There is an old English saying: “There’s trouble at mill!” It originated in the industrial north of England to signal worker unrest or some other problem (typically at a cotton mill). If you know The Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch, you will have heard the phrase in the first scene before the Inquisition bursts through the door. In the digital workplace, of course, recognizing discontent can be more difficult. A neutrally toned e-mail could hide a cauldron of burning hot feelings.
If I was “losing it” as a remote worker, how would my virtual leader know? By “losing it,” I mean becoming disengaged or angry. I might say something directly, but then again I might not; if you’re passive-aggressive like me, there are other—more indirect—ways to let feelings be known. For example:
- Being absent from more and more meetings
- Being more unresponsive to communications
- Changing the tone of my communications, e.g., becoming more abrupt
- Becoming less productive
- Reducing the quality of my work
- Complaining more often about small things
- Showing less interest in my work
- Offering an increased number of “technical difficulty” excuses
- Increasingly rescheduling check-in meetings
What’s a Virtual Leader to Do?
You can develop a sixth sense or you can become more attuned to reading the above signals. Any of the signals, however, could be more than a sign of discontent; they could be the result of currently difficult life experiences, a lack of remote working skills, or other work demands of which you are unaware. It’s always better to feel your way into a conversation about performance before screaming over the telephone, “You need to get a grip!”
The best thing a virtual leader can do to avoid trouble at the virtual mill is to be proactive. How? By consciously seeking to Enable, Energize, and Empower:
Enable
Make sure remote employees have the capabilities to do their jobs—the right skills at the right levels. It’s very demotivating if your leader doesn’t recognize how much you struggle to get your work done.
Remote employees also need to have a clear understanding of their goals, roles, and responsibilities, and the standards expected. How often do remote workers only discover the standards expected of them through trial and error?
The leader also must help remove roadblocks to the remote worker’s performance—barriers that are beyond their control and pay grade.
Energize
It’s easy as a remote worker to lose energy and motivation—out of sight, out of mind. Physical, psychological, and cultural distances can make the worker feel like an outsider. A sense of belonging is one of the basic human needs, and conjuring it requires a virtual leader’s utmost attention.
Even though the leader may be leading several remote workers, who might for the most part be working independently of one another, he or she should think of them as a community—not as unconnected people with nothing in common except reporting to the same leader. It helps if the leader holds frequent and regular meetings (ideally with the use of Webcams). In such a meeting, remote workers can share problems and solutions, as well as best practices. They could even attend virtual training sessions as a group.
The leader also could hold community goal-setting or process development sessions. Virtual collaborative opportunities also could be identified for the whole group or smaller groups.
Empower
Micromanaging remote workers is doomed to fail, as it is in most other situations. Micro-monitoring tools provide an option for keeping track of what remote workers are doing. For many, however, virtual empowerment must be achieved the old-fashioned way—through developing an environment in which people feel valued and trusted. That typically results from wise delegation.
Delegation strikes fear into many virtual leaders, but it is no harder or riskier than face-to-face delegation if you follow these guidelines:
- Know your people and plan: Make sure there is a fit between task complexity and skill level.
- Provide context: Don’t simply explain what and how, but also why. Let remote workers see the task’s value in the bigger picture.
- Be explicit: Virtual delegating is no time to be vague. Remote workers shouldn’t be second-guessing the leader. Explain precisely the priorities, expected results, purpose, time frames, and processes, without being overbearing about how it should be done.
- Choose appropriate technologies: What makes a technology (or mix of technologies) appropriate? A mix is usually best. For example, a videocall can help the remote worker see and gauge your sense of urgency and points of emphasis, e.g., through body language and vocal intonations. And an e-mail attachment or some form document can offer a more precise information exchange.
- Maintain contact: Set times for making contact and preferred technologies for communication. Judge frequency based on your knowledge of the remote worker and the complexity of the task. There are no fixed rules. Pay attention without being a pest and getting in the way.
By being proactive, we can avoid many troubles at the virtual mill.
Terence Brake is the head of Learning & Innovation, TMA World (http://www.tmaworld.com/training-solutions/), which provides blended learning solutions for developing talent with borderless working capabilities. Brake specializes in the globalization process and organizational design, cross-cultural management, global leadership, transnational teamwork, and the borderless workplace. He has designed, developed, and delivered training programmes for numerous Fortune 500 clients in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Brake is the author of six books on international management, including “Where in the World Is My Team?” (Wiley, 2009) and e-book “The Borderless Workplace.”
