Building the Remote Team

The "Return to Office" didn't fully work. There are some people still fully remote. Others are "quietly hybrid." Now, what to do? It is time to focus on how to manage remote teams and teams that are partially remote. It takes effort to make a mix of in office and remote people into a team. It takes a commitment to make everyone on the team have the tools, equipment, communications channels, and opportunities to fully participate. This is different from simply hiring a bunch of people who work remotely.

A team is built upon mutual respect, mutual trust, communication and mutual purpose. To build that team requires making everybody part of the team. That means valuing the remote people as much as those in the office, making them "first class citizens of the team". Teams that take the effort to connect in remote workers tend to do better, have more collaboration, are better integrated, and function better.

Teams require a lot of communication, both formal and informal communication. Business meetings are one form, the chats between offices, in the hallway, and at the water cooler are another. When a team member is remote, it is very important to have a consistency of communications so that all channels include those remote members.

From a management perspective, this means a commitment to using available inclusive tools for all formal business meetings and most of the informal communications. It is vital to make sure that all members of the team are communicating with the rest of the team. That means verifying that they have the same tools, the same capabilities to communicate, are comfortable jumping on an impromptu meeting with their peers, and having one on one talks with them to find out what isn't working. When a team member is in a remote location, that may mean spending a little on getting extra equipment so that they are not constantly "breaking up" or unable to connect.

Team building requires constant communication within the team. Some places have a daily short "team status" meeting. This is not a "work status", but a short meeting to make sure that the team is functioning together. In these meetings, don't just talk business. Allow for members to talk about their lives, their families, and their concerns. The goal is to build the team more than to push information.

When onboarding new team members, make sure to connect new team members with the rest of the team. It can help to connect that person with someone to talk to informally. The new person can ask informal questions of, bounce ideas against, and learn the informal rules of how this team operates.

When evaluating the contributions of a remote worker, it is vital to evaluate more than the raw productivity of that worker. Evaluations need to be frequently (quarterly or more often) and have a formal method of asking the rest of the team how supportive and valuable the remote person is.

Sleep Deprivation

A truck driver pushing the limits almost falls asleep at the wheel. A famous boss has texted managers at 2 AM demanding immediate responses and claims that sleeping at the factory will make things better even though there are quality problems. Any newborn father knows of the many sleep interruptions. Many people chasing the money often do not get enough sleep and their mental acuity suffers. Some studies claim that many people in our modern world are operating on a sleep deficiency.

Books of ancient wisdom long knew that we need rest. "Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest" Is how one book puts it. Sleep studies are backing that up. These studies show that sleep is critical to being able to function well especially under stress.

When we don't get enough sleep, problems arise in our lives. Critical judgement goes out the window. People buy things on impulse including major purchases. We have mood changes and depression. We start to perceive things differently than other people do. We get anxious. We can have hallucinations and delusions of grandeur. Some people even develop acute psychosis. Sleep deprivation is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

Sleep allows our brains to reset. While sleeping, we work through issues, clean out dangling chemicals, and dream how to solve problems. Sleep helps to prevent illness. Several inventions have been found while the inventor was sleeping. For this reason, it is important to prioritize sleep especially when stressed. Under pressure, the most important thing is to be able to make good critical judgements.

Let's get enough sleep so that we do better under the stresses.

Risky Business

High end racing bicycles now have wireless shifters. Recently some researchers demonstrated how to hack the Shimano shifter either shifting gears on command or jamming the rider's shifting commands. A fix is being offered to racing teams.