“It’s like learning to drive on the wrong side of the road,” exclaimed Larry when I asked him how he experienced the shift to leading remote employees. “You have to get to the same destination as before, but you now have different signals, cues, and controls — and that does take some time getting used to!”
What Great Remote Managers Do Differently
Remote work brought a subtle but important shift in how employees expect their managers to work with them.
October 26, 2022
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Summary.
No one anticipated the massive shift to home-based remote work that happened in 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. A new study surveyed managers and employees alike for what worked and what didn’t as they navigated managing and being managed remotely. The key finding was a subtle but important shift in how employees expected their managers to work with them. They wanted their managers to be present, hands-on, and operationally vigilant without being intrusive. They don’t want their managers to micromanage them; they want their managers to micro-understand their work. The author explains what micro-understanding is, cites examples of it in practice, and identifies three situations in which it is particularly important: Setting priorities and clarifying, problem solving, and checking in and showing compassion.