Our focus this month here at the Teams365 blog is all about relationships. Whether you work in an office or work full time from home, my guess is that somehow you have a touchpoint with one or more team members, or customers, who are remote. One recent study around job postings found that the growth since 2018 had been 151%.
This means that we all can benefit from learning how to make remote relationships work better. Many things are magnified in the remote space – distance, lack of clarity, focus.
Today’s post explores several areas which can be excellent areas of focus for professionals today. Let’s look at them in turn.
Proactivity – Just like today’s post graphic shows “Remote does not mean disconnected”. We want to avoid the “out of sight equals out of mind” mindset. Being proactive when working remote or working with those who work remote is key. This means being proactive with communication, meetings, feedback, outreach, and relationship building.
What are the conversations you want to have this week?
Asking Questions – Assumptions can abound in the remote space. If we don’t see, or know other people’s context, we can fall into the trap of thinking we know or understand their world. Asking questions becomes a critical skill as we shift to building relationships in the remote space. We’ll be exploring this topic more tomorrow.
Be Present – When you are in conversation, are you present? Are you multi-tasking? Research shows we can’t do to heavily cognitive tasks at once, so if you are on a conference call, or having a conversation, just do one thing.
Listening – Listening skills are critical. In the remote space when we can’t see each other. We lose the visual cues in many remote conversations, especially if we are not streaming. With this in mind, the tone and choice of words take on even greater significance. What are you listening for? What’s not being said? Even if we can see each other, what is happening outside of people’s screen?
Be Curious – Ongoing learning is part of the reality of remote workspaces. Not knowing everything (or even 10% sometimes) is also part of the reality of remote work. What are you curious about? What do you want to know more about? What do you still have to learn? Adopting a learner’s mindset or shifting into a growth mindset is key.
Be Intentional – Intentionality is also key. Part of designing good conversations may be to hold an intention or create a shared intention together. Here’s a great article by Marla Tabaka on making the practice of setting intentions, as well as goals and vision.
Work Together – What are your intersection points the two of you have together? Opportunities for collaboration? Spend some time getting to know each other (more on this topic next week), as well as spend some time designing your conversational touchpoints.
A reminder that if you work remote, join us at the Remote Pathways podcast. Co-host Michelle Mullins and I explore the various pathways of the remote space in bi-weekly episodes. Be sure to also check out the 52 weeks blog series I’m hosting this year at Remote Pathways.
Enjoy your Tuesday,
Jennifer
This means that we all can benefit from learning how to make remote relationships work better. Many things are magnified in the remote space – distance, lack of clarity, focus.
Today’s post explores several areas which can be excellent areas of focus for professionals today. Let’s look at them in turn.
Proactivity – Just like today’s post graphic shows “Remote does not mean disconnected”. We want to avoid the “out of sight equals out of mind” mindset. Being proactive when working remote or working with those who work remote is key. This means being proactive with communication, meetings, feedback, outreach, and relationship building.
What are the conversations you want to have this week?
Asking Questions – Assumptions can abound in the remote space. If we don’t see, or know other people’s context, we can fall into the trap of thinking we know or understand their world. Asking questions becomes a critical skill as we shift to building relationships in the remote space. We’ll be exploring this topic more tomorrow.
Be Present – When you are in conversation, are you present? Are you multi-tasking? Research shows we can’t do to heavily cognitive tasks at once, so if you are on a conference call, or having a conversation, just do one thing.
Listening – Listening skills are critical. In the remote space when we can’t see each other. We lose the visual cues in many remote conversations, especially if we are not streaming. With this in mind, the tone and choice of words take on even greater significance. What are you listening for? What’s not being said? Even if we can see each other, what is happening outside of people’s screen?
Be Curious – Ongoing learning is part of the reality of remote workspaces. Not knowing everything (or even 10% sometimes) is also part of the reality of remote work. What are you curious about? What do you want to know more about? What do you still have to learn? Adopting a learner’s mindset or shifting into a growth mindset is key.
Be Intentional – Intentionality is also key. Part of designing good conversations may be to hold an intention or create a shared intention together. Here’s a great article by Marla Tabaka on making the practice of setting intentions, as well as goals and vision.
Work Together – What are your intersection points the two of you have together? Opportunities for collaboration? Spend some time getting to know each other (more on this topic next week), as well as spend some time designing your conversational touchpoints.
A reminder that if you work remote, join us at the Remote Pathways podcast. Co-host Michelle Mullins and I explore the various pathways of the remote space in bi-weekly episodes. Be sure to also check out the 52 weeks blog series I’m hosting this year at Remote Pathways.
Enjoy your Tuesday,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326
Get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326
Get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!
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