So You Think You Can Lead Remote Workers?

New Announcement!: Building Extraordinary and Adaptive Cultures Course Available Now!

What It’s About: I want to call out all the total command and control freaks who are in leadership positions out there, and ask them to quit. Please change, retire or become an individual contributor. You’re likely putting up with the rapidly emerging work from anywhere philosophy, but deep down, you really don’t trust people. You probably ask questions that are primarily time and activity based as a default way of leading. Let me give you examples: “I noticed you have x time blocked off in your calendar everyday. You know if that’s not real work time, you need to make it up to the company?”... Or “You’re doing great with your results, but you come in 15 to 20 minutes late every day. I’m going to have to write you up for this…” “I called you and you didn’t answer your phone or texts immediately, what are you up to?” “I saw you getting your hair done, Thursday afternoon. How dare you do that on company time?” Etc. I’m not making this up. It’s happening while you read this blog.

So What?: Too many so-called leaders still want to control people’s time and activities to be the real BIG boss. It makes them feel really uncomfortable to be unaware what everyone reporting to them is doing all the time. Instead of determining the value that people need to deliver in their role, they find it easier to act as judge and jury about their time/activity instead. This is the kind of leader who doesn’t back up the value or quality of work of his/her team, but rather fights to defend them because they are hard working and put in so many extra hours (a reflection of how the leader is squeezing every bit out of them). These leaders are often sneaky by way of checking up and inspecting, versus offering to genuinely help and coach. They also like to present themselves as compassionate and supportive, and yet are the first to hide behind company rules and policy. They are masterful brown noses (horrible but clearly descriptive term). However, if you ask people if they like to work for them, or if they would recommend them to a friend, it would be a resounding “NO.”

Now What?: Here’s the maxim that ultimately guides work for all of us: “No results equals no job.” It is not just about hard work and activity. You can be a salesperson who is online connecting with prospects more than anyone. However, If you can’t make sales, eventually you're going to be replaced. All the complaints about lousy marketing and production lapses won’t help. As a leader, your job is to be a great coach/developer, not a chief inspector. This applies to every role in all organizations. Of course, some roles are more empirically difficult to measure. Figure it out. Stop micromanaging, primarily inspecting, expecting perfection, managing work by time/location, and become a true teacher, developer, coach and champion helping those working for you to achieve great results. Do that, and people will love working for you. If on the other hand you carry on with your suffocating command and control ways, people will reluctantly put up with you. When you eventually get fired, they will dance to the song: “Ding dong, the witch is dead.” Think I’m kidding? I’ve seen it happen many times. Too many.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: I don’t have the actual data, but I’m willing to bet there’s some truth to it. If you work for a boss who is monitoring your every hour, you’re probably doing about two hours of real work per day. If you work for a boss who lets you operate autonomously, and helps to develop trust in what you’re striving to accomplish, you likely put in eight to 10 hours of work per day on your own schedule, with results attached. I’m no statistician, but I have plenty of friends with control freak bosses, and there are lots of techniques to out-smart those folks.

- Garrett

So You Think You Can Lead Remote Workers?

Search Blog Posts:

Follow Us: