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@clairejlew |
K Y T W O R K S H O P L I V E !
How to Manage
a Remote Team
Well
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Hi, I’m Claire Lew.
@clairejlew
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“
”
- DAME STEPHANIE “STEVE” SHIRLEY
Founder and CEO of Freelance Programmers, one of the first
successful remote tech companies in the UK in the 1960s.
Remote work has less to do with
the tools and more to do with
effective management practices.
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No Slack. Telephone.
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“
”
- SENIOR CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL WHO PARTICIPATED IN
CALLS WITH CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER
As told to Reuters
You can run a G7 country from
home.
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If they can, we can :-)
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How?
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K Y T W O R K S H O P L I V E !
How to Manage
a Remote Team
Well
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15,000+ people
25 countries
6 years
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297 remote managers +
employees surveyed in
2019
SPECIFICALLY
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
TODAY
Mindset Action
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
TODAY
Principles Practice
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
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TODAY
5 principles + practices
to focus on first.
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
TODAY
Q+A
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1 2 3
4 5
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1
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1
Writing
Asynchronously
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Default Communication =
Writing Asynchronously
FOCUS #1
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
Feel familiar?
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The best remote managers lean
on asynchronous writing, first.
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“Being a good writer is an essential part
of being a good remote worker.”
- Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson,
Co-founders of Basecamp in Remote
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“Being a good writer is an essential part
of being a good remote leader.”
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
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Announcement meeting Team-wide memo
Project kick-off Long-form message
Decision discussion Long-form message
Brainstorm Long-form message
Question Message
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
We use Basecamp.
HERE AT KYT
But other tools remote managers use include
Asana, Confluence, Email, GetGuru, Google Docs,
Notion, Smartsheets, Threads, Trello, Twist.
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
Give more people time to triage.
Give more people time to think.
Easier to share info.
ADVANTAGES
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
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Less reactive culture.
More thoughtful decisions.
More transparency of info.
ADVANTAGES
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
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Higher quality output
+ calmer work environment.
ADVANTAGES
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Are you dumping all your
communication into email,
Slack, and or Zoom?
ASK YOURSELF
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How can you default to
writing asynchronously?
ASK YOURSELF
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1
Writing
Asynchronously
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1 2
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2 Trust
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Show an abundance
of trust.
FOCUS #2
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Trust – not tracking –
engenders productivity.
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“Productivity” looks +
feels different.
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“Trust your team... Work only gets
done when you allow people to make
mistakes.”
- Paul Farnell, Co-founder of Litmus
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“Our founder and CEO, Peldi Guilizzoni, shows a lot of
confidence and trust in us. I would guess that we all
actually work more effectively than we did in previous jobs
where the most important thing was “looking busy” for the
boss... Being so distributed, we couldn’t function without
valuing trust and autonomy. Peldi doesn’t micromanage. At
this point, he couldn’t, even if he wanted to.”
- Leon Barnard, a UX Designer and Writer at Balsamiq
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The pressure we apply is
a reaction to a construct
of control.
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5 signs of
micromanagement….
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
#1: You ask, “Just checking in on this?” before project is due.
#2: You say: “Here’s how I would do it…” before person asks you.
#3: You mentally log when someone appears online or offline.
#4: You say: “Let me just do it…”
#5: You ask: “Can you ‘cc’ me on that?”
5 SIGNS of MICROMANAGEMENT
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Instead of applying more
pressure…
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
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#1: Offer grace and kindness during these tough times.
#2: Make it clear what’s expected and why it’s important.
#3: Have an automated way to share progress.
DO THIS
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Put to work our
Heartbeat Check-in in KYT
to automate sharing progress.
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knowyourteam.com
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
#1: Offer grace and kindness during these tough times.
#2: Make it clear what’s expected and why it’s important.
#3: Have an automated way to share progress.
DO THIS
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
#1: Offer grace and kindness during these tough times.
#2: Make it clear what’s expected and why it’s important.
#3: Have an automated way to share progress.
#4: Have regular weekly or biweekly 1:1 meetings.
DO THIS
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
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• How should we define success?
• Is the definition of success clear?
• What do you need from me to be successful?
• What’s the best way to share progress about this project?
• When is it most helpful for you to loop me in?
• How much context would you like upfront before I hand-off a project or a task?
• What are you most worried about getting “wrong” with the project?
• Do you like new ideas and suggestions for ways to do things? Or do you prefer
to be heads-down a bit before I interject and offer suggestions?
• What’s the best way to define if something is “done” or high quality?
QUESTIONS TO ASK TO AVOID MICROMANAGING
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Use our One-on-Ones Tool in KYT
to get question suggestions like these
+ prepare for your 1:1 meetings.
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knowyourteam.com
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Are you unintentionally hurting
your team because you’re
greeting pressure with pressure?
ASK YOURSELF
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How can you show an
abundance of trust toward
your team?
ASK YOURSELF
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2 Trust
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1 2 3
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3 Process
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Prioritize a process.
FOCUS #3
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Timing is everything.
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You’ll want to answer
the following questions
clearly for your team…
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
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• What time zones are everyone working in? How will this be communicated?
• What are the expected working hours each person has? What should the overlapping
working hours for folks in different time zones be?
• If you need to be offline to run an errand or are in a meeting, how will that be
communicated?
• How will it be communicated when someone is sick or feeling unwell?
• Are there any times team members should not be disturbed?
• What’s the expected response time to messages? Does that vary depending on what
the message is, or the channel that it is delivered in?
Q’s AROUND TIMING
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“Quiet” is a
collaboration process.
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Match the message to
the channel.
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“Choose the right channel of
communication according to the
necessity of the task you’re
working on.”
- GitLab’s “Remote manifesto” for their
700+ remote employees
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
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• What’s the default mode of communication? Collaboration tool?
Email? Video call? Chat? Phone call?
• Which channel / tool should be used for which kind of communication?
• Who else should be copied on a message, if anyone?
• When something is urgent, how should it be communicated? What
about when it’s not?
• What’s the right cadence for checking in on a certain communication?
Q’s ON MESSAGE + CHANNEL
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
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• Default mode of communication
–> Basecamp.
• Urgent –> Basecamp Pings.
• Decisions, ideas, announcements, etc.
–> Basecamp Messages
• Tasks –> Basecamp To-Dos
• Explanations –> Loom
• Status updates –> KYT Heartbeat
Check-in
• Company feedback –> KYT Culture
Question
• Fun non-work related conversation
–> KYT Social Question
• 1:1 meeting prep –> KYT One-on-Ones
Tool
• All-team meetings, 1:1 meetings,
strategy meetings –> Zoom
• Messages don’t need to be responded
to unless there is a @NAME. (Response is
expected ~24 hours.)
• Pings should be responded to within a
few hours, during working hours only.
HERE AT KYT
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Create a
“How We Work” Doc…
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Know Your Team’s How We Work
Basecamp’s How We Work
Buffer’s 10 Slack Agreements
GitLab's Remote Communication Handbook
Automattic’s Communication Expectations
EXAMPLES
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… or create little
“Communication Cheat
Sheet”…
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• “If you are going to be offline to take care of some
personal things during the day, please notify your
direct team on their Slack channel.”
• “If you are planning to work at odd hours schedule for
a few days, please let everybody know up-front.”
EXAMPLE
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Embed empathy in your
process.
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Be conscious of how sarcasm comes off in text + writing.
Follow up and clarify with someone, “Did that land okay?” or “Just
to be clear, I meant X…”
Let your team know that it’s okay if a kid runs into the frame or a
cat appears in the background of a Zoom call.
EXAMPLES
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These processes should
NOT be a burden, nor
should people be penalized
for not following them.
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Be patient. Figuring out
the right process takes
time.
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Is it clear which message
matches which channel?
ASK YOURSELF
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How can you prioritize a
process for your team?
ASK YOURSELF
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3 Process
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1 2 3
4
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4 Social Connection
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Get intentional about
social connection.
FOCUS #4
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Loneliness is a real
problem.
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of remote workers said that loneliness
was the biggest downside of
remote work.
20%
(2020 State of Remote Work survey by Buffer and AngelList of over 3,500 remote workers)
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of managers and employees said they
would be more inclined to stay if they
had more friends at work.
60%
(Survey of over 2,000 managers by Future Workplace and Virgin Pulse)
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Individuals who have 15 minutes to
socialize with colleagues had a
20%
(Study of 25,000 call center agents, cited in the book, The Village Effect, by Susan Pinker)
increase in performance over their
peers who didn’t.
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Ditch dull icebreakers for
dynamic ones.
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Today
Why this matters
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Key situations
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• What was your first job?
• Have you ever met anyone
famous?
• What are you reading right
now?
• If you could pick up a new
skill in an instant, what would
it be?
• Who’s someone you really
admire?
• Got any favorite quotes?
• Anything you decided to
“binge watch” recently?
• What was your favorite band
10 years ago?
• What’s your earliest memory?
TRY THESE
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Put our
Icebreakers in KYT to work
and break the ice in your team.
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knowyourteam.com
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Build a “Buddy System”
(51% of remote managers and employees do this, according to our
2019 survey of 297 remote managers and employees.)
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Assign someone an official “mentor” with whom they
have 1:1s weekly or bi-weekly to ask questions.
Randomly pairing 2 - 3 people every week to have a fun
video chat over something non-work related.
EXAMPLES
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Set scheduled non-work
related video chats.
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Today
Why this matters
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Key situations
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Help Scout organizes 15 - 30 minute coffee breaks over video between
randomly assigned team members, called “Fikas.”
Litmus, every week, they get “Coworker Coffees” over video, drink
beers on Skype and play video games online.
Other remote teams will hold book club discussions or have specific
topics for video chats such as food, music, sports, etc.
EXAMPLES
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Carve out a dedicated
non-work communication
channel.
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Today
Why this matters
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Have a #pets channel in Slack and ask everyone to share
their pet pictures.
Use the Campfire in Basecamp to say “Good morning” to
everyone when you hop online.
EXAMPLES
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Use our
Social Questions in KYT to build
rapport and uncover unlikely
connections.
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knowyourteam.com
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How are you being
intentional about social
connection in your team?
ASK YOURSELF
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4 5
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5 1:1 Meetings
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Invest in + leverage
1:1 meetings.
FOCUS #5
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of managers say that one-on-ones
positively affect their team’s
performance.
89%
(August 2018 survey with 531 managers and 365 employees)
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The #1 purpose of a
one-on-one is to uncover
potential issues.
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Don’t make it a status
update.
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Set a regular cadence.
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35% of managers hold 1:1s weekly
29% of managers hold 1:1s bi-weekly
23% of managers hold 1:1s once a month
9% of managers hold 1:1s bimonthly
3% of managers hold 1:1s every 6 months
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35% of managers hold 1:1s weekly
29% of managers hold 1:1s bi-weekly
23% of managers hold 1:1s once a month
9% of managers hold 1:1s bimonthly
3% of managers hold 1:1s every 6 months
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of employees say their managers are
NOT prepared for their one-on-one
meetings.
41%
(August 2018 survey of 518 managers and 365 employees)
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Decide on 1 - 3 focus areas.
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Questions around specific
moments of energy
FOCUS AREAS
Concerns / Issues.
Feedback on Performance.
Career Direction.
Personal Connection.
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Prepare 5 - 10 questions
in advance.
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Questions around specific
moments of energy
AGENDA
Catching up (5 min.)
• How are you feeling with all the uncertainty lately?
Concerns / Issues (20 min.)
• How do you feel about the workload? Where is it unreasonable?
• Is there anything that feels troubling or concerning to you about
the direction of the team?
Feedback (20 min.)
• How are you feeling about this transition to remote work?
Anything I can help make more clear?
• What about my management style can I improve or adapt, to
best support you during these times?
Takeaways / Next Steps (5 min.)
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Use Zoom. Turn on the
camera – and show some
positive body language :-)
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Read our
Guide to One-on-One Meetings
in KYT to learn more best practices
on running effective 1:1s.
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knowyourteam.com
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Use our One-on-Ones Tool
in KYT to get question suggestions like
these + prepare for your 1:1 meetings.
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knowyourteam.com
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1 2 3
4 5
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2 3
4 5
WRITING
ASYCHRONOUSLY
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3
4 5
TRUST
WRITING
ASYCHRONOUSLY
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4 5
TRUST PROCESS
WRITING
ASYCHRONOUSLY
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WRITING
ASYCHRONOUSLY
5
TRUST PROCESS
SOCIAL
CONNECTION
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WRITING
ASYCHRONOUSLY
TRUST PROCESS
SOCIAL
CONNECTION
1:1s
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Last tips…
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Set your employees up
for success…
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Today
Why this matters
How to give difficult feedback well
Key situations
Q&A
Over-communication is helpful. The more everyone
proactively shares progress + concerns, the better.
Empathize empathy. Not sure what someone meant by
their note? Assume positive intent. Feeling bothered by the
way someone communicated their request? Kindly share the
feedback of what you observed + how you’d like things to be
different next time.
LET YOUR TEAM KNOW
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Give them – and yourself –
time, grace, and patience.
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Effective leadership, at
its core, is a unit of
modeling.
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Q&A
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Q&A
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Last thing…
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What’s the one thing
you’re going to try after
this session?
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Remote managers all over the world
benefit massively from our tools to share
status updates, get team feedback,
build rapport, and hold effective 1:1s.
knowyourteam.com
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Get access to all our other
KYT Workshop Live! recordings
and KYT Guides when you
upgrade to the full version of KYT.
knowyourteam.com
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I’ll be sending out the recording +
these slides – 100% for free to
everyone in the next 24 hours.
Please feel free to share.
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If you haven’t already, please download our
“Guide to Managing Remote Teams” for free.
https://kyt.tips/remote-guide
kyt.tips/remote-guide
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Let me know: What you’d
think of this session?
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Thank you!
@clairejlew