Right Fit Leading: Trust, Train, and Communicate

I just read a telework article about how bosses don’t trust workers. Despite current statistics that say otherwise, the article said that most bosses think that workers are not as driven or committed as the office staff. COVID has shown instances where the driven workers are just as driven when they work from home; maybe more so. Leaders have the responsibility to trust, train, and communicate with their employees whether they are onsite or not.

But to generalize people into driven and non-driven buckets is not fair. Everyone has some of both in them. The key to true leadership is partnering with people to show them how to be driven more often and to be lethargic less often. This has truly little to do with where they sit when they are in either condition.

I argue that people can be driven while working from home. They do not have to come to the office to be high achievers. For instance, an article by an Upwork chief economist is useful in assessing the future of telework (Ozimek, 2020). The author analyzed what we already know; there was a forced movement to remote work generated by COVID-19. The study investigated the current state of remote work and drew conclusions about the long-term impacts.

Upwork looked at a combined 1,500 hiring managers to get answers. Executives, vice presidents, and managers shared their views and plans that guided their remote work decisions. “One third of hiring managers found that productivity had increased as a result of remote work, a greater share than found productivity decreased (Ozimek, 2020, p. 2).” Finally, the Upwork study signals opportunity to convince more leaders to accept and support remote work. Upwork’s survey demonstrated that remote work had gone better than expected as reported by 56% of hiring managers. Only one in 10 reported remote work had gone worse than expected.

It is interesting to note that the Upwork study demonstrates that despite many responses about why remote work worked poorly, there is optimism that productivity has increased and will continue to do so. Some of the problems reported in the survey were technological issues (36.2%), increased distractions at home (32.0%), reduced team cohesion (30.5%), difficulties in communication (30.3%), teams are less organized (23.3%), and less productivity (22.5%). Only 14.8% of respondents reported no issues. However, 32.2% of hiring managers reported an increase in productivity as opposed to only 22.5% who reported a decrease. The author states, “That one third finds remote work increases productivity, despite the rapid pace of change and struggles with technology, is a very optimistic result for future adoption and future productivity (Ozimek, 2020, p. 5).”

The other thing I noticed while reading the telework article the other day is that one person who commented said that most people don’t work hard or have initiative. His comments also included that physical oversight is needed to get most people motivated when the boss can’t see them. While I disagree with this point of view, the person made one statement with which I concur. A tangible deliverable is needed to get results. My point is that people can do equally well meeting that tangible deliverable whether they are at home or at work, and whether they are in sight or out of sight of the boss. I can stall you just at well while you’re watching me as I can while you’re not.

These are issues of trust and control. How much trust is present and how much control is exerted. A good working relationship can have trust between supervisors and employees, and tangible deliverables and accountability can mitigate or alleviate control issues.

Leaders who think their employees don’t work hard or have initiative should look in the mirror and assess their leadership approach. Remember, you hired them and they are your responsibility to train, communicate with, and nurture.

Ozimek, A. (2020). The future of remote work. Available at SSRN 3638597. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3638597