We're re-purposing the segments Oh No My Team's Gone Remote, for managers and leaders of remote teams, from our flagship podcast 21st Century Work Life. Find us over at virtualnotdistant.com

Management Cafe - for leaders of colocated and remote teams

MC21 How Will Team Members Know I Value Them - Oh No My Team's Gone Remote

MC20 How Will We Maintain High Levels of Trust in Our Remote Team - Oh No My Team's Gone Remote series

When we think of "collaboration", we often think: "meetings!". But there is much more to collaboration than meeting up - and moving to a remote setup, often involves adopting asynchronous communication. This episode will guide you some different ways of staying in touch with each other - and if you need to run online meetings, well, we've got the book for you (Online Meetings that Matter) and a free download: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/books 

MC19 We're Going to Spend All our Time in Online Meetings - Oh No My Team's Gone Remote

MC18 The Dangers of Working from Anywhere - Oh No My Team's Gone Remote series

MC17 I Know We'll Feel Distant from Each Other - Oh No My Team's Gone Remote series

MC16 I am Afraid We'll Lose Visibility in the Organisation - Oh No My Team's Gone Remote series

MC15 What if All We Do is Type - Oh No My Team's Gone Remote series

MC14 The Dangers of Being Always On - Oh No My Team's Gone Remote series

There has been much hype around systems like Holacracy, and while we might not want to move fully into self-management, there are plenty of aspects we can incorporate into how we lead our teams.  For the full script, go over to  https://managementcafepodcast.com/2018/02/04/self-management/   Meanwhile, here are some links you might want to check out: The article that inspired this podcast: https://hbr.org/2016/07/beyond-the-holacracy-hype And some further content recommendations: Maverick by Ricardo Semler You can also listen to the ten episode podcast LeadWise. Or watch his TedTalk How to Run a Company with No Rules: https://www.ted.com/talks/ricardo_semler_how_to_run_a_company_with_almost_no_rules And don't forget to check out what we do over at www.virtualnotdistant.com 

MC2-12 Borrowing from Self-Management

I'm back for another season. This time I will be podcasting "freestyle" using an article as inspiration. In today's episode I talk about what "authentic leadership" means to me and why I'm not that sure about the term... To get in touch, go to www.managementcafepodcast.com or www.virtualnotdistant.com  Today’s episode has been inspired by this article. You might want to read it before listening. The Truth About Authentic Leaders  by Bill George,  author of “Authentic Leadership”  What did you think? What did you take from it? What are your questions/observations/reservations/agreements? Here is what I took from it and the thoughts this article sparked in me 1) What is “authentic leadership”? Not pretending we’re someone we’re not. Not pretending we know everything. Let our personality and values through (not necessarily our personal life) Make unpopular decisions that aligh with our values – tricky for middle management It’s a great alternative to “heroic leadership” where you are seen as having to pull the cart. I would say we need flexibility, self-awareness and a degree of vulnerability. Example from Originals, loc 3152 2) The “bringing your whole self to work” dilemma. Flexibility is key – and after all, we bring different parts of ourselves to different situations and different relationships. Low self-monitors; High self-monitors “Authentic leaders are sensitive to the impact their words and actions have on others, not because they are “messaging” the right talking points. “They don’t hide behind flaws, instead they seek to understand them.” It’s not about being rigid, but in being honest about who you are. “One of the hardest things for leaders to do is to understand how other people see them, which is often quite different than how they want to be seen.” “Adapt the style without compromising character.” Go back to the point on vulnerability – another article, this time from Inc. Jack Ma made a Fool of Himself Last Week. Smart Move. Inc sept21st 2017 https://www.inc.com/jack-ma-made-a-fool-of-himself-last-week.html About being approachable and human – core of authentic leadership However, needs to be backed by actions and reputation elsewhere. (3) We always associate being “authentic” with “good”. This means, if we want a culture of authenticity, need to look out for values when we recruit, especially when we recruit people in positions of authority. For Your Reflection In the office, we can be ourselves, but what happens in the remote space? (or flexible) Need to be more deliberate. Our communication; make room for synchronous discussions; explain your decisions; ask questions to understand others before you try to understand actions through your own values What parts of me would be more useful to bring to work? (To my communication, to my interactions, to my decisions?) How much is my own behaviour encourating or deterring people from bringing their “whole selves” to work? How can we constantly remind ourselves that we are human? Because that’s really at the core of authentic leadership, not super heroes, but humans.

MC2-11 Should We Be Authentic Leaders?

In this episode, we cover the change in mindset necessary to lead remote teams, working out loud, how to choose a tool, making decisions and planning for spontaneous conversations. (I know!) For detailed show notes go to www.managementcafepodcast.com The time zone issue 07.00 mins The difference between collocated and remote 09:00 Change in mindset 13.00 Working Out Loud 16:10 Choosing and using tools 21.30 Making Decisions 24.00 Informal conversation Recommend book: Under New Management by David Burkus For more on leading virtual teams, visit www.virtualnotdistant.com  

MC1-10 Leading Remote Teams

Building psychological safety requires us to be very aware of our own behaviour, as we create a place where team members feel able to bring up problems and admit mistakes. visit www.managementcafepodcast.com for the transcript   

MC1-9 Psychological Safety

Is it a manager's job to motivate team members? Or is it our job to just get out of the way? In today's episode, Pilar shares a couple of motivation theories and asks some questions to help you determine whether your behaviour is nurturing self-motivation or hindering it. Subscribe via the blog http://managementcafepodcast.com Self-determination theory suggests that we are inherently driven to be the best we can be and our motivation is affected by our surroundings and context. In order for this intrinsic motivation to flourish, we need autonomy, competence and a sense of relatedness to either others or a common purpose. (You can find out more about Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory here: http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/ ) Pilar recommends Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg, which has a brilliant chapter on Motivation. "We praise people for doing things that are hard, that's how they learn to believe they can do them." Smarter, Faster, Better Locus of control affects our motivation and it can be affected by training and feedback. When working as a virtual team or in a remote set-up, we need to keep an eye out to feed that sense of relatedness. The Progress Principle and the "inner work life". Emotions and perceptions during the work day. Catalysts - actions that directly affect the work and helps people to want to do a good job. Nourishers - actions that show support and help us feel happy about doing the work. Inhibitors - prevent us from feeling happy at work. Toxins - actions that decrease the happiness of workers. Remember, before you even think about what you can do to "motivate others", assess whether there is anything you're doing that might be inhibiting their intrinsic motivation. Further Reading and Watching You can read more about the Progress Principle here: https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work? Great TedTalk by Dan Ariely which re-defines "meaningful work". Pop into the Management Café or visit www.virtualnotdistant.com 

MC1-8 Motivation: Should managers be motivating others?

In today's episode, we cover the five areas under which team norms develop and why we should pay attention for these unspoken rules that are emerging in our team. visit www.managementcafepodcast.com and www.virtualnotdistant.com Like it or not, your behaviour as manager, as team leader or as official person leading a team, really matters. Group norms develop as team members learn through experience what behaviours are acceptable and which aren't. These norms develop over time, as different people watch others in the team and adapt their own behaviour accordingly - either consciously or sometimes, even subconsciously. Group norms are those unspoken rules that emerge as people work together. They are part of a team's identity and culture. Some norms will be helpful but others will be unhelpful, so, at the very least, we should be aware of what they are. If as managers we are unaware of our own behaviour, we might well be planting the seed for an unhelpful group norm to emerge. The simplest example that comes to mind is attendance to meetings. If we always wait for latecomers to arrive before we start a meeting, either in person or online, then a norm will develop that says that it's ok to be late for meetings in this team. So, allow me to invite you for a little bit more of a guided coffee today. To just say, “Let's assess our team's norms” can be quite daunting. Where do we start? If we have a new team, how can we influence our team members so that healthy norms develop? As we're dealing with human behaviour, and even the more challenging  behaviour in groups, how about breaking our thinking down into different kinds of group norms? To guide you through this, I've tapped into a great textbook called Organisational Behaviour in Organisations by Baron and Cohen. When breaking down the kind of norms we might see in teams, we can talk about norms around Openess and Honesty, Taking Responsibility, Working with Others, Following the Rules and Use of Resources. This is quite an interesting breakdown, which can also help us to look at differences in our team. Sometimes individual team members seem at odds with others. There might even be some conflict in a team if people view these aspects of working in an organisation differently. Take 'Openess and Honesty'. If you are someone who likes guarding their work and only sharing small bits of information on a needs to know basis, and you're working with someone who much prefers transparency, who doesn't mind everyone knowing what they're working on etc., there are bound to be clashes between you. You might think they're requiring you to share too much and they might think you don't trust them enough. So, as well as using these five aspects of working together to identify our team norms, we can use them to figure out what might be causing friction amongst team members. Right, let's start with 'Openess and Honesty'. Well, there's not much more to add to the example I've given you. What is acceptable behaviour in your team? And here, it's worth to look at this behaviour within the team and in relation to other teams and the rest of the organisation. Does your team believe their work should be kept secret? Or are they happy to be open about their process, their failures, their success… This is especially important if you're working in a virtual team, as most communication will be written down, which in a way seems to be more definite. When you speak, the words disappear, but in the written form, they might stay around forever. So this is a discussion worth having with your team at some point, especially if you're going to be working together from different locations. The next area under which group norms develop is 'Taking responsibility for your actions'. Are people ready in your team to say, “Sorry, my fault”. Or is it always a question of, “Yes, but I was waiting for Laura to get back to me, so I couldn't finish that piece of work, and I thought, you don't like to be disturbed, so I didn't want to tell you it was going to be late...” What about the more general aspect, “What does it mean to work with others”? Are people ready to share the credit with others in the team or does shared accountability just happen when things go wrong? Do your people speak about “we” or “I” when they talk about their team? How about you, what do you use? And do you change your language depending on whether what you're talking about can be regarded as positive or negative? Let's move on, what about 'Following the rules'? What happens in your team? Are rules followed to the letter? Or are you a group of loose cannons who do whatever they want in the organisation? My guess is that it's something in between, but you'll have a tendency towards one of the poles. You might just work within the boundaries of your organisation, or maybe you are a team that sees itself as being able to work around the rules and culture of the organisation to get your work done. Again, this might be an area of disagreement or even conflict between team members, so worth thinking about… How about the 'Use of resources'? Are you a team that looks for the most cost-effective (or cheap) solutions, or do you enjoy spending large budgets without thinking of where the money is coming from? So, before I quickly recap on these five different aspects of team norms, it's worth thinking about why we're looking at them. These are the unspoken rules in our team, they form part of our identity and will influence how others see us too. They might even guide people's decision-making. So, if nothing else, it's worth being aware of what these norms are. And if some of them are causing us trouble or are being unhelpful (and by “unhelpful” I mean that they're stopping us from doing our best work or are leading to problems) between team members or in the organisation, then they will be worth addressing. At the same time, it's also worth noting that if someone is not “fitting in” the team, it could well be that they are at odds with the team's norms, that they feel like they need to act in a way that goes against their own principles and nature - that is worth addressing too. I'm afraid to say that how you deal with any of that will be left up to you, as every case will be very, very different. So, a quick recap: I've very quickly talked you through: Openess and Honesty, Taking Responsibility, Working with Others, Following the Rules and Use of Resources. Well, the café is getting full and I need to go, but, if you'd like to stay a bit longer at the table, how about thinking through the behaviour in your team, whether you are all in one physical space or distributed, or a bit of both, and having a little mental evaluation of your team norms. Are they helping your work? Are there any that you think, ah, we could do with changing that, that's not helpful. If you're looking at changing anything, I can think of two ways in which you can do that: by openly  having a conversation with your team or by starting role modeling a different behaviour. Your behaviour as a manager is in the spotlight and sometimes, you and your reactions to others' behaviours will be the barometer of what behaviour is acceptable or not. Even though I've got to go now, I'd love to hear whether have indeed tackled unhelpful norms in your team and how you went about it. And of course, I'd love to hear what team norms you are proud of. Oh yes, I almost forgot, I have a small book recommendation for you today. The subject matters is a little bit broader than this café, but I think you'll find it interesting. The book is The Upside of Irrationality, by Dan Ariely. The book explains why a lot of our behaviour, both in and out of work, seems irrational at times and it asks important questions about why we continue to create environments that squash people's motivation to do a good job. Plus, Ariely is a great storyteller, and if you enjoy this book, he's got a few more. And if you don't fancy reading, look for his talks on the TedTalk website. Ok, now, I'm off. I hope you enjoy your day and I'll see you soon. 

MC1-7 Team Norms

In today's episode we dissect trust, think of ways to build it in our team and we ask ourselves some difficult questions.   Trust, where do we start? I suppose that before looking about what trust actually is, should we have a quick recap of why it matters? Does Trust Matter? Does it matter? Do you think it matters? What does lack of trust look like in a team, in an organisation? What does “plenty of trust” look like? And is there such a thing as “too much trust”? A word of warning, this episode might leave you with more questions than answers but if you’re up to it, let’s begin. My first question, when talking about trust, is, it’s important to trust others… to do what? A team where people trust each other to do a good job and act in the best interest of the team is going to look very different a team where people trust each other to keep their heads down when there are problems between individuals. Just the fact that some kind of trust exists between team members is not enough to have a high-performing team, one that can trouble shoot, one that can innovate. But if we have the kind of trust that allows people to fee like they can rely on each other to make decisions for them in their best interest, then, well I think we’re onto a winner. The Benefits of Trust Where there is trust, there is speed. (Remember the book titled The Speed of Trust) If we know that the information somebody gives us is reliable, we don’t need to check it. (Speed) If we trust one person to make a decision for the rest of us, that decision is made faster. If we trust that everyone in our team will flag up problems when they see them, we won’t be constantly checking and monitoring the work. But it’s not all about speed. It’s also about reducing uncertainty in our working relationships. It’s about creating an atmosphere (whether this atmosphere is palpable, in a room, or created across technology like in a virtual team) it’s about creating an atmosphere where people feel like they can get on with their work and find the support they need when they need it – and know that others will ask for help from them too, when they come across a block. As a manager, you want people to trust you so that you can make decisions on behalf of the team and they can back you up with their hard work; you need them to trust you so that they know you’ll represent them at their best in other parts of the organisation and beyond; Isn’t it better to have relationships at work based on trust than on power? Yeap, as you are sipping your drink I hear you think, “easier said than done”. So let’s try to break down this trust business and see where we get to… Two Types of Trust First I’d like to share with you definitions of two types of trust. One is calculus based trust, that is, you have trust in people that they’ll do the right thing because the consequences for them not to do so would be harsh. That… to put it in a simple way, is just not nice. To know that people’s behaviour is driven by fear of punishment means that we’ll never be able to rely on them to go the extra mile. The type of trust we’re looking to nurture is identification-based trust, where people understand each others' values and interests, and so can rely on others to act in their best interest. How your team members get to know each other and how we learn to empathise with others will be different in each team. For some, going out for lunch together or for a drink after work will allow people to get to know each other as people, not just professionals. For other teams, having regular in-depth conversations about the team process and our values might be more effective; In other teams, working closely on tasks together might be what people need to understand each others’ points of view and work styles better. Sometimes trust gets built when we deal together with a mistake, with a failure, when we focus on analyzing a problem and designing the next steps to move forwards. As a manager, a team leader, or someone in charge of a team process, or someone who just wants to improve the team process, it might help to look at trust in teams as having two components. One is the role of the individual – trusting others and being trusted. And the second component is the trust that we have in the team in being able to perform at its best. The Individual and the Team Let’s take the first component, the individual. How much do you trust people? How much do you tend to trust someone until they show they can’t be trusted? Or do you operate in the opposite way, you tend not to trust someone until they show they can be trusted? You’ll need to be aware of this propensity to trust, as it will affect your behaviour and your work style. In those teams which need to form quickly together, like emergency teams, trust needs to be built rapidly. And in those cases when we have to work closely with people we might have never met in person, like virtual teams, we need to know what it takes for us to trust someone to deliver the work and act in the interest of the common good, even if they don’t have someone looking over their shoulder (both literally and metaphorically). It might now be a good time to break down trust into specific components, into those behaviours that can make us trust someone and be trusted. Breaking trust down can help us to analyse a gut feeling we might have about someone. “Mmm, I’m not sure I trust her… Ok, why might that be?” The Components of Trust Reliability – do you do what you say you’re going to do? Or, just as important, do you communicate when you’re not going to do something you said you’d do? Integrity – do your actions match those values they say they have? And along similar lines, do your words match your actions? Do you act with congruity? Transparency – how much do you make your intentions and your thinking process available to others? Do people think you have a hidden agenda – or more to the point, have you got a hidden agenda? And finally, we can’t forget competence, which is really important when we’re looking at relationships at work. Can people trust you to do a good job? Or can they trust you to know and communicate, when you need help? Once we’ve looked at ourselves, we can start to think about what kind of processes our team needs to strengthen trust between individuals. It could well be that we need to look at improving our results. That could strengthen our feeling of competence, which could strengthen trust in each other. (To hear more on team development, check out episode 4 of this podcast). Or we might need more transparency in our work. Or we might need to learn to say no, to stop making promises to each other that we can rarely keep… Building Trust in Your Team The ways of building trust are numerous, if you feel like this is something you need to address, you have to dig deep into what’s going on in your team, or the behaviour you are role-modelling. At another level, we can also build trust in the team by continuously revisiting our purpose. Why are we working together and does our behaviour help us achieve our goals? These kind of conversations move the focus away from the individual team members and allow us to talk about making mistakes and solving problems, making our thought processes clearer. Making the time to have conversations about the team process, about what we’re finding difficult, what we’re struggling with and, let’s not forget, those things we are proud of and succeeding in make us more transparent. And, in most cases, this transparency helps us to understand each other better and feel safer with each other. When I say “feel safer” I don’t mean that where there is trust there is no conflict. On the contrary, if there is no conflict, there is probably also not much trust. If I can’t trust you to tell me if I’m holding back your own work, I’ll be constantly worried that it’s going to come up in our next team review meeting; if I can’t trust you to speak up if I’m going down the wrong path with my work, I’ll be afraid to innovate; if we never disagree on our team process or our how to go about a task… well… there’s probably no trust, and actually not much care for the work. I suppose this is related to the point about being transparent: trust exists when you know you can be transparent, when you know you can be vulnerable and that your vulnerabilities won’t come to bite you back. So crucial in what the levels of trust are like in a team, will be how we deal with our mistakes. Right, the café’s getting full and I’d better be off before the waitress comes back to ask me to leave… I trust her to do that, you see… I hope these thoughts have been of some help – Summary I’ll just recap what I ‘ve talked about so far, although let me see if I can frame the points as reflection questions: What do you trust your team members to be able to do? What do you think they trust you to do? (Go on, I dare you to ask them…) How long does it take you to trust someone, how high or low is your propensity to trust? What can you do to build identification-based trust, when people feel like you understand their needs and values? If you feel like trust is at low levels in your team, why might that be? What behaviours are you observing – what behaviours are you role-modelling? Do you observe integrity, reliability, transparency…? How much do you know about each other’s work styles, preferences and values? Recommended Reading The Trust Effect by Larry Reynolds, where he suggests eight practices to help build a high-trust organisation. I’ll leave you with a quote, where he talks about lateral relationships in an organisation, like those among team members or across teams. “Lateral relationships have many advantages - but they only work if there is trust. Because the hierarchy isn’t there, you can’t fall back on power relationships when the going gets tough. And it’s no use basing lateral relationships on hope – if they are to work in the long term, they have to be based on trust.” 

MC1-6 Building Trust in Your Team

Improve your management and leadership practice over a cup of coffee and get a book recommendation too. The role of the manager is evolving as technology helps us to self-organise and take more control of how and where we work from. In this podcast, Pilar Orti from Virtual not Distant, dissects modern management practice, not just for official managers, but for team members who want to make things happen too.

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Management Cafe - for leaders of colocated and remote teams

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