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You are here: Home / Archives for leadership

Rules for Long-Distance Leadership: An Interview with Wayne Turmel

June 5, 2018 by David Zinger Leave a Comment

Wayne Turmel and Kevin Eikenberry wrote a new book, The Long-Distance Leader, with 19 rules for remarkable remote leadership. This interview focuses on the connections between long-distance leadership and employee experience & engagement based on the book. It is a cool book that will really help you bear the demands of leadership from a distance.

After all the research and writing that went into your new book, what most stands out for you?

I think there are two things that standout. First, only 28% of managers are worried that people are actually “working,” when they’re at home. The fear that people don’t work hard without their manager standing over them isn’t well founded and most people are coming to accept that.

The second thing is that most of the concerns managers have is about their own effectiveness. “Am I doing everything I should? Am I giving and getting the appropriate feedback when I’m not bumping into people in the break room or seeing them at meetings?” The amount of self-doubt and second-guessing that goes on is surprising and causes a lot of stress for people who are already under enough pressure.

What role do you see remote leaders playing in employee’s experience and engagement at work?

One of the themes of the book is that leading remotely isn’t THAT different from leading a traditional team. Managers must engage employees and create good working relationships. The challenge is that we must be more intentional about it. We can’t walk past someone’s cubicle and see them banging their heads on the monitor so we can ask, “is everything okay?”

As leaders, we must make sure we’re really getting a good sense of how engaged people are, both with their work and with their teammates. Whenever you have a coaching conversation (okay, first you have to HAVE coaching conversations) are you asking open-ended questions that allow you to get a sense of how people are feeling about their work, or are you simply focusing on task completion?

“How’s it going?” will just get you a one-word answer that may or may not tell you something useful. Asking, “what would make things better for you?” or “how can I (we) support you?” will help raise issues that can be addressed early.

What are the challenges of the remote leader to engage employees?

There are several, but when it comes to employee engagement, the number one factor is the nature of remote work itself. Many people like working at home, or at least away from the office, because they can “get more done.” In one sense, that’s true—studies show that people who work remotely are more productive. But what they’re working on is THEIR work and tasks. Collaboration, brain-storming and team commitments take a back seat. People control what they can control, which is themselves and their work.

One of the biggest challenges for Long-Distance Leaders is ensuring that employees understand the big picture; how their work impacts the company’s vision and that of their teammates. Then they should help create an environment where people are aware of what’s happening outside their own little bubble. What’s everyone working on? Where do their teammates need help and what resources can you offer the individual that will make it worth reaching out and building good relationships between them and the others on the team?

This stuff is critical, but rarely happens organically. It requires some structure (team building exercises, sharing information equally) to succeed.

Rule 11 in the book states “building trust at a distance does not happen by accident.” How do leaders build trust strategically at a distance?

Trust is built on three things over time:  Proof that we share a common purpose or goal, proof of competence on both sides, and proof of positive intentions and motives. So much of what good leaders do happens by instinct and is based on subtle visual cues. We see someone in a meeting and say, “Oh, Sharon, nice work on that Jackson account.” We see them show up early or leave late, we can see them interacting with their co-workers.

When we work remotely, there is less visible interaction. Leaders need to create opportunities for the team to gather the supporting evidence that underlies trust. How do they know that Sharon is really good at her job? If Bob never contributes on team calls, how is anyone supposed to know that he’s really a subject matter expert on X?

By intentionally helping people gain visibility to the larger workings of the team and organization, you can build trust. If someone does a good job, don’t just tell them when you’re one-on-one, share it with the team. If someone asks you a question, direct them to Bob, because he knows more about that topic than anyone else.

What are 3 good questions good leaders can ask themselves to develop their remote leadership?

One of the models we use in the Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership is the “3-O Model,” So let’s take a question from each of the O’s.

Outcomes:  If we start with the desired outcome for the organization there is a simple 2-part question to ask. “What is it that needs to be done, and if distance weren’t an issue, what would be the right way to tackle it?”  Start with first principles. Under perfect circumstances, what would be the right way to address this question or achieve this outcome? From there you can figure how to do it virtually.

Others: What is the appropriate way to communicate with the others involved in achieving this outcome? Often our first choice for a communication tool isn’t the right one. If I need to coach someone, should that be a webcam call or an email? One is easier and less confrontational, but probably isn’t right for that circumstance.

Ourselves: What do I need to do in order to be more effective working at a distance? This one is tricky because we are used to putting ourselves and our needs last for the good of the team. Servant Leadership is honorable, and it can often mean we work hard and not smart. But if I’m not getting enough sleep, or I am intimidated by certain technology (and thus avoid using it… webcams are a good example) am I working with one hand tied behind my back?

In the book, you talk about leadership being a verb or action. Can you recommend 2 actions a leader can take to successfully engage her remote employees?

Only 2, huh?

Create opportunities for the team to get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Share the spotlight in meetings, conduct “get to know you” exercises and delegate some of the work so that you create the chance for people to work with, and get to know, each other.

Don’t let work become strictly transactional. Too often we find outselves in a hurry, or not wanting to interrupt their “real work.” As a result, we focus on the task at hand and don’t take the time to get to know people and what’s going on in their world. Remember to take a moment to ask relationship-building questions about their personal lives, their families, and how they feel about their work. Write a note to yourself if  you have to. When you’re eager to get a call done so you can move onto the next one, it’s easy to forget to build bridges.

Can you sum up some final words or encouragement or education to help remote leaders enhance their own engagement while having a positive influence on the engagement of all their remote employees?

Rule #1 for Remarkable Remote Leadership is: Think leadership first, location second.” If you stop and take a breath, your path is pretty clear. Think about WHAT you need to do as a leader, whether you’re in the same place or not. Then, given your circumstances, HOW can you be as effective as possible? The answers will become clear, even if the actions to achieve them aren’t your natural (or even first or second) instinct.

I think the book itself is quite remarkable and helpful for all of us who lead remotely. I highly recommend it and believe it will have a strong positive influence on the future of work as we accelerate into the year 2020. Thanks Wayne.

Thanks, David. Kevin and I are grateful for your support of the book.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: Employee Engagement, engagement, Kevin Eikenberry, leadership, management, remote leadership, The Long-Distance Leader, Wayne Turmel

Where do you go to learn about work, engagement, management and leadership?

January 16, 2017 by David Zinger Leave a Comment

This last weekend I left Winnipeg and -33 degrees to go to Santiago and plus 33 degrees.

I am looking forward to learning about employee engagement, work, leadership, management, and Chile while I am there. I have travelled the world to teach about employee engagement but the reward for me has been to travel the word to learn about engagement. If nothing else, Santiago will unfreeze my view of work (and I won’t have to shovel snow for a month)!

The poetry of Pablo Neruda has opened my heart before I even touched down in Santiago. I invite you to read my short LinkedIN post about this.

You don’t have to be a world traveller but I believe it is valuable to ask yourself: Where do I go to learn about work, engagement, management, and leadership?

David Zinger is an employee engagement expert and speaker who travels the world in search of engagement.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: Chile and employee engagement, David Zinger, employee engagement speaker, leadership, management, work, work engagement

Are your managers and leaders strong enough for employee engagement?

December 14, 2016 by David Zinger Leave a Comment

Yesterday I wrote a short post on LinkedIN.

Within 12 hours it was my most popular post on LinkedIn this year. It was from my heart and looked at wanting but not necessarily welcoming engaged employees.

Read the full post by clicking on the title: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/engaged-employees-wanted-always-welcomed-david-zinger.

Here is a short video about the topic:

David Zinger is an employee engagement speaker and expert from Winnipeg, Canada

 

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: David Zinger, Employee Engagement, employee engagement speaker, leadership, management

Employee Engagement: What’s Cooking?

June 30, 2016 by David Zinger Leave a Comment

I  recently  devoured Dan Charnas’ intriguing book, Work Clean: What Great Chefs Can Teach Us About Organizations. The book outlines the method of mise-en-place. Mise-en-place is a way of working, being focused and disciplined — many chefs believe it is a way of life.

I enjoyed reading the book and could not help but think of the important lessons for all of us as we engage in our work, either inside the kitchen or anywhere we encounter our work.

Work Clean Cover

The key take-away for me was a focus on preparation, process, and presence. These 3 P’s offer strong guidance for anyone wishing to enhance their engagement.

  • Chefs commit to a way of working where preparation is central. You always need to be thinking ahead as cooking cannot happen without the prep coming first. Charnas stated that preparation becomes, “a kind of spiritual practice: humble, tireless, and nonnegotiable.”
  • Process is how we execute the plan. Chefs pursue the best process to do just about everything. Dan says that process is about “becoming a high-functioning human being and being happier for it.” It makes both our work and ourselves better.
  • Presence is fully showing up for our work. It is about being fully engaged, becoming one with the work and being mindfully engaged in everything we do.

Preparation, process, and presence are not abstract concepts. They demand a fourth “P” – Practice. We need to make engaged work a daily practice. This fits well with my 8 word definition of employee engagement: good work done well with others every day.

Dan suggests three commitments for engaged work:

  1. Commit to preparation with a 30-minute daily planning session.
  2. Commit to a process that makes you better.
  3. Commit to being present in whatever you do.

I invite you to read the book to learn more, but even more importantly, I strongly encourage you to infuse your work with preparation, process, and presence as the essential ingredients in your employee engagement.

David Zinger is an employee engagement speaker and expert who enjoys cleaning the kitchen in creating a culinary tabula rasa for the next meal.

 

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: #employeeengagement, David Zinger Employee Engagement Speaker, Employee Engagement, leadership, mise-en-place, organization, preparation, presence, process, work, work clean

Employee Engagement: Beyond the Latte

March 22, 2016 by David Zinger Leave a Comment

Let’s Focus on Work and Love our Labor.

IMG_2561

I have recently been looking at pictures of best employers and great places to work. There are so many pictures of fun that one could easily confuse engagement with just having fun, running on the workplace treadmill, and sipping away a morning with a lovely latte.

I love fun and I am fond of lattes but I think we need to keep a focus on the work itself and the people we work with. That is why I define employee engagement as: good work done well with others every day.

Engagement is less about lattes and more about labour, less about pizzas and parties and more about performance and productivity, less about a workout and more about getting into our work.

You just might find the more you get into work the more you will get out of it.

David Zinger is an employee engagement speaker and expert.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: David Zinger Employee Engagement Speaker, Employee Engagement, latte, leadership, management, work

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David Zinger

Email: david@davidzinger.com
Phone 204 254 2130

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