Tag: #Leadership

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/

Five Reasons, Leadership, is Hurting Remote Leaders by Not Training How To Lead

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

When I started studying remote work and remote leadership in my master’s and now in my doctorate program and finishing my dissertation on the topic, I did not think I was taking on such a taboo topic.  Even post-COVID remote work is a hot-button topic that many in leadership roles are speaking out in media against the move towards remote work.  In this blog and my research, I have identified several causes for leadership to dislike remote work even though it benefits corporations greatly.  Benefits such as higher productivity, as reported by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, lower overhead fees, lower utility fees, lower real estate fees, and a wider hiring pool by being able to hire all over the country. 

With all this to consider, we must ask, aside from a bit of training in leadership in general to middle managers, why are companies trying to treat remote work like it is the same as being in the office?

Remote work was never a workplace design to mirror the office.  It was designed to give more freedom of creativity and cost-saving opportunities for companies and employees.  So, why are leaders trying to manage remote work as if people are in the office?  Well, there are a few reasons why:

  1. Public schools are designed to mirror the structure of old-school factories in timing, seating, rules, etc. As such, this form of leadership mirrored by teachers is what many middle managers and leaders mirror and attribute as a standard business structure.  However, education isn’t cut and dry anymore; not everyone is productive or creative in those environments, and the same happens in business.
  2. As a business culture, we are still idealizing old organizational cultures of “All go and no quit” and similar attitudes which foster burnout, workplace PTSD, and Workplace Violence.  These attitudes praise those who stay later than others to get more work done when needing that additional time shows time management issues across the board, not good work ethic. Several research studies found that constant overtime contributes to these toxic work environment issues and hurts productivity and accuracy goals.  Basically, the more work you do without rest, the lower the quality of work produced.
  3. There is also the middle management feeling they must watch nonstop to see if anyone is in their mind taking advantage of the company in completing the work.  I speak from experience and research when I say both show that looking for issues that’s all leadership will find at the expense of ignoring those working hard and doing the work.  If leadership learns to let go and trust their team, even in a remote modality, the focus shifts to managing the work and letting the team do its job and leadership to do the same. 
  4. Middle management also has often never experienced anything but in-person work, so physically, not seeing the team in the office feels like a loss of control and a loss of influence.  It is hard for leaders to build trust with their team and know their skills if they do not build skills to manage a remote team vs. an in-person team.  This is probably why many middle managers push back on the idea of remote.  The new method scares them.
  5. Because middle management is not often taught how to lead but instead is promoted as one of the high performers, these managers are at a deficit. They don’t know how to motivate other than toxic leadership methods shown in TV, movies, and a few self-help books.  Where these methods may have worked in person in the past many workers are no longer willing to tolerate the behavior, so motivating a team has to be done by learning how to be vulnerable and human as a leader and gaining faith from your team.  I often quote the line from Disney’s Remember the Titans, “Attitudes reflect leadership”.  This means we must teach our leadership teams to let go and trust their team so that the work performance can speak for itself rather than trying to police one’s team.

If you would like to learn more 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 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/

Remote Work is the Key to Increasing Creativity in the Workplace by Encouraging Diversity.

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

The topic of diversity in the workplace is a stimulant for creative problem solving and has been well researched and embraced in business.  In the Forbes article, Agona (2021); explains in layman’s terms why diversity creates more creative problem-solving.  In a nutshell, as detailed in, Agona (2021), workplaces with people with the same culture and similar backgrounds can create group thinking and, yes, people.  The article, Agona (2021); goes on to note that workplaces with diverse workforces have more dissenting ideas.  It may seem counterintuitive to have “no” people on one’s team, but as detailed in, Agona (2021); the diversity and difference of opinions and views leave room for developing creative problem-solving.

Companies that want to expand diversity to increase collaboration and creative problem-solving have a unique opportunity to do so in remote workplaces.  Sadly, many companies are missing out by pushing back against remote work.  As detailed in, Hunt (2021); remote workplaces allow for people from diverse, social, ethnic, and geographic locations.  Additionally, in the Forbes article, Hunt (2021); notes that single parents and women benefit from remote work as it allows more balance between life and work.

In the past companies often had to address geographic issues by transplanting or having to relocate workers from one area to a mecca of the industry like Silicon Valley.  Other issues when companies relocated to areas such as Texas to cut costs of running a business and paying to relocate employees or losing a large proportion of the staff because relocation would cause professional isolation.  As detailed in Cascio (2000), professional and geographical isolation has been long documented issues in remote work. The pandemic has since made this into an opportunity.   

In a LinkedIn article, McLaren (2021); details how the pandemic made many companies convert to remote, allowing expanded use of telecommunications tools like Zoom and Teams to be used more frequently and normalized.  Further detailed in the article, McLaren (2021); the wide utilization of remote work has helped dwindle the need for relocation and the costs for companies.  Further remote work has helped expand the use of telecommunication systems to dispel the age-old argument that remote work in business dulls collaboration and productivity. 

The facts about remote work and diversity and how remote work aids inclusivity shifts the conversation to ask how does a company battling the Great Resignation deal with attracting and retaining a diverse workforce?  As detailed in the article by White (2021), there are three ways to accomplish this.

  1. Encourage remote work and be willing to negotiate remote or hybrid work.
  2. Develop more comprehensive PTO plans and make proper accommodations regarding COVID and family leave. 
  3. Hiring managers who understand that employees are humans and respect the boundaries of their personal time. 

To quote one of my industry mentors, leaders need to remember to “Focus on managing the work not managing the people”.  Developing that concept in a nutshell as part of remote organizational culture will encourage employee retention and curb the stress on leaders and followers.

In conclusion, companies need to encourage remote work as a tool to increase diversity in the workplace.  The recession and the great resignation are teaching all sectors of business the value of creative problem solving and how diversity helps encourage collaborative thoughts.  Remote work is an underused tool to help give organizations the competitive advantage needed to survive the trials ahead.

If you would like to read more on remote work and diversity, please see the citations below. Also, if you like this post, be sure to leave a comment, like, and subscribe. Sharing is caring, so please share far and wide.

Work Cited

Agona, L. (2021, October 13). Council post: Is remote work a diversity and inclusion issue? Forbes. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/10/13/is-remote-work-a-diversity-and-inclusion-issue/?sh=3f16d771626c

Cascio, W. F. (2000). Managing a virtual workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 14(3), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2000.4468068

Hunt, S. T. (2021, May 12). SAP brandvoice: How hybrid remote work improves diversity and inclusion. Forbes. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2021/05/12/how-hybrid-remote-work-improves-diversity-and-inclusion/?sh=8965f01321fe

McLaren, S. (2021, February 3). Why the rise of remote work may help companies become more diverse – and more inclusive. LinkedIn. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/why-remote-work-may-help-companies-become-more-diverse

White, N. (2021, May 27). Here’s how to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in a remote-work world. Entrepreneur. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/372149