September 25, 2025 • 29 mins
Leading a remote team isn’t new, but it’s more common than ever. Long before 2020, companies like IBM and Dell had remote employees, but when COVID hit, the world of work changed overnight. In April 2020, Gallup reported that about 70% of the U.S. workforce was suddenly remote. And even as offices reopened, hybrid and remote work became the new normal.
But here’s the challenge: you can’t lead a remote team the same way you lead an in-office team. What works face-to-face doesn’t always translate through Zoom, Slack, or email. Myths about productivity and engagement have left many leaders feeling like they have to micromanage or worse, like they can’t truly trust their teams.
During this episode, I break through some of the most common myths and actually provide practical steps to help you effectively lead remote teams and build powerhouse teams that get real results.
Ready to lead more boldly and build a powerhouse team to exceed your goals?
The Leadership Shift Coaching helps leaders lead with confidence, influence outcomes, and build teams that thrive without burning out. https://go.cignalpartners.com/leadershipshift
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, here's a question for you.
When you think about leading aremote team, what's the first
thing that comes to mind?
Are you thinking about Zoom,fatigue, endless Slack messages
or WhatsApp messages, or are youwondering if your team is
actually working?
(00:22):
Remote work isn't new.
Companies have been doing itlong before 2020, but when COVID
hit, it flipped the script.
Gallup reported that by Aprilof 2020, about 70% of the US
workforce was remote.
What was once optional became adefault setting, and, even as
(00:47):
offices are now reopening, manyof them still have hybrid and
remote work as a part of theirongoing process.
This is how they arefunctioning.
So today I want to unpack whatit really takes to lead remote
teams.
We'll bust through some mythsthat I just really am looking
(01:10):
forward to talking about,because I've heard them for
years, and then I want to talkabout the real challenges,
because there are some uniquechallenges and differences
between managing or leading ateam remotely versus in office,
and then give you some bestpractices you can use to build
(01:33):
trust and strengthen theconnection and drive performance
without burning yourself oryour team out.
Let's start with the myths, andI have three that I want to to
clear up.
Right, and and some of theseare some pet peeves for me.
I'll just say you know,truthfully and I understand that
(01:56):
part of it is a learning curveand still, to this day, are
still trying to figure it outbut part of it is that people
don't have an open mindset whenit comes to remote work, and I'm
not saying that every job canbe done remotely.
We understand and we know thatall jobs can't be done remotely,
but there's a good portion ofthe jobs that can be.
(02:20):
The first myth I want to talkabout is remote work kills
productivity.
We have heard that one oh mygosh, we hear that one so much
but the reality is that it's theopposite.
The opposite is true.
A Stanford study found remoteworkers were 13% more productive
(02:40):
and took fewer breaks.
It's not about monitoringkeystrokes.
It's about setting clearexpectations and measuring
results.
Measuring outcomes.
It's not about checking to makesure that people are still
online.
It's not about any of that.
So I really want you to thinkabout that.
(03:05):
If you are in the mindset thatyou feel like you're missing out
when you can't see your team.
There's other ways that you canmeasure performance, and we're
going to talk a little bit aboutthat later on in this episode.
The second myth is that remoteworkers are disconnected and
disengaged.
Here's another reality Gallupfound employees with flexibility
(03:38):
actually reported higherengagement and less burnout.
If people feel disengaged,that's not about remote work.
That could be about leadershipand culture.
So there are some things, asleaders, that we need to be
doing in order to make sure thatdoesn't happen.
(03:58):
Myth number three you can manageremote teams the same way you
manage in-person teams.
I think that this was one ofthe biggest myths and I feel
like people try to.
Instead of changing, people tryto manage them the same, which
is why so many people have Zoomfatigue or Teams, microsoft
(04:21):
teams fatigue, because they'reonline so much because they're
trying to recreate what they didin person, and there's just
some things that you're notgoing to be able to recreate,
but there are some things thatyou can take advantage of when
we're talking about remoteworkers.
Different environment requiresa different playbook.
(04:42):
We have to alter the playbookand, as leaders, we need to be
doing this anyway, as differentgenerations enter the workforce,
as technology advances, aspeople become more remote.
Whatever the case may be, wehave to be flexible at leaders
(05:04):
and we have to be always readyand positioned to change.
You can't just copy paste yourleadership style into Zoom.
You've got to adapt andflexibility is going to be on
your side and is one of thebiggest advantages that you have
as a leader.
Now, the truth is there aresome challenges when you are
(05:31):
leading remotely.
It's not all berries and cream.
There are some things that youare going to have to do.
We're talking about, like I said, changing the playbook, because
this is a different landscape,and when I probably about seven,
five to seven years into myleadership journey I ended up
(05:52):
having a team that were remotesome of them work from home,
some of them work from satellitelocations, but they were not in
the office with me I had toliterally get on a plane and go
to Tennessee, get on a plane andgo to Colorado or wherever they
(06:12):
were, when we had certain typesof meetings.
But the fact of the matter is,on a day-to-day basis, I was
still managing them.
They still reported directly tome.
I had to figure it out and itout and um.
So no, I know it's not new, no,I know that you don't manage
the same, and the way I managedthem back then changed.
(06:36):
The way I led that team backthen changed, technology changed
, so we were doing conferencecalls and then, when we got
video, we would all go to theconference room.
Everybody would go to theconference room, depending on
where they were located, and wewould have the video up and we
would take calls.
And now we are at your desk.
(06:59):
Wherever you are, you're doinga teams meeting or a Zoom
meeting or Google meeting orwhat have you.
But as technology advances, asthings change, we have to be
open to change.
So I want to talk about someunique challenges, because I
don't want to fluff over it,because there are some things
that we have to consider.
(07:20):
So what makes leading remoteteams challenging?
The first thing is no casualconnection.
When you're in the office, youcan look at people, you can see
their face, you can ask howthey're doing, you can stop by
their desk.
All of this changes.
You don't have that casualconnection.
You see each other when you'remaking coffee.
(07:42):
Those are opportunities tobuild relationships.
Those are opportunities that Itook advantage of when building
relationships and one of thereviews that I read by Harvard
Business Review they note that70% of collaboration comes from
informal interaction.
So those little quick chats,it's not the same.
(08:09):
Remote, it's not the same.
The second challenge is trusttakes more effort Without
visibility.
Leaders often default tomicromanagement because you
don't see the person sitting intheir chair.
You don't see how long they areactually working.
You have many leaders that goright to default to
(08:31):
micromanagement, like, again,they're looking to see how long
are they online, they're lookingat how many keystrokes and
things like that, and there arejust so many.
Especially, we're in 2025.
There are so many ways that youcan figure out if someone is
being productive and if they areperforming or not, and we're
going to talk about how you leanon some of those things in
(08:53):
order to determine if your teamis really producing, instead of
micromanagement, which makeseverybody feel uncomfortable you
as a leader and then your teamas well.
The third challenge is cohesionfades quickly.
(09:14):
You got different time zones.
Depending on how you aremanaging, you may have different
cultures.
Home setups can isolate people.
There is a potential forcohesion to fade quickly and
we're going to talk about somethings that you can implement so
that that does not happen.
Another challenge the fourthchallenge and the last challenge
that I'll mention right now isperformance feels harder to
(09:37):
measure for some leaders.
Leaders confuse online hourswith actual outcomes.
Leaders confuse online hourswith actual outcomes, and we
have to be careful of that,because just because somebody
spends 12 hours in the officedoes not mean that they were
productive at all.
We have to be really carefulnot to look at oh my gosh, he
(10:00):
worked so hard, but what isbeing produced?
What are the outcomes of thatwork?
If I'm sitting in the officefor 12 to 14 hours a day, what
is the outcome?
Now I want to twist and I wantto talk about some best
practices for remote leadership,and this is where we're going
to tackle some of thosechallenges that I mentioned
(10:21):
above and some of the thingsthat you could do to really make
sure that you are leading in away that doesn't put you in a
position where you aremicromanaging and makes
everybody feel uncomfortable andsuspect and there's a lack of
trust.
Well, here's the good newsRemote leadership doesn't have
(10:43):
to be complicated.
Here's the good news Remoteleadership doesn't have to be
complicated.
If you focus on these bestpractices, you'll see your team
thrive, even from a distance.
The first thing you want to dois build trust by leading with
transparency.
(11:06):
Sometimes, as leaders, we holdon the information because we
don't think it's important tothe project or to the team
member, and usually what happensis it creates this room for
distrust.
Share the why behind yourdecisions, not just the what.
You won't be able to do that100% of the time, but more times
(11:29):
than not you'll be able to dothat.
Instead of saying we're movingthe deadline, say it the client
shifted their needs, so we'readjusting timelines to deliver
on expectations.
Be forthcoming with information.
This builds trust and let metell you something Trust is the
single biggest driver of teamperformance, whether it's remote
(11:50):
or in person.
It's bigger than the tools thatyou can provide them.
It's bigger than anything else.
Trust your team wants to trustyou and, as a leader, you want
your team to trust you.
Be forthcoming with information.
Be as transparent as youpossibly can.
(12:11):
Number two set clear andconsistent expectations.
Be really clear about whatsuccess looks like.
Do not make your team guesslooks like.
(12:31):
Do not make your team guess.
Get it's extremely clear.
They need to know it's reallyhard to hit a target that's not
visible, because what are youaiming at?
This is something that you haveto give your team.
Your team believe it or not.
Most people want to besuccessful.
They want to feel good aboutwhat it is that they do and when
(12:51):
you define what success lookslike, you give them a better
opportunity at hitting that.
Clarify communication this isincluded in number two.
Clarify communication this isincluded in number two.
Clarify communication whenwe're talking about remote work,
we use a lot of technologyEmail, slack, whatsapp messages,
(13:12):
video, project managementsoftware, clickup, asana.
Whatever it is that you use use, be clear about how these tools
should be used and when theyshould be used, because, if not,
what could happen is you mayhave everything sitting in slack
(13:36):
when there were some thingsthat you were expected to be in
an email.
Make sure you lay out howyou're using each of the tools
and when they should be used,and enforce that with your team.
And as work evolves, astechnology evolves, you may have
to change that, and that isokay, but be clear with your
(13:57):
expectations.
Be clear what it is that youwant them to do and how you want
to do it.
The third thing is to createintentional touch points.
This is going to help us inbuilding relationship with our
team and then also making surethat we have cohesive team and
there is collaboration.
(14:18):
This is something that we'regoing to have to be more
intentional when we are managingremote teams.
When you're in office, it'seasy to walk around and say, hey
, can we do a five-minute huddle?
It's real easy.
You're looking at people andyou do it, but sometimes because
(14:47):
people are not in our line ofsight, we may not think to
include them, we may not thinkto have these type of huddles.
Make sure that you areintentional with your touch
points.
If you're going to have weeklyteam meetings which I would
recommend that you do use thatfor updates and then also to
build connection.
You're meeting in a teamatmosphere, in a group
atmosphere.
People get to hear what othersare working on and then they get
(15:09):
to provide feedback and supportand collaborate Also in those
meetings.
It's a good idea to rotate awin of the week type of thing
right.
Make sure that number one youare sharing wins with your team
for specific people, specificthings they've done.
(15:32):
Make sure they have anopportunity to share a win.
Also, give them an opportunityto share a hurdle or a challenge
that they may be, that they mayhave identified, and give the
others in the room anopportunity to support them
through that and they may end upgoing off and having separate
meetings as well, but you'rebuilding collaboration.
(15:54):
Now they're working as a team.
Another thing when we're talkingabout intentional touch points,
host optional virtual coffeechats or lunch chats or some
type of informal bonding.
One of the things I did when Ihad remote teams we would have
the virtual coffee chats where Iwould just schedule something
(16:16):
10 minutes on somebody'scalendar or give them an
opportunity to schedule 10, 15minutes with me, and we just
talk and catch up over coffee.
We also had luncheons onlinevirtual luncheons.
It's a couple of different ways.
If you have a budget, you cansend people Uber Eats cars and
they can order something forlunch and then we are online and
(16:41):
we are eating.
We're just casual conversation,but it's an opportunity for us
to get together, for us to bondinformally, to kind of keep that
going.
So here's another statMicrosoft's Work Trend Index
found that employees with strongsocial connections reported 50%
(17:02):
higher productivity and 40%better retention.
So these things are a greatidea.
Of course, you want to becognizant of what people may
have going on outside of work.
Make sure that you are thinkingthrough that.
That's why I usually recommendlike a virtual lunch instead of
(17:25):
something in the evening.
But you know your team, figureout what works best.
And you know what works bestbecause you're having
one-on-ones.
You're having one-on-ones withthem and you are getting this
type of feedback and you'relearning what it is they like
and they dislike.
Another point I want to go backto when we talked about
(17:52):
celebrating the wins.
You could also do this in Slack, in the different messengers,
just like a quick shout out topeople.
That way you don't have to waittill your weekly meeting and
this kind of replaces or itfills the gap of that hallway
high five.
You know how.
You see somebody and they did areally great job on a project
(18:13):
or coming up with a solution fora client, whatever that looks
like, and you see them.
And by you seeing them, youautomatically think about what
they did and right there yourecognize them for it.
Well, we want to keep thatenergy going and you can do this
by doing it in whatever remotechannels you have.
But acknowledging theircontribution to the team I lost
(18:42):
track.
I think I'm on number four.
Encourage collaboration acrossthe team.
Pair people up who don'tusually work together.
If there's projects that they'dbe good at or based on their
skill set that they wouldcomplement each other.
Pair them up to work.
Of course, they set their ownschedule.
(19:03):
They figure out how to do that,but you have to be intentional
about telling them what it isthat you expect and what you
want them to accomplish.
And they can get together andthey can brainstorm, they can
work on projects, but make sureyou are encouraging
collaboration across the teamand make sure you are
collaborating with them as well.
(19:25):
Make sure you are usingtechnology that's appropriate
and that complements that typeof thing.
So it could be, you know, asana, clickup, whatever tools that
you use that will help youfoster some of this, this real
time brainstorming.
(19:45):
Number five focus on outcomes,not activity.
Focus on outcomes, not activity.
The reason why I think this isextremely important is because
we have to replace the are theyonline?
Mentality with did they deliverthe agreed results?
And this is why it's soimportant that you are clear
(20:07):
with what your expectations are,because then that way, you know
if they delivered what it wasthat you agreed that they would
deliver, not that they wereonline, not that the green dot
was showed that they was onlinefor 20 hours.
That's not what we're using asa a stick of measurement.
(20:28):
We're looking at outcomes.
We're looking at are you, arethey meeting project deadlines?
We're in 2025.
It's time for us to start usingthe technology that we have in
front of us and start trustingour team more and depending,
like I said, on outcomes whenwe're talking about performance
(20:49):
and then um.
One thing I like to do isestablish team rituals.
Every week, you're doingcertain things over and over
again.
It could be wrap up Fridays.
So you're going to wrap up onFriday with accomplishments and
learnings.
These do not have to be overvideo call, but you decide
(21:12):
people are going to share theiraccomplishments or learnings in
Slack or over email, whatever itis that you choose to do, but
every single Friday we're doingthe same thing.
Or you can have a kickoffMondays where we're going to
kick off what the priorities arefor the week, and this is
basically depends on the type ofteam that you are leading and
(21:36):
what their responsibilities are.
You have to do, of course, whatmakes sense for you, but just
establishing some team ritualswhere they know every Monday,
I'm doing this, every Fridaywe're doing this.
These rituals, they create arhythm and a predictability and
it's an anchor for remote teams.
They know, at certain times ofthe day or certain times of the
(21:59):
week that things are certainthings that are going to happen.
Some people get lonely whenthey are working remote and we
(22:22):
want to make sure that we areintentionally creating spaces
for people to come together andto work and to share and to
support.
Two more things I want tomention.
Number one we have to modelhealthy boundaries boundaries
when you, when you say take careof yourself, but you are
sending late night emails withthe expectation that they're
going to respond, you don'treally mean take care of
(22:45):
yourself.
We need to make sure that weare having healthy boundaries
and we are encouraging theseboundaries and we are helping to
protect our personal time aswell as their personal time.
So, if you have people that arein different time zones, you
(23:07):
may want to have a rule thattalks about people are going to
respond within 24 hours or 12hours.
It depends on the time zonesthat you are, that people are in
, that you are leading, butsomething that makes sense.
So people don't feel pressurethat when you send a email and
(23:28):
it is midnight in their timethat they're expected to respond
.
So make sure that you are clearabout what those boundaries
look like.
You also have to make sure thatyou are following the
boundaries as well, becausethey're going to take their lead
from you.
If you say that you want themto take care of themselves, that
(23:49):
you want them to have healthyboundaries, but you don't have
any, they're going to look atwhat you do more so than what
you say, and you'll see thatthey may start to get burned out
and overwhelmed.
So when you are working in aremote space, make sure that you
are cognizant of the fact thatyou're really clear on what
(24:10):
those expectations are and thatyou are following whatever those
boundaries are, that you'rereally clear on what those
expectations are and that youare following whatever those
boundaries are that you put inplace that you want them to
follow.
You have to walk it out.
They won't believe it's safefor them unless they see you do
it as well.
So if you value your familytime and you don't take calls,
(24:32):
emails or what have you after 7pm, then that's what you need to
do.
You shouldn't be responding at7, 10.
Just kind of think about youknow those things.
And the last thing I want tomention is technology.
We want to use technologywisely, because there is so much
technology it can beoverwhelming.
(24:53):
So tools should support thework that we do.
They shouldn't dictate how wedo work.
They should support us.
They should not overwhelm us.
They should not take up all ofour time.
It has to be structured.
That's why I say, if you'reusing Slack and email and all of
(25:16):
these different tools, makesure you have a plan about how
it should be used, because ifnot, it's going to be
overwhelming and you'll findthat people are spending more
time trying to figure out how touse the tool or where to find
information than they are indoing the work, and it is on us
as leaders to make those thingsclear.
(25:37):
When I started this, I said thatthere's a different playbook
that we have to use.
We really have to use it.
This means that your leadershipsystems that you have for
in-person how you lead in-personteams is going to need to be
updated.
For remote teams, there aresome foundational things that
(25:58):
are going to be the same acrossthe board.
However, there's going to besome glaring differences and you
need to be able to identifythose and modify the tools, the
systems, the way you lead, asmuch as possible.
All right.
(26:21):
So if you are leading a team,here's some quick wins for you.
The first thing is audit yourcommunication plan.
Are you over communicating orare you under communicating?
Audit your plan, determine whatit is right and then in your
next one-on-one ask howconnected do you feel to the
team?
You want?
To make sure that yourone-on-one people feel connected
(26:42):
.
Also, you can ask them about dothey feel like they're getting
the information that they need?
Do they feel like expectationsare clear?
There's nothing wrong withasking your team that.
All right.
So the other thing that is aquick win is making sure that
you review your performancemeasures.
How are you tracking results?
(27:04):
Is it solely based on theamount of time that they are
online or is it based onoutcomes?
And if it's based on outcomes,what are the outcomes and what
are the outcomes that equate tosuccess, so that you can be able
to clearly communicate thatwith your team.
(27:25):
All right, so I just wanna closethis out and I had to start
with those myths, because thoseare some things that I'm like no
, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Remote working is not new.
It doesn't mean that people areworking less Any of that.
People can be just asproductive, but there are some
(27:47):
things that we need to do from aleadership perspective.
So remote working isn't brandnew, but COVID did make it
mainstream and, like I said, thetruth is remote teams can be
just as productive, just asengaged and sometimes even
stronger if you lead with trust,clarity and connection.
(28:07):
But you have to be intentionalabout how you lead.
Just keep in mind that remoteleadership doesn't happen by
accident.
You have to design it withintention.
If you are leading your remoteteam or hybrid teams and it's
feeling overwhelming, let's worktogether.
This is something that I couldwork with you in the Leadership
(28:28):
Shift Coaching.
It's a one-on-one program wherewe work on the things that you
need that you're dealing withright now, today, so that we can
position you to be the bestleader as possible, and also so
that you can put the systems andthe strategies in place so you
can leave with more confidence,without burning yourself out and
creating a powerhouse team thatis going to help you build
(28:53):
capacity as well.
Again, thank you for joining me,because I know that there are
many podcasts out there, but youchose to spend your time with
me.
If you enjoy the content, ifyou learn something, give us a
five-star review.
Also, if you know anotherleader in middle management or a
business leader that isbuilding a team.
(29:15):
Make sure you share our podcastwith them.
We would really appreciate it.
Lastly, keep in mind that wehave Ask Me Anything episodes
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(29:35):
signalpartnerscom.
Thank you and have a wonderfulday.
Okay, here's a question for you.
When you think about leading aremote team, what's the first
thing that comes to mind?
Are you thinking about Zoom,fatigue, endless Slack messages
or WhatsApp messages, or are youwondering if your team is
actually working?
(00:22):
Remote work isn't new.
Companies have been doing itlong before 2020, but when COVID
hit, it flipped the script.
Gallup reported that by Aprilof 2020, about 70% of the US
workforce was remote.
What was once optional became adefault setting, and, even as
(00:47):
offices are now reopening, manyof them still have hybrid and
remote work as a part of theirongoing process.
This is how they arefunctioning.
So today I want to unpack whatit really takes to lead remote
teams.
We'll bust through some mythsthat I just really am looking
(01:10):
forward to talking about,because I've heard them for
years, and then I want to talkabout the real challenges,
because there are some uniquechallenges and differences
between managing or leading ateam remotely versus in office,
and then give you some bestpractices you can use to build
(01:33):
trust and strengthen theconnection and drive performance
without burning yourself oryour team out.
Let's start with the myths, andI have three that I want to to
clear up.
Right, and and some of theseare some pet peeves for me.
I'll just say you know,truthfully and I understand that
(01:56):
part of it is a learning curveand still, to this day, are
still trying to figure it outbut part of it is that people
don't have an open mindset whenit comes to remote work, and I'm
not saying that every job canbe done remotely.
We understand and we know thatall jobs can't be done remotely,
but there's a good portion ofthe jobs that can be.
(02:20):
The first myth I want to talkabout is remote work kills
productivity.
We have heard that one oh mygosh, we hear that one so much
but the reality is that it's theopposite.
The opposite is true.
A Stanford study found remoteworkers were 13% more productive
(02:40):
and took fewer breaks.
It's not about monitoringkeystrokes.
It's about setting clearexpectations and measuring
results.
Measuring outcomes.
It's not about checking to makesure that people are still
online.
It's not about any of that.
So I really want you to thinkabout that.
(03:05):
If you are in the mindset thatyou feel like you're missing out
when you can't see your team.
There's other ways that you canmeasure performance, and we're
going to talk a little bit aboutthat later on in this episode.
The second myth is that remoteworkers are disconnected and
disengaged.
Here's another reality Gallupfound employees with flexibility
(03:38):
actually reported higherengagement and less burnout.
If people feel disengaged,that's not about remote work.
That could be about leadershipand culture.
So there are some things, asleaders, that we need to be
doing in order to make sure thatdoesn't happen.
(03:58):
Myth number three you can manageremote teams the same way you
manage in-person teams.
I think that this was one ofthe biggest myths and I feel
like people try to.
Instead of changing, people tryto manage them the same, which
is why so many people have Zoomfatigue or Teams, microsoft
(04:21):
teams fatigue, because they'reonline so much because they're
trying to recreate what they didin person, and there's just
some things that you're notgoing to be able to recreate,
but there are some things thatyou can take advantage of when
we're talking about remoteworkers.
Different environment requiresa different playbook.
(04:42):
We have to alter the playbookand, as leaders, we need to be
doing this anyway, as differentgenerations enter the workforce,
as technology advances, aspeople become more remote.
Whatever the case may be, wehave to be flexible at leaders
(05:04):
and we have to be always readyand positioned to change.
You can't just copy paste yourleadership style into Zoom.
You've got to adapt andflexibility is going to be on
your side and is one of thebiggest advantages that you have
as a leader.
Now, the truth is there aresome challenges when you are
(05:31):
leading remotely.
It's not all berries and cream.
There are some things that youare going to have to do.
We're talking about, like I said, changing the playbook, because
this is a different landscape,and when I probably about seven,
five to seven years into myleadership journey I ended up
(05:52):
having a team that were remotesome of them work from home,
some of them work from satellitelocations, but they were not in
the office with me I had toliterally get on a plane and go
to Tennessee, get on a plane andgo to Colorado or wherever they
(06:12):
were, when we had certain typesof meetings.
But the fact of the matter is,on a day-to-day basis, I was
still managing them.
They still reported directly tome.
I had to figure it out and itout and um.
So no, I know it's not new, no,I know that you don't manage
the same, and the way I managedthem back then changed.
(06:36):
The way I led that team backthen changed, technology changed
, so we were doing conferencecalls and then, when we got
video, we would all go to theconference room.
Everybody would go to theconference room, depending on
where they were located, and wewould have the video up and we
would take calls.
And now we are at your desk.
(06:59):
Wherever you are, you're doinga teams meeting or a Zoom
meeting or Google meeting orwhat have you.
But as technology advances, asthings change, we have to be
open to change.
So I want to talk about someunique challenges, because I
don't want to fluff over it,because there are some things
that we have to consider.
(07:20):
So what makes leading remoteteams challenging?
The first thing is no casualconnection.
When you're in the office, youcan look at people, you can see
their face, you can ask howthey're doing, you can stop by
their desk.
All of this changes.
You don't have that casualconnection.
You see each other when you'remaking coffee.
(07:42):
Those are opportunities tobuild relationships.
Those are opportunities that Itook advantage of when building
relationships and one of thereviews that I read by Harvard
Business Review they note that70% of collaboration comes from
informal interaction.
So those little quick chats,it's not the same.
(08:09):
Remote, it's not the same.
The second challenge is trusttakes more effort Without
visibility.
Leaders often default tomicromanagement because you
don't see the person sitting intheir chair.
You don't see how long they areactually working.
You have many leaders that goright to default to
(08:31):
micromanagement, like, again,they're looking to see how long
are they online, they're lookingat how many keystrokes and
things like that, and there arejust so many.
Especially, we're in 2025.
There are so many ways that youcan figure out if someone is
being productive and if they areperforming or not, and we're
going to talk about how you leanon some of those things in
(08:53):
order to determine if your teamis really producing, instead of
micromanagement, which makeseverybody feel uncomfortable you
as a leader and then your teamas well.
The third challenge is cohesionfades quickly.
(09:14):
You got different time zones.
Depending on how you aremanaging, you may have different
cultures.
Home setups can isolate people.
There is a potential forcohesion to fade quickly and
we're going to talk about somethings that you can implement so
that that does not happen.
Another challenge the fourthchallenge and the last challenge
that I'll mention right now isperformance feels harder to
(09:37):
measure for some leaders.
Leaders confuse online hourswith actual outcomes.
Leaders confuse online hourswith actual outcomes, and we
have to be careful of that,because just because somebody
spends 12 hours in the officedoes not mean that they were
productive at all.
We have to be really carefulnot to look at oh my gosh, he
(10:00):
worked so hard, but what isbeing produced?
What are the outcomes of thatwork?
If I'm sitting in the officefor 12 to 14 hours a day, what
is the outcome?
Now I want to twist and I wantto talk about some best
practices for remote leadership,and this is where we're going
to tackle some of thosechallenges that I mentioned
(10:21):
above and some of the thingsthat you could do to really make
sure that you are leading in away that doesn't put you in a
position where you aremicromanaging and makes
everybody feel uncomfortable andsuspect and there's a lack of
trust.
Well, here's the good newsRemote leadership doesn't have
(10:43):
to be complicated.
Here's the good news Remoteleadership doesn't have to be
complicated.
If you focus on these bestpractices, you'll see your team
thrive, even from a distance.
The first thing you want to dois build trust by leading with
transparency.
(11:06):
Sometimes, as leaders, we holdon the information because we
don't think it's important tothe project or to the team
member, and usually what happensis it creates this room for
distrust.
Share the why behind yourdecisions, not just the what.
You won't be able to do that100% of the time, but more times
(11:29):
than not you'll be able to dothat.
Instead of saying we're movingthe deadline, say it the client
shifted their needs, so we'readjusting timelines to deliver
on expectations.
Be forthcoming with information.
This builds trust and let metell you something Trust is the
single biggest driver of teamperformance, whether it's remote
(11:50):
or in person.
It's bigger than the tools thatyou can provide them.
It's bigger than anything else.
Trust your team wants to trustyou and, as a leader, you want
your team to trust you.
Be forthcoming with information.
Be as transparent as youpossibly can.
(12:11):
Number two set clear andconsistent expectations.
Be really clear about whatsuccess looks like.
Do not make your team guesslooks like.
(12:31):
Do not make your team guess.
Get it's extremely clear.
They need to know it's reallyhard to hit a target that's not
visible, because what are youaiming at?
This is something that you haveto give your team.
Your team believe it or not.
Most people want to besuccessful.
They want to feel good aboutwhat it is that they do and when
(12:51):
you define what success lookslike, you give them a better
opportunity at hitting that.
Clarify communication this isincluded in number two.
Clarify communication this isincluded in number two.
Clarify communication whenwe're talking about remote work,
we use a lot of technologyEmail, slack, whatsapp messages,
(13:12):
video, project managementsoftware, clickup, asana.
Whatever it is that you use use, be clear about how these tools
should be used and when theyshould be used, because, if not,
what could happen is you mayhave everything sitting in slack
(13:36):
when there were some thingsthat you were expected to be in
an email.
Make sure you lay out howyou're using each of the tools
and when they should be used,and enforce that with your team.
And as work evolves, astechnology evolves, you may have
to change that, and that isokay, but be clear with your
(13:57):
expectations.
Be clear what it is that youwant them to do and how you want
to do it.
The third thing is to createintentional touch points.
This is going to help us inbuilding relationship with our
team and then also making surethat we have cohesive team and
there is collaboration.
(14:18):
This is something that we'regoing to have to be more
intentional when we are managingremote teams.
When you're in office, it'seasy to walk around and say, hey
, can we do a five-minute huddle?
It's real easy.
You're looking at people andyou do it, but sometimes because
(14:47):
people are not in our line ofsight, we may not think to
include them, we may not thinkto have these type of huddles.
Make sure that you areintentional with your touch
points.
If you're going to have weeklyteam meetings which I would
recommend that you do use thatfor updates and then also to
build connection.
You're meeting in a teamatmosphere, in a group
atmosphere.
People get to hear what othersare working on and then they get
(15:09):
to provide feedback and supportand collaborate Also in those
meetings.
It's a good idea to rotate awin of the week type of thing
right.
Make sure that number one youare sharing wins with your team
for specific people, specificthings they've done.
(15:32):
Make sure they have anopportunity to share a win.
Also, give them an opportunityto share a hurdle or a challenge
that they may be, that they mayhave identified, and give the
others in the room anopportunity to support them
through that and they may end upgoing off and having separate
meetings as well, but you'rebuilding collaboration.
(15:54):
Now they're working as a team.
Another thing when we're talkingabout intentional touch points,
host optional virtual coffeechats or lunch chats or some
type of informal bonding.
One of the things I did when Ihad remote teams we would have
the virtual coffee chats where Iwould just schedule something
(16:16):
10 minutes on somebody'scalendar or give them an
opportunity to schedule 10, 15minutes with me, and we just
talk and catch up over coffee.
We also had luncheons onlinevirtual luncheons.
It's a couple of different ways.
If you have a budget, you cansend people Uber Eats cars and
they can order something forlunch and then we are online and
(16:41):
we are eating.
We're just casual conversation,but it's an opportunity for us
to get together, for us to bondinformally, to kind of keep that
going.
So here's another statMicrosoft's Work Trend Index
found that employees with strongsocial connections reported 50%
(17:02):
higher productivity and 40%better retention.
So these things are a greatidea.
Of course, you want to becognizant of what people may
have going on outside of work.
Make sure that you are thinkingthrough that.
That's why I usually recommendlike a virtual lunch instead of
(17:25):
something in the evening.
But you know your team, figureout what works best.
And you know what works bestbecause you're having
one-on-ones.
You're having one-on-ones withthem and you are getting this
type of feedback and you'relearning what it is they like
and they dislike.
Another point I want to go backto when we talked about
(17:52):
celebrating the wins.
You could also do this in Slack, in the different messengers,
just like a quick shout out topeople.
That way you don't have to waittill your weekly meeting and
this kind of replaces or itfills the gap of that hallway
high five.
You know how.
You see somebody and they did areally great job on a project
(18:13):
or coming up with a solution fora client, whatever that looks
like, and you see them.
And by you seeing them, youautomatically think about what
they did and right there yourecognize them for it.
Well, we want to keep thatenergy going and you can do this
by doing it in whatever remotechannels you have.
But acknowledging theircontribution to the team I lost
(18:42):
track.
I think I'm on number four.
Encourage collaboration acrossthe team.
Pair people up who don'tusually work together.
If there's projects that they'dbe good at or based on their
skill set that they wouldcomplement each other.
Pair them up to work.
Of course, they set their ownschedule.
(19:03):
They figure out how to do that,but you have to be intentional
about telling them what it isthat you expect and what you
want them to accomplish.
And they can get together andthey can brainstorm, they can
work on projects, but make sureyou are encouraging
collaboration across the teamand make sure you are
collaborating with them as well.
(19:25):
Make sure you are usingtechnology that's appropriate
and that complements that typeof thing.
So it could be, you know, asana, clickup, whatever tools that
you use that will help youfoster some of this, this real
time brainstorming.
(19:45):
Number five focus on outcomes,not activity.
Focus on outcomes, not activity.
The reason why I think this isextremely important is because
we have to replace the are theyonline?
Mentality with did they deliverthe agreed results?
And this is why it's soimportant that you are clear
(20:07):
with what your expectations are,because then that way, you know
if they delivered what it wasthat you agreed that they would
deliver, not that they wereonline, not that the green dot
was showed that they was onlinefor 20 hours.
That's not what we're using asa a stick of measurement.
(20:28):
We're looking at outcomes.
We're looking at are you, arethey meeting project deadlines?
We're in 2025.
It's time for us to start usingthe technology that we have in
front of us and start trustingour team more and depending,
like I said, on outcomes whenwe're talking about performance
(20:49):
and then um.
One thing I like to do isestablish team rituals.
Every week, you're doingcertain things over and over
again.
It could be wrap up Fridays.
So you're going to wrap up onFriday with accomplishments and
learnings.
These do not have to be overvideo call, but you decide
(21:12):
people are going to share theiraccomplishments or learnings in
Slack or over email, whatever itis that you choose to do, but
every single Friday we're doingthe same thing.
Or you can have a kickoffMondays where we're going to
kick off what the priorities arefor the week, and this is
basically depends on the type ofteam that you are leading and
(21:36):
what their responsibilities are.
You have to do, of course, whatmakes sense for you, but just
establishing some team ritualswhere they know every Monday,
I'm doing this, every Fridaywe're doing this.
These rituals, they create arhythm and a predictability and
it's an anchor for remote teams.
They know, at certain times ofthe day or certain times of the
(21:59):
week that things are certainthings that are going to happen.
Some people get lonely whenthey are working remote and we
(22:22):
want to make sure that we areintentionally creating spaces
for people to come together andto work and to share and to
support.
Two more things I want tomention.
Number one we have to modelhealthy boundaries boundaries
when you, when you say take careof yourself, but you are
sending late night emails withthe expectation that they're
going to respond, you don'treally mean take care of
(22:45):
yourself.
We need to make sure that weare having healthy boundaries
and we are encouraging theseboundaries and we are helping to
protect our personal time aswell as their personal time.
So, if you have people that arein different time zones, you
(23:07):
may want to have a rule thattalks about people are going to
respond within 24 hours or 12hours.
It depends on the time zonesthat you are, that people are in
, that you are leading, butsomething that makes sense.
So people don't feel pressurethat when you send a email and
(23:28):
it is midnight in their timethat they're expected to respond
.
So make sure that you are clearabout what those boundaries
look like.
You also have to make sure thatyou are following the
boundaries as well, becausethey're going to take their lead
from you.
If you say that you want themto take care of themselves, that
(23:49):
you want them to have healthyboundaries, but you don't have
any, they're going to look atwhat you do more so than what
you say, and you'll see thatthey may start to get burned out
and overwhelmed.
So when you are working in aremote space, make sure that you
are cognizant of the fact thatyou're really clear on what
(24:10):
those expectations are and thatyou are following whatever those
boundaries are, that you'rereally clear on what those
expectations are and that youare following whatever those
boundaries are that you put inplace that you want them to
follow.
You have to walk it out.
They won't believe it's safefor them unless they see you do
it as well.
So if you value your familytime and you don't take calls,
(24:32):
emails or what have you after 7pm, then that's what you need to
do.
You shouldn't be responding at7, 10.
Just kind of think about youknow those things.
And the last thing I want tomention is technology.
We want to use technologywisely, because there is so much
technology it can beoverwhelming.
(24:53):
So tools should support thework that we do.
They shouldn't dictate how wedo work.
They should support us.
They should not overwhelm us.
They should not take up all ofour time.
It has to be structured.
That's why I say, if you'reusing Slack and email and all of
(25:16):
these different tools, makesure you have a plan about how
it should be used, because ifnot, it's going to be
overwhelming and you'll findthat people are spending more
time trying to figure out how touse the tool or where to find
information than they are indoing the work, and it is on us
as leaders to make those thingsclear.
(25:37):
When I started this, I said thatthere's a different playbook
that we have to use.
We really have to use it.
This means that your leadershipsystems that you have for
in-person how you lead in-personteams is going to need to be
updated.
For remote teams, there aresome foundational things that
(25:58):
are going to be the same acrossthe board.
However, there's going to besome glaring differences and you
need to be able to identifythose and modify the tools, the
systems, the way you lead, asmuch as possible.
All right.
(26:21):
So if you are leading a team,here's some quick wins for you.
The first thing is audit yourcommunication plan.
Are you over communicating orare you under communicating?
Audit your plan, determine whatit is right and then in your
next one-on-one ask howconnected do you feel to the
team?
You want?
To make sure that yourone-on-one people feel connected
(26:42):
.
Also, you can ask them about dothey feel like they're getting
the information that they need?
Do they feel like expectationsare clear?
There's nothing wrong withasking your team that.
All right.
So the other thing that is aquick win is making sure that
you review your performancemeasures.
How are you tracking results?
(27:04):
Is it solely based on theamount of time that they are
online or is it based onoutcomes?
And if it's based on outcomes,what are the outcomes and what
are the outcomes that equate tosuccess, so that you can be able
to clearly communicate thatwith your team.
(27:25):
All right, so I just wanna closethis out and I had to start
with those myths, because thoseare some things that I'm like no
, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Remote working is not new.
It doesn't mean that people areworking less Any of that.
People can be just asproductive, but there are some
(27:47):
things that we need to do from aleadership perspective.
So remote working isn't brandnew, but COVID did make it
mainstream and, like I said, thetruth is remote teams can be
just as productive, just asengaged and sometimes even
stronger if you lead with trust,clarity and connection.
(28:07):
But you have to be intentionalabout how you lead.
Just keep in mind that remoteleadership doesn't happen by
accident.
You have to design it withintention.
If you are leading your remoteteam or hybrid teams and it's
feeling overwhelming, let's worktogether.
This is something that I couldwork with you in the Leadership
(28:28):
Shift Coaching.
It's a one-on-one program wherewe work on the things that you
need that you're dealing withright now, today, so that we can
position you to be the bestleader as possible, and also so
that you can put the systems andthe strategies in place so you
can leave with more confidence,without burning yourself out and
creating a powerhouse team thatis going to help you build
(28:53):
capacity as well.
Again, thank you for joining me,because I know that there are
many podcasts out there, but youchose to spend your time with
me.
If you enjoy the content, ifyou learn something, give us a
five-star review.
Also, if you know anotherleader in middle management or a
business leader that isbuilding a team.
(29:15):
Make sure you share our podcastwith them.
We would really appreciate it.
Lastly, keep in mind that wehave Ask Me Anything episodes
and if you just hit the textmessage, you can send us a text
message with your question andwe may answer it on a future
podcast episode, or you canemail me at info at
(29:35):
signalpartnerscom.
Thank you and have a wonderfulday.
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