Leadership Needs to Value Trust Over Control In Remote Work

By Stephanie Diana Eubank

There is a lot of research on the benefits of walking during the workday to increase productivity and creativity, reduce stress and help with mental health.  However, taking a walk during the workday onsite can be hard.  Let’s face it, most business clothes are not breathable and comfortable. They just aren’t.  In remote work, there tends to be a more flexible dress code.  I enjoy an early walk to our local mom-and-pop coffee shop with my boys (before the central valley heat makes us burst into flames).  It’s only 3 miles round trip. 

During my walk, I listen to music with my kids and husband, answer calls and emails from my phone, and prep project pitches that come to me in the relaxation of walking.  I often say I could rule the world from my phone and would be Galadriel from The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and how she had power and chose not to be corrupted. I get a lot of work done on my walks with my family and a lot of relaxation.

There are so many memes and skits by several content creators like @LOEWhaley on managers who focus on policing their teams instead of supporting their teams and managing the work.  One of my financial sector mentors told me, “Manage the work, not the people.”  And she is right.

When we as leaders spend so much time trying to catch people in the wrong, that’s all we see and all we address.  This makes it so we ignore our high producers and don’t put our energies into managing the work and creating trust with our teams. Letting go of control is tough, but what we get out of it as leaders by giving room to build trust will help enhance your team.

If you would like to learn more about how you can train your teams to better balance the changes to leadership that the remote work revolution is creating for the future of work, please check out my social media and my consulting practice for ways to help develop more comfort levels for remote work.  Remember sharing is caring, so like and subscribe.  As always, remember that remote is here to stay.

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