Remote Workforce

In the last few months, so many businesses went from zero to 90 with work at home.  It became a necessity rather than the potential benefit that had been discussed in the past.  First off, CONGRATULATIONS to those of you who made it happen. This was not an easy feat.

So, now what?  What do you need to know about managing a remote workforce? What should you be watching out for as remote work becomes a part of your regular work environment? Great thing to know is that you have already laid the foundation.  

Regardless why you have become a remote employer, the transition into this type environment requires the development of effective approaches to managing and supporting staff to support the ongoing success for your company and employees.

I had the opportunity to build a remote workforce over period of years not days or weeks.  Starting in 2006, it all began with an offshore partnership and quickly evolved into the development a remote workforce.  We made a lot of mistakes along the way and learned some valuable lessons.  This earlier time I refer to as our “error and trial” period because we made many errors as we figured it all out. 

We made the assumption that all we needed was build the right processes and everything else would fall into place. We quickly learned this was not true.  There is so much more to creating an excellent remote worker program than just process.  It takes a focus on culture, growing your managers and crafting an environment of collaboration and innovation.

The first important lesson learned was to trust your employees.  People have good intentions and want to make this arrangement successful.  Work with them.  Ask questions about what is going well with your remote environment and what could be improved.  Listen to them as they will have ideas that will help make your program succeed.  There is so much wisdom in your brain trust.  Use it.

In the coming weeks, I will share some of the other lessons learned on our remote workforce journey and how we were able to grow a successful remote worker experience.