Tag: #communication

Society Needs To Show More Respect To Remote Working Parents and Stay-At-Home-Parents.

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By Stephanie Diana Eubank

I want to start out by saying there is no shame or blame negativity towards those who are stay-at-home parents or Stay-at-home moms, also known as SAHM or SAHP.  The fact is that for many families the ability to have a stay-at-home parent that does not work remotely is a luxury not all can afford.  Remote work is a way for a working parent to have some work-life balance, have more time with family, and have the benefits of throwing a load of laundry in the wash during breaks or throwing some food in the crockpot so dinner is ready after work.  Although I have been a mother with an infant while working from home there is a difference between the two.

Speaking from previous experiences and the current experiences relayed to me by friends, colleagues, and in my research, many remote workers with a partner who worked in person or hybrid, especially before COVID, were regarded as being SAHP and viewing their work and finances as less than.  Which is the root of my post today.  This being the last week of Women’s History Month in the US, it is customary (unfortunately) to deem household and childcare responsibilities squarely on a woman’s shoulders and to devalue these contributions.  The fact that SAHM/ SAHP are disregarded for the hard work they do for their family is unfair and inappropriate.  However, so is devaluing working parents who work remotely to attempt to have a work-life balance to provide for and support their family.    

Speaking from my personal experience when I was first working from home, and my sons were infants and toddlers in my first marriage, the verbalized opinion from family and my ex-partner was that as a remote worker, I should also be able to care for my children, have a spotless home, and dress up like a 1950’s housewife and serve drinks for those working in person.  All while keeping my business productivity high and being happy about my extra-earned responsibilities as a mother and primary breadwinner. But that is not sustainable!  Even for SAHM/ SAHP, that view is not sustainable.  Parenthood comes with ups and downs, and the acceptance that nothing will ever be perfect is a full-time job as well. Remote workers forced into this social view are expected to work three plus jobs at once. 

I am truly blessed my current husband has no such expectations of me and instead works with me to help coordinate help in our home so that I can relax, work, study, research, and be a wonderful mom.  I am really lucky my children and my husband all support my work and value the importance of my research to help other working parents have the opportunity to keep showing their love for their family through the hard work to provide for them and still being able to be present and at the moment with their families.

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, let us all work together to support both working parents and stay-at-home parents as they show love to their families through hard work and dedication.

Seeing how society views remote working parents and devaluing stay-at-home parents, I am seeking volunteers who are either remote working parents or stay-at-home parents to participate in a survey to look at this devaluation of work.  My theory is that once we understand the hard work both sides put into raising a family and talk about it publicly the sooner, we can see the truth of remote work being a great tool for helping with mental health in the workplace by creating a work-life balance and not an excuse to shame people for having children.

If you are interested in participating in this research, please send an email with your name, contact information and a link to one of your social media sites preferably LinkedIn to stephanie.eubank@wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com With the subject Remote v SAHP. 

If you enjoyed this content, like and subscribe.  Also, if you are interested in consulting services, please contact me through my social media.  Remember, remote work is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

TikTok: @stephaniedianaeubank

ADHD Motivation Tricks To Help Enhance Inclusivity & Productivity In Remote Work: Body Doubling

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By Stephaie Diana Eubank

After working for eleven years in a remote modality (which means I have been remote before; remote was cool), I get a lot of questions from friends, colleagues, faculty members, students, and online followers asking how do I stay productive?  These questions grow when people learn of my Dyslexia and ADHD diagnosis.  To be fair, it has been a long journey to get a diagnosis of ADHD, like many women in our 30’s, as we do not present the same way as men or boys.  (Women and girls must emotionally mask symptoms to fit in as a natural defense mechanism).   There are also helpful tools that I have gained from my work within the disabled community, nonprofit sectors, and the college educational sector.  One of those tricks to helping to increase my motivation and productivity remotely is body doubling. 

Body doubling, in a nutshell, is being able to double where you choose to work with one or more people in the room.  This is further explained as a motivation tool (Washington, 2023) and how it helps workers and students function more effectively.  For many ADHD people, it is the feeling of accountability as there are others in the room to give that vibe of people counting on you or people watching you. 

For me, I do what is called audio processing (Gomez & Condon, 1999); in essence, I talk it out even when there is only me listening.  I find it funny when working from home, and my husband hears me talking and goes, “Huh?” thinking I am talking to him.  Although he is used to my symptoms and my imaginative responses of, “staff meeting, sorry.”  Thinking out loud is a normal part of ADHD and Dyslexic adaptations to address complex information I am working with, especially in data analysis and qualitative results.

However, when working from home and it’s just me and the fur babies, especially post-COVID, I use the same method we use for the fur babies when no humans are home.  I turn on the TV or leave an Amazon music station on.  I am a wicked B of the West. I own that I need background sounds, so I trick myself into not being alone so that I have a faux body doubling.

Although it is a warning to people wanting to implement this trick for themselves.  Please be sure to be in meetings to mute yourself.  Sometimes, your musical stylings are not welcome.  One of my mentors who recently passed had forgotten to mute himself using this skill and was singing Snoop Dog’s “Gin and Juice” and only realized everyone heard him because they all sang together the song’s hook.  I have been caught belting Lin Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece “Hamilton” songs.  Or, when singing with my kids while working, we sing Eminem and Dr Dre’s song, “Forgot About Dre,” as it has been a good tool with my son’s speech delay to help with the E sounds they used to get stuck on.  The moral of the story if body doubling in whatever method works for you. Be sure your audience is suitable to your plans of audio processing and your ability to carry a tune.

I have had participants in my dissertation research detail getting into joint Microsoft Teams Meetings to help give a remote feeling of being back in the office to help spark more creative problem-solving.  When they feel like they need to body double, they all get into a Teams meeting and chat together while they work.  I find it a creative method for addressing social isolation that often affects remote workers.

These ADHD tools can be helpful for business leadership managing a remote and hybrid workforce but require more understanding and an evolution in organizational culture that welcomes new ways of thinking, along with a culture of inclusivity.  We can’t afford as business leaders to not grow and change, which means tossing to the side old methods that don’t serve us anymore and embracing new ways to enhance the work experience.

If you enjoyed this content, like and subscribe.  Also, if you are interested in consulting services, please reach out through my social media.  Remember, remote is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Work Cited

Washington, N. (2023, August 24). Body doubling for ADHD: Definition, how it works, and more. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/body-doubling-adhd

Gomez, R., & Condon, M. (1999). Central auditory processing ability in children with ADHD with and without learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 32(2), 150–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221949903200205

Toxic Leadership is making #workplaceptsd & #workculture strained in-person & in #remotework

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It is not a secret that toxic leadership has been linked to workplace PTSD and has been shown to inflame other mental health issues.  This is evident when a workplace culture has over-explained employees who feel every decision they make must be presented to the Supreme Court.

These feelings of needing to document to the point of malicious compliance can increase symptoms of workplace PTSD & can have additional emotional health effects.  Not to mention how this can affect your organizational culture in the long term.  Organizational culture and the workforce sociologically have been studied and found to be like an evolving organism prone to grow and change as the outside world grows and changes.  As the culture changes, we forget in a company to train our leadership so that they grow and evolve with the changing culture.

We see this in both remote work and in-person work. Leaders do not work to develop trust with their teams and thus refuse to give autonomy, which is part of what seasoned professionals enjoy about remote work.  In my dissertation research, remote leaders who were only remote during COVID either enjoyed and embraced remote work or could not wait for in-person or hybrid to happen as they missed being able to use in-person management skills that, in truth, are displaying serious control issues as the root reason. 

Letting go and developing trust with one’s team can transform leadership.  This transformation can also have the added benefit of remote work, allowing more room for leadership to develop a work-life balance and lower stress that can inflame mental health concerns for leadership and followership. In the end, it really is about trust and communication.

If you enjoyed this content, like and subscribe.  Also, if you are interested in consulting services, please reach out through my social media.  Remember, remote is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Halloween Is A Great Time To Talk About How Companies Are Violating the Warn Act

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

Many of us know companies pushing Return to Office or #RTO, forcing #remoteworkers to quit and find new remote opportunities. However, this tactic is not yet illegal in the strictest of guidelines. Still, it is a way that major companies are trying to skirt their responsibilities and requirements to follow the WARN Act. 

The WARN Act stands for the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which was installed into US Federal Labor Law in 1988.  This law requires employers with 100 or more employees to report if they plan a layoff within the next 60 days.  You can find out more information at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/layoffs/warn.

So, companies are taking a page out of the 2013 Yahoo CEO’s book to force remote workers back to the office to, in theory, improve communication, creativity, and synergy.  However, that theory was wrong, and the data now shows that in-person workers have fewer hours of productivity than their remote counterparts, as detailed by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS).  Also, remote work leaves room for neurodivergent workers like me who are comfortable in remote work to have more space to not emotionally mask and be more creative problem solvers.

With Halloween being the first holiday of the layoff season, we need to be mindful of how companies are using this #RTO method to skirt the law so as not to pay unemployment, not disclose to the WARN Act or investors about the need for layoffs, and change the narrative of the future of work. The law hasn’t caught up to this trend yet, but it could be interesting to see how companies adjust when it does. But this is additionally making it so companies are having a hard time attracting talent because so many want remote work and are not willing to #RTO or do #hybrid.

If you enjoyed this content, like and subscribe.  Also, if you are interested in consulting services, please reach out through my social media.  Remember, that remote work is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Representation Matters Especially in Remote Work

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

As many may be aware, Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In” detailed a lot of statistical data on how the lack of representation of women in leadership hurts the workforce.  This is also true in the case of if you are a minority in your field. Being mixed race, I have not always seen a leadership representation of my Latin American heritage.  Often, I was one of the few minorities in the workplace and often the only woman.  This made the trail of my career hard to blaze because it’s hard to visualize yourself moving up when you don’t see examples in your workplace that resemble you. 

Representation is essential in onsite and remote work, and encouraging diversity and inclusion increases productivity and morale.  It also has been shown to help develop mentorship in the workplace.

Which are key to having a thriving workplace culture, especially in the remote workplace. Where remote work has had a lot of research and practical literature regarding the effects of remote work on culture, the peer-reviewed research shows that work culture, like any organizational culture, is meant to evolve and change. As such, remote work is here to stay, so the culture in the workplace has to change with it.  Let’s make the changes to enhance diversity and inclusion this Hispanic/ Latin American Heritage Month.

If you enjoyed this content, like and subscribe.  Also, if you are interested in consulting services, please reach out through my social media.  Remember, the remote is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Why I Teach

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By Stephanie Diana Eubank

For those of you who are regular readers and social media followers of my content, you know that I teach at Stan State, AKA California State University Stanislaus. I teach Operations Management there as a part-time lecturer while finishing my dissertation research on remote work. I never thought I would enjoy teaching as much as I do.  My students teach me as much as I do them.  I also go out of my way to help and engage with them so that they work on the networking with faculty part that is so important for students at a state college. I also pride myself on being an example for my disabled community members of color to keep working hard because we all belong in academia if that’s where we want to be.

Since there is so much bad news in the world, I thought I would share some good news. I had a student who went back to school due to health issues that made it so that they could not work in their career field anymore.  This student has a wedded partner, and they informed me that while applying for jobs, they wanted to know if I would write a letter of recommendation.  This email also included that his health has significantly improved and that their partner expects a little bundle of joy this spring.  Which is great because this student graduates at the end of the term.

I am so happy and proud of this student.  As teachers, we don’t always get to keep in touch with our past students.  So, getting an email like this to hear that things are coming together for a past student is amazing and one of many reasons that I work so hard to teach.

So, I am posing a challenge to other teachers worldwide.  Like and comment here or on my social media and share a moment or a student encounter that made you glad you are a teacher.   Happy memories.  Teaching is tough, and we have all had to adapt a lot as teachers, so let’s all reflect on the happy memories of our students that make it all worth it.

Like and subscribe.  Remember, Remote, it’s here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Company Email: stephanie.Eubank@wickedbofthewestconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Why Is IT We Only Reward Management and Not Our Teams?

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By Stephanie Diana Eubank

For anyone who has gotten the tap on the shoulder for a promotion knows that promotions are generally in management roles. Most companies have few promotions and pay raises for those who are just happy doing their job and do not want to or don’t have comfort within leadership roles.  This has the unintended consequence of those who want the promotion and added pay that often follow but are not skilled leaders taking roles they shouldn’t be in and creating a hostile work environment.  As I have pointed out, many toxic leaders don’t know that they are toxic either because they never wanted a leadership role or were never trained to lead.

There is also the unintended after-effect that when there is no room for those who are happy with what they are doing to gain promotion or added pay, this raises turnover.  It raises turnover because it becomes more financially advantageous for employees to strategically job-hop instead of developing company loyalty.

We must ask why companies are doing this.  Many companies make a budget to address turnover by constantly hiring.  And pre-COVID, that was semi-reasonable.  However, leaders are screaming, “talent shortage,” “No one wants to work anymore”, and my personal favorite, “workforce shortage.”  However, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics shows this isn’t true.

Now, some industries are seeing a talent need shift towards those who are skilled in engineering and automation.  The job reports show that a growing number of people are over-employed.  Business is seeing an organizational trend among the labor force of no longer willing to put up with uncomfortable work environments with toxic leaders and leaving jobs the minute anyone starts demanding in-person or hybrid over remote work.  The workforce prioritizes lowering stress and no longer making their life all about their job.

At first glance, one would want to argue that these workforce shifts are not good things.  However, a lower-stress workforce is more productive.  Remote workers are also statistically shown to have more productive hours in an 8-hour workday than an in-person worker on average as well.

Studies also find that remote work also tends to displace middle managers by enhancing shared leadership.  And as remote work becomes more popular as a work modality, we need to start thinking about our teams and what they need, which includes higher pay.  Recognition of their work through non-management promotions and regular pay raises for those who just like their job and do not seek to lead will help enhance your workforce and lower costs associated with turnover.

If you enjoyed this article, like and subscribe.  And remember, remote is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Company Email: stephanie.Eubank@wickedbofthewestconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Do You Want to Help College Students Work Remotely?

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

While I have had time off from posting on this blog, I have been bouncing in between working on my dissertation, doing consulting work on remote work and remote leadership development, and developing a postdoc fellowship at Stan State University, which is targeted at helping students find, obtain, and maintain remote work positions. This fellowship is in partnership with the California Department of Rehabilitation, Stan State University School of Business, and The Stan State Student Disability Center to create this year-long program.

The goal of the program is to help students define what modality they are most productive in and work with the lifestyle they want while helping them gain remote employment as an effort to gain experience in remote work.  Many companies are hesitant to provide remote work when someone is at an entry-level phase, but developing remote work experience is helpful to these students.  This way, they have more experience and education at graduation.

This fellowship comes at a time when employees, according to an article published in Forbes.com, are screaming for remote and hybrid modalities, and students are also joining in the chorus.  According to the Forbes article, 65% of workers prefer a 100% modality, with 32% preferring a hybrid.  Inside Higher Ed did a recent survey in 2021 of 400 students and found over 27% preferred remote education.  While a 2023 survey published by Edscoop.com showed that 69% of students prefer fully remote and hybrid/ blended learning options.

I personally this term has a remote synchronous class, an in-person class, and a hybrid/ hyflex class that I am teaching at Stan State, and honestly, I enjoy my hybrid class most.  It allows my students to select the modality that works best for them.  I value my students, and as the Dean of the Stan State School of Business often says, “You have to go and meet the students where they are” really rings true. My students have less stress in my hybrid class and seem to have more room to express themselves.  However, I will wait for them to give more of their qualitative feedback.

If you would like to participate as a remote employer for this fellowship or as a remote leadership specialist, please email me at seubank@csustan.edu. You can also reach me on my other social media platforms.  Remember, Remote Is Here To Stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Company Email: stephanie.Eubank@wickedbofthewestconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Work Cited

Weissman, S. (2023, July 7). Online learning still in high demand at Community Colleges. Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/institutions/community-colleges/2023/07/07/online-learning-still-high-demand-community#:~:text=A%202021%20system%20survey%20of,from%20the%20system%20chancellor’s%20office.

McKenzie, L. (2023, June 21). Students prefer online learning, survey finds. EdScoop. https://edscoop.com/students-prefer-online-learning-survey-finds/#:~:text=The%20Time%20for%20Class%202023,hybrid%2C%20or%20blended%20learning%20options.

Haan, K. (2023, July 18). Remote work statistics and trends in 2023. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/remote-work-statistics/#:~:text=Sixty%2Dfive%20percent%20of%20workers,opportunities%20from%20in%2Doffice%20work.

Leadership Needs to Value Trust Over Control In Remote Work

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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.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Six Ways to Keep Camera Usage from Making A Toxic Remote Workplace

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By Stephanie Diana Eubank

A topic that comes up a lot in my consulting and dissertation research is forcing employees to turn on their cameras. Because this is such a hot-button issue, when asked about my opinion, I always ask, “What is the company in question’s camera policy.”  Often there is no policy because having such a policy can create legal hardships for a company.  With across-the-board remote work being so new (even though remote work has been researched since the 1980s), many companies do not want to address the legality.  And for good reason. 

During COVID, many were forced into remote work with no training or correct work-from-home setup or support.  What I mean by this is that many of us who work from home have a setup around our kids going to school on-site, and any other people in the house are also off-site. So, during COVID, when health care and childcare were hard to come by in small spaces, many were dealing with chaos in their workspace that could not be addressed.  Then there are those like my family who moved when able to accommodate space needs. The healthcare and childcare sectors are still trying to recover, and we are still addressing more needs and support for people to have a work-life balance. 

Mental and physical health issues must also be factored in when discussing camera use in remote work.  One of my friends who died a year ago was balancing taking care of his father and fighting cancer simultaneously.  He was doing his best to hide his struggles so that while he fought for his health and cared for his father, he would not lose out on growth opportunities.  His career was a lot of what was keeping him going.  Often within leadership, we feel showing vulnerability is a weakness. As many in leadership still operate on this concept, it creates a toxic culture of hiding illness and life from management to protect one’s earning capabilities.  I have known several women who went through a divorce or domestic violence, and working remotely helped them continue to afford to provide for themselves and their families and escape the situation.  Having the camera on would have not only shown a vulnerability but could have endangered their lively hoods as well, and for many, cameras were used as tools to harm them.  So, cameras, for many, can be triggering and harmful to mental health. Not to mention women victimized in this way are often persecuted in business, and their ability to make solid business decisions is called into question. And for many, their ability to make money is their only tool to protect themselves.

There are also privacy issues and cultural concerns around the use of cameras. The background filters can only do so much.  This brings us to issues of Wi-Fi.  Many times, when we are dealing with cameras, this can strain the internet connection, make for spotty reception and loss of communication, and increase frustration. 

So, for leaders who want to encourage the use of cameras without hurting their workforce and establishing connections and trust, here are my suggestions to help leaders with this issue:

  1. Touch base with each team member and ask how they prefer to be communicated.  Everyone is different.  Some may prefer phone calls, instant messages, etc.
  2.   Share with your team how you prefer to convey urgency.  Such as an instant message on teams means this is a priority.  Or emails are a priority for tracking.  Or maybe the instant message is when you can, and emails are the priority.  It is up to you so that you and your team are all on the same page.
  3. In big meetings, have cameras on for the intro to the meeting and turn off the cameras when not presenting. This makes sure to address any Wi-Fi issues.
  4. In one-on-one, once there is flickering in the signal, give the verbal ok to your team to turn off their camera. 
  5. As your team members one on one who does not want to use cameras, why they don’t?  Not everyone is comfortable.
  6. If you have team members who say often they are not camera ready, show your team that there are days you aren’t either, and lead by example.  Show not being camera ready, and if decorum is important to you, show little things your team can do to help.  Tell them you want a one-on-one camera at the meeting and why.  Then offer to have the meeting in 10-20 minutes and give them time to get ready.  Sometimes, we all need to plan self-care, and taking 10-20 to look presentable is good.  So, be flexible and show humanity on your end as a leader. You’ll earn more points than you think, showing you are also human.

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.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/