with our
files, what are the expectations for work rules. Right. Hours
of work, stuff like that. I have worked remotely with people where I just
say I just care about your deliverables and I know you'll get eight hours a
day. And I have worked with people remotely that had specific
(10:40):
shifts. Right. But either way, you need to be clear around
what those expectations are before they start. You have to be very
clear about when you onboard people, what your expectations are about how to
use the equipment, how to safeguard against the data, and then as
well any sort of working expectations you can do there too. Just to make sure
that you have it all aligned and it's clear from up front. Absolutely.
(11:03):
And this is also a great time to lay out
communication expectations and channels
because how if you do not? Well, teams that are
heavy on remote tend to have something like Slack
or Microsoft Teams where they keep like
that's the main channel to keep in touch. But if you
(11:25):
only have one to a few remote
workers, you also have to find a way to integrate them. Because if your
in person team doesn't use Slack as the main
communication channel, what are you going to do with remote workers? That's
something you have to think about and have a process for. And you're right. Like,
and I, and I believe in doing this even if you work in person. Right.
(11:46):
Everybody has different communication tools and my rule of
thumb around communication has always been if it's going to be urgent, if you need
my attention in less than a business day, then pick up
the phone or come and see me, but do not email me for those things.
And I would say that, you know, if you're using Slack, if you're using
teams is huge in Canada. More than anything any of those things, you need
(12:09):
to be clear around your expectations, around communication guidelines,
Right. When are you going to use them? When should you use them? When shouldn't
you use them? And not just Slack, but any communication tool that you
use. Right. So I'm glad you brought that up because I didn't think about it
because this is something that I would include, period. Right. Remote or in person,
I would just include that. Which tools do we use and when? Which one's the
most efficient? And when, when should you text me instead of calling me? When should
(12:31):
you call me instead of Emailing me. And that would also go with
things like Slack. Right. When is Slack the most effective tool,
stuff like that. So absolutely put those rules in place and those
processes in place, not just for remote workers, but for everybody.
But for sure. When you have remote workers in the context of their working
environment, you need to have those processes clear. Tim, I don't know if you ever
(12:53):
heard this story. Dan Cockrell, when he left Disney,
he was the vice president of Magic Kingdom at Walt
Disney World. That's right. Well, he is one of the best guys you'll
ever meet and does not really care for
conflict. Not that he avoids it, but if. If he could not have
conflict, I think that would be his preference. Most of us are that way.
(13:15):
But he was responsible for 15,000 cast
members. Yeah. One of the things
he would do is he would just tell people when
he onboarded them that he didn't. Doesn't like conflict.
So here's how you work with me to make it. And he
would give them a document that would outline what it's
(13:37):
like to work with Dan Cockrell and what he expects and what you
can expect. And I think something like that is ideal
when you bring on a remote worker, because they're not
there in person to pick up on cues and see,
you know, culture is how things are done around here. But if you're
not here all the time, it's hard to pick up on that. So if
(14:00):
you adopt Dan Cockrell's this is what it's like to work with
me document, I think that could be really beneficial for remote workers.
So it's funny you say that, Jody Mayberry, because I
was going to say something about that, too, and I nearly forgot, because I think
that I heard about that approach for the first
time on Dan's old podcast, Come Rain or Shine, when you
(14:22):
interviewed him, I think. I think. And I had already
put in, like, I had a large team and I had already put in our
training materials that I had put in our training materials
that, you know, like what the expectations were around. Email, phone calls, all that stuff.
Right. All that type of thing. But then when I heard it on
Dan's show, like the document that you were mentioning, I took it
(14:44):
one step further and I created that what's it like to work with Tim document.
So they knew, and a lot of that stuff was on there. So, yes, I
agree with you. It makes great sense. Make a document that
talks with people about your communication expectations and what even what your personal
priorities were like. I. I put in mind the people that look like I'm here
because I have a family and that's important to me. And
(15:06):
I made sure that people understood my priorities and how to communicate best with me.
And it was about a two page document that people got. I recommend it in
person or remotely, frankly. But to your point,
remotely even more so because it's gotta be clear what you're doing.
Right. Well, and I, I do think with
remote workers you can actually have a bit of
(15:28):
good humor with it in the sense that this is what it's like to work
with Tim and then a segment of not being with
Tim in person. Here's what you'll miss. Where
Seattle Mariners gear. Every Friday
I take my coffee break precisely at 10:15 to go get
a Starbucks pipeline place row like little things like that.
(15:50):
Like if I haven't had lunch by 1:15, I get a little
grumpy and people know, be careful asking questions,
things like that. Like those are the type of cues people pick up on
when they work with you in person. That they might not remotely. So I don't
know do that or not. But it's something that came to mind that they
won't see you all the time. So yeah, help people get to know
(16:11):
you on top of the processes and guidelines
100%. And one thing I would say is that, you know, even though people won't
see me all the time, Right, I get that. When I was
working with people in person, I developed a process
where the first thing I would do in the morning is I would touch the
people before I touch my work. Right. I would go say hi to everybody
(16:32):
and is there anything that you need help with today that I might be able
to help you with? And when we went remote during the
pandemic, I did not stop that practice, but it looked different. It was
a phone call instead of an in person stop in at their desk.
But the reality is that that's. You should continue that,
right? And maybe you're not somebody who needs to do it or can do it
(16:53):
every day, fine, but you gotta do it more than once a month,
you know, like it's gotta be a couple times a week type of thing just
to go check in and see how they're doing. And that looks different remotely.
And in some ways it actually takes more self discipline because now
it's not just a matter of stopping by their desk and you're walking by anyway.
You have to forcibly pick up the phone. But make sure that you have
(17:14):
those ingrained engagement processes, right? Those
ingrained processes that you know how you're going to talk to your people,
right? How you're going to talk and stay in touch with people. Not just talk
to your people, but talk with your people, right, and see what's going on and
be there to help them and support them. That alone can drive a lot of
accountability. Even if you're not calling them to micromanage them or like, or
(17:35):
breathe down their neck, you know, you could just give them a shout and say,
how's it going today? What do you got on the go today? What's new? Isn't
it going to help you with, you know, they've got those big projects. You can
just say, well, how's that project going for you? And you don't have to do
it in a way that's super imposing or anything like that. You can
just find out how things are going, you know, that simple. And yeah,
that is a huge, like, you know, I'm sure when people hear what
(17:57):
processes that you can implement, they hear a lot of. They think like
formal, you know, very formal business processes. And this isn't necessarily a
formal business process. This is a daily process or a daily choice that
you can make, right, to make sure that you show up for your people. Well,
I think this has been a great episode.
So Tim, if we have remote workers or we
(18:20):
want remote workers and we don't have guidelines in place, we
don't have processes or processes in place and we need some help, who
can we call? Well, we can help. I mean, I. I have had the
privilege and challenge of taking teams from in office to
remote a few times, most notably during the pandemic on about
24 hours notice. That was not easy. And so
(18:42):
we can help get things set up for sure, but we can help them. I
mean, you can see our website at bestculturesolutions CA or
timestculturesolutions ca. Of course, we're always here and
happy to help. All right, there you go. Reach out to Tim if you're
interested in this. Tim, thank you for the great discussion and
thank you for listening to World at Work.
Foreign.
Welcome to the World at Work podcast, where business leaders and
job seekers come together to create winning cultures and fulfilling
careers. I'm your host, Jody Mayberry, and I'm here with Tim
Dick, the founder of Best Culture Solutions. Tim,
(00:22):
before we get going on the wonderful content
for this episode, I've got to tell you a little story. I was on
a call with somebody recently from Toronto,
and I mentioned, hey, last year I had the privilege to do
a lot of work in Canada. And she said,
oh, where at? I said, alberta. She said, oh,
(00:44):
I'm originally from Alberta. And I thought, okay,
probably Calgary, Edmonton. And I said, oh, yeah, I
really enjoyed Alberta, but I was up north in
Fort McMurray. And she said, Fort McMurray is where I was born.
No way. And then I had instant credibility. Her
parents moved there in the 80s during the oil boom, and that's
(01:06):
where she was born. So did you tell her that you curled
here and that you have. I did. So I tell
that story every chance I get. I had the most Canadian
day an American could ever have. I went to Fort McMurray.
I got out of the car and it was six degrees. So there's item
one. I went dog sledding for the first time. Yeah. Six
(01:29):
degrees Fahrenheit. I went dog sledding for the first time. I
went curling for the first time. I saw the northern lights for the first
time in a single day. Has there ever been a more Canadian day
than that? Never, ever. And that's why you should just retire
now. Probably the only thing missing is you didn't
take me to Tim Hortons for a cr. That would have, like, topped it off.
(01:52):
Yeah, but there's a reason for that. I'm not a big Tim Hortons guy.
And it's funny, because a lot of people who hear that I'm Canadian, they're like
Tim Hortons and maple syrup. Those are two things that I don't even touch.
And as we're recording, I'm even having a trusty old Starbucks from
Seattle. And not any Starbucks, but a Pike Place roast
from Seattle. Tim is also wearing Seattle
(02:14):
Mariners hat and shirt. So he's. And here I am
bragging about how Canadian I feel, and Tim
is being about as American as he can. Undermining
it all. Yeah, Undermining it all. Yeah. Sorry. But,
you know. Well, at least he got a sorry in there that made that
at least brought back the Canadian feel a little bit. All
(02:36):
right. We recently had an episode with Chelsea Brinkley about
remote work, and the feedback was wonderful. People
Loved that episode. But how could you not? Chelsea Brinkley is wonderful.
But here's what's now stirring, Tim. We've got
people interested in remote work. We've got people thinking
it's a good idea. Yeah. But here's the concern.
(02:59):
If you've never had remote workers before, the
management of it seems a little far
out there. So I thought, okay, well let's just tackle that.
Let's talk about processes and guidelines for, for
remote workers. And I know you've helped organizations with this, Tim, as
they bring in remote workers to put the right processes in place,
(03:22):
put the right procedures in place and the guidelines to
make everything goes right. So let's start there.
We've just brought on our first remote worker. What do we
do? What guidelines do we want? What processes do we want?
But I bet you you're not going to be surprised. I'm going to say we
got to start one step before that with who are you hiring? Right.
(03:44):
You know, I'm going to go there and you know what I'm going to say.
Now I think all this starts well before their
first day because I'm a big believer. So the biggest reason why
people do not like remote work. Now granted
there are some jobs that are going to require in person attention.
You probably can't be a waiter remotely, you probably cannot be a cook
(04:06):
room, you probably cannot be a family doctor remotely. Although I know telehealth is a
thing now, but there are situations where you need an actual doctor. And but
for jobs that could be done remotely, the number one reason why
I hear it can't be done or it shouldn't be done is because I cannot
trust people to work unsupervised. People need supervision to work.
And I would tell you, and Lee would, Cockrell would tell you this, and I
(04:27):
got this line from him, no surprise is that if you
cannot trust the people that work for you to do their work, then
you maybe have the wrong people or you might need to go see a psychologist.
And for a lot of people it's the second problem. But we won't get into
that. I'm not qualified qualify for that. But the first thing you need to
do before you start anything remote work wise is you need to hire the right
(04:48):
person, somebody who's self motivated to the job because when they're self motivated to the
job, they're going to want. To do the job. And that is how that's the
number one thing that you can do to make sure that it works out. Well.
Does it surprise you that I took it there first. No, not at all. And
really, what Tim just told us, I wouldn't say it
solves the problem of processes and guidelines,
(05:09):
but it makes it easier. It makes them less important.
It helps you understand. Processes and
guidelines for remote workers are not something you
put in place to make sure they're doing their job. Because if
you're hiring, right, that part's covered. You've hired
people based on motivation, not to fill a rule.
(05:32):
You don't have to find ways to prod them into doing work.
You don't have to find ways to check up on them to make sure they're
not goofing off. You've covered that when you've hired them.
So, Tim, let's assume we've been
listening to you all this time. We've hired the right people. I
think, though, there's another reason for
(05:53):
processes and guidelines for remote workers. Yeah, because you
do have people who are not remote workers.
And I get some of this is done by hiring.
Some of it lingers for cultural reasons, though.
You will have people that are not remote workers that will always
say they're probably not doing anything if they're working remote, who's
(06:16):
watching them? Who's making sure they're doing something? So processes
and guidelines, yes, are in place for the remote workers,
but they're also in place for people that are not
remote workers to just help with the assurance things are
going the way they should. Yeah, that's right. And to be honest, I
don't know how much I manage them too differently, to be honest, because, like, I'm
(06:38):
somebody who already keeps in touch with people regularly, you know, focuses on
deadlines and how people are coming with their assignments and stuff like that. But I
mean, if I were to think about processes and what to think about first, it
would be, look, if you're going to have remote workers, do you have the right
policies and processes in place before you unleash them
around? Things like technology, right? Can they access your
(07:00):
servers if that's required? Can they access your cloud? Like a lot of people are
going to clouds now instead of servers, you know, stuff like that? Can
they access all that first? Can they functionally do the job? Do they have the
technological means to do it? Do you have. Sometimes
what companies do in order to recognize the saved costs
on office space and equipment is they give remote workers an
(07:21):
allowance, right, for their own home office space. Sometimes it's $500
a year for something that's going to improve your office
space. You know, stuff like that and make sure. That
first of all, like, you have the functional and technical things in place
to support the remote worker, do they have access to the software
that they need? You know, basically just do they have the tools? Right. Do you
(07:44):
have processes in place for the tools? But not just making sure the tools
are in place, but do you have actual policies in place around data governance,
protecting your data, protecting your servers for a remote work situation?
A lot of times, from what I've heard, not being an IT guy,
there's not a lot that has to be that would need to be changed if
you already have them in the first place. But it's a great time for you
(08:05):
to revisit. What are your electronic usage policies,
what are your rules for data and intellectual property, stuff like that,
making sure that those are aligned. That's a great first step. Well,
I have to step away from the topic for a moment to say I have
done hundreds and hundreds of interviews,
thousands of podcast episodes, until this moment, I have
(08:28):
never seen anyone mid sentence take a sip of coffee
with no transition. Like, Tim was in the middle of a
sentence, and he sipped his coffee and kept going like nothing happened.
Hey, I like my Seattle Starbucks. I guess you do.
I guess I was on such a. Roll that I needed to eat, charged
up, you know, I needed the caffeine to keep going. Well, Tim
(08:50):
hit on some very important points there and helped me
realize when we talk about processes and guidelines
for remote workers, I was thinking, perhaps you were thinking
that this is to make sure that remote workers are
doing what they should, when they should, how they should. But I know
now, hearing what Tim was saying, there's another side to it.
(09:13):
You want processes and guidelines in place for
onboarding a remote worker the right way. You want
processes and guidelines to make sure remote workers have access
and they're involved like the rest of the team.
So these are important not to keep an eye on
your remote worker. Don't look at it in just that way. These are important
(09:36):
to make sure your remote worker is
included, involved, and a part
of the team, not excluded because they're
not on site. That's right. They have what they need. And I
mean, let's move next into like the. On the onboarding piece, right?
So like, so first of all, I mean, everybody knows that who's listening to
(09:58):
show that when it comes to onboarding, you know, I
am a big believer that you need to do more when you onboard
people than just tell them the rules. Right. You need to onboard them
for culture. Right. And, and your brand and how are they the
brand, what is your purpose, what are they meant to do, what are they meant
to think about? But if you have somebody that's remote
(10:19):
working, you also need to onboard them for how the remote work,
processes work. How do you access our servers, what are our expectations with our
files, what are the expectations for work rules. Right. Hours
of work, stuff like that. I have worked remotely with people where I just
say I just care about your deliverables and I know you'll get eight hours a
day. And I have worked with people remotely that had specific
(10:40):
shifts. Right. But either way, you need to be clear around
what those expectations are before they start. You have to be very
clear about when you onboard people, what your expectations are about how to
use the equipment, how to safeguard against the data, and then as
well any sort of working expectations you can do there too. Just to make sure
that you have it all aligned and it's clear from up front. Absolutely.
(11:03):
And this is also a great time to lay out
communication expectations and channels
because how if you do not? Well, teams that are
heavy on remote tend to have something like Slack
or Microsoft Teams where they keep like
that's the main channel to keep in touch. But if you
(11:25):
only have one to a few remote
workers, you also have to find a way to integrate them. Because if your
in person team doesn't use Slack as the main
communication channel, what are you going to do with remote workers? That's
something you have to think about and have a process for. And you're right. Like,
and I, and I believe in doing this even if you work in person. Right.
(11:46):
Everybody has different communication tools and my rule of
thumb around communication has always been if it's going to be urgent, if you need
my attention in less than a business day, then pick up
the phone or come and see me, but do not email me for those things.
And I would say that, you know, if you're using Slack, if you're using
teams is huge in Canada. More than anything any of those things, you need
(12:09):
to be clear around your expectations, around communication guidelines,
Right. When are you going to use them? When should you use them? When shouldn't
you use them? And not just Slack, but any communication tool that you
use. Right. So I'm glad you brought that up because I didn't think about it
because this is something that I would include, period. Right. Remote or in person,
I would just include that. Which tools do we use and when? Which one's the
most efficient? And when, when should you text me instead of calling me? When should
(12:31):
you call me instead of Emailing me. And that would also go with
things like Slack. Right. When is Slack the most effective tool,
stuff like that. So absolutely put those rules in place and those
processes in place, not just for remote workers, but for everybody.
But for sure. When you have remote workers in the context of their working
environment, you need to have those processes clear. Tim, I don't know if you ever
(12:53):
heard this story. Dan Cockrell, when he left Disney,
he was the vice president of Magic Kingdom at Walt
Disney World. That's right. Well, he is one of the best guys you'll
ever meet and does not really care for
conflict. Not that he avoids it, but if. If he could not have
conflict, I think that would be his preference. Most of us are that way.
(13:15):
But he was responsible for 15,000 cast
members. Yeah. One of the things
he would do is he would just tell people when
he onboarded them that he didn't. Doesn't like conflict.
So here's how you work with me to make it. And he
would give them a document that would outline what it's
(13:37):
like to work with Dan Cockrell and what he expects and what you
can expect. And I think something like that is ideal
when you bring on a remote worker, because they're not
there in person to pick up on cues and see,
you know, culture is how things are done around here. But if you're
not here all the time, it's hard to pick up on that. So if
(14:00):
you adopt Dan Cockrell's this is what it's like to work with
me document, I think that could be really beneficial for remote workers.
So it's funny you say that, Jody Mayberry, because I
was going to say something about that, too, and I nearly forgot, because I think
that I heard about that approach for the first
time on Dan's old podcast, Come Rain or Shine, when you
(14:22):
interviewed him, I think. I think. And I had already
put in, like, I had a large team and I had already put in our
training materials that I had put in our training materials
that, you know, like what the expectations were around. Email, phone calls, all that stuff.
Right. All that type of thing. But then when I heard it on
Dan's show, like the document that you were mentioning, I took it
(14:44):
one step further and I created that what's it like to work with Tim document.
So they knew, and a lot of that stuff was on there. So, yes, I
agree with you. It makes great sense. Make a document that
talks with people about your communication expectations and what even what your personal
priorities were like. I. I put in mind the people that look like I'm here
because I have a family and that's important to me. And
(15:06):
I made sure that people understood my priorities and how to communicate best with me.
And it was about a two page document that people got. I recommend it in
person or remotely, frankly. But to your point,
remotely even more so because it's gotta be clear what you're doing.
Right. Well, and I, I do think with
remote workers you can actually have a bit of
(15:28):
good humor with it in the sense that this is what it's like to work
with Tim and then a segment of not being with
Tim in person. Here's what you'll miss. Where
Seattle Mariners gear. Every Friday
I take my coffee break precisely at 10:15 to go get
a Starbucks pipeline place row like little things like that.
(15:50):
Like if I haven't had lunch by 1:15, I get a little
grumpy and people know, be careful asking questions,
things like that. Like those are the type of cues people pick up on
when they work with you in person. That they might not remotely. So I don't
know do that or not. But it's something that came to mind that they
won't see you all the time. So yeah, help people get to know
(16:11):
you on top of the processes and guidelines
100%. And one thing I would say is that, you know, even though people won't
see me all the time, Right, I get that. When I was
working with people in person, I developed a process
where the first thing I would do in the morning is I would touch the
people before I touch my work. Right. I would go say hi to everybody
(16:32):
and is there anything that you need help with today that I might be able
to help you with? And when we went remote during the
pandemic, I did not stop that practice, but it looked different. It was
a phone call instead of an in person stop in at their desk.
But the reality is that that's. You should continue that,
right? And maybe you're not somebody who needs to do it or can do it
(16:53):
every day, fine, but you gotta do it more than once a month,
you know, like it's gotta be a couple times a week type of thing just
to go check in and see how they're doing. And that looks different remotely.
And in some ways it actually takes more self discipline because now
it's not just a matter of stopping by their desk and you're walking by anyway.
You have to forcibly pick up the phone. But make sure that you have
(17:14):
those ingrained engagement processes, right? Those
ingrained processes that you know how you're going to talk to your people,
right? How you're going to talk and stay in touch with people. Not just talk
to your people, but talk with your people, right, and see what's going on and
be there to help them and support them. That alone can drive a lot of
accountability. Even if you're not calling them to micromanage them or like, or
(17:35):
breathe down their neck, you know, you could just give them a shout and say,
how's it going today? What do you got on the go today? What's new? Isn't
it going to help you with, you know, they've got those big projects. You can
just say, well, how's that project going for you? And you don't have to do
it in a way that's super imposing or anything like that. You can
just find out how things are going, you know, that simple. And yeah,
that is a huge, like, you know, I'm sure when people hear what
(17:57):
processes that you can implement, they hear a lot of. They think like
formal, you know, very formal business processes. And this isn't necessarily a
formal business process. This is a daily process or a daily choice that
you can make, right, to make sure that you show up for your people. Well,
I think this has been a great episode.
So Tim, if we have remote workers or we
(18:20):
want remote workers and we don't have guidelines in place, we
don't have processes or processes in place and we need some help, who
can we call? Well, we can help. I mean, I. I have had the
privilege and challenge of taking teams from in office to
remote a few times, most notably during the pandemic on about
24 hours notice. That was not easy. And so
(18:42):
we can help get things set up for sure, but we can help them. I
mean, you can see our website at bestculturesolutions CA or
timestculturesolutions ca. Of course, we're always here and
happy to help. All right, there you go. Reach out to Tim if you're
interested in this. Tim, thank you for the great discussion and
thank you for listening to World at Work.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.