Section Three:Achieving Outcomes at a Distance

Section Three Introduction

Never mistake activity for achievement.

—John Wooden, Hall of Fame basketball coach

Raul is a new supervisor on a team of software engineers. He works from home and has for years, as has most of his team. His manager, though, has always worked out of the office and is very worried that team members might not be working as hard as they can. He’s constantly asked, “How do you know what they’re working on?” or “Are you absolutely positive we’ll meet those deadlines?” Although in his gut he trusts his people, he struggles to assure his boss that real work is getting done, even when he can’t peer over the cubicle and watch it.

As a leader, you’re in the business of reaching desirable outcomes. Helping a team reach outcomes at a distance is a bit different, and so let’s start there.

Here are some of the common questions we hear from survey respondents, whether they are new to the role or just struggling to get the job done:

What are they doing?

Are they accomplishing anything?

Are they distracted working from home or wherever they are working?

Are they working too much?

Let’s come off the ledge, take a deep breath, and look at each of those questions.

What Are They Doing?

Though you can’t see the people working remotely, how can you know what the people working down the hall are doing either? Are you looking over their shoulder all day? (If you are, perhaps you should start reading this book from the beginning again.) The specific answer here is hard to provide without knowing your industry and the work your folks do, but really, how is this any different whether they are in the next office or in the next state? Kevin was talking about this question with a client who agreed with him. She mentioned that she used to know someone who came to the office every day and basically clipped coupons all day. They looked busy; but clearly, they weren’t getting any (work) outcomes! And they were in the office. You can’t blame it on being remote.

Are They Accomplishing Anything?

You should have answers to this as a part of the work process and your role as leader and manager, right? And this should have nothing to do with where they are working. If you are thinking about this one, you are really thinking about the next question .

Are They Distracted?

The fact is, they are likely less distracted than you or their down-the-hall team members are. Studies from Harvard Business Review and others show that people who work away from the office actually get more done on a task-by-task basis. Some of that is for good reasons (lack of interruptions) and some for not-so-good reasons (they work more cumulative hours).

Even if you don’t agree, let’s just think about your personal experience. How many distractions and interruptions do you have during a workday in the office? And how many of them are caused by other people in that workplace with you? The distractions and productivity busters that are non-people related are likely the same for you and your remote folks, but they likely have far fewer people interruptions than you do. While there may be a person on your team who has trouble working remotely (and that is a coaching opportunity, not an indictment of everyone working remotely), the research shows that productivity will be higher for most people most of the time.

Are They Working Too Much?

That might not be the question you are asking, but you should. When people work remotely (especially from home), boundaries are harder to set. With our phones and devices always within reach, it is easy to check email in the evening (Josiah in Jordan could use this, I’ll just respond now) or first thing in the morning; you get the idea. In fact, it’s frequently a bit of a vicious cycle: Mary wants to look like she’s working so she answers email as soon as she gets up in the morning and does it again after the kids are in bed. No wonder she’s getting more done—she’s putting in more hours. Is that what you really want?

Understanding whether people really are working harder or longer, or just time shifting some activities, is important, especially if you have a hybrid team, with some in the office and some working from home. Perception could be a significant problem: If Gina, who works in the office sees George sending emails at all hours, she may decide she needs to stay later or take her laptop home. Conversely, if George is working from home at 8:00 p.m., but the people in the office stop answering emails at five o’clock, he might wonder why they are all slackers.

We’ll talk more about managing ourselves in section 5, but make sure you are setting reasonable expectations and boundaries for the team around expected response times, working hours, and working on the weekend.

The Real Issues

If these questions (or ones like them) bother you, there are likely three reasons:

You are focused on activity, not accomplishment. Think about this question: Which is more important, how long or hard people work, or that the work is done correctly and on time? After all, it’s the results (outcomes) we want, right? The questions above are focused on what or how people are doing work, not if they are getting quality work done. This may be a big focus change for you, and even if you agree intellectually, you might have trouble with this in practice. Kevin, though teaching and believing strongly in staying focused on results, has fallen victim to this thinking often. While he has rarely had standard working hours for team members, he’s a morning person. It sometimes bothers him when someone comes to work (or logs in) later than he would. Then he remembers this important distinction and recognizes that if the quality of the work is the issue, why should he worry about it? Since it doesn’t matter if that copy gets written at 9:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. as long as it’s done by Friday’s meeting, why does he concern himself with it? Getting clear about this is important: your job is to support people in getting the right work done in a quality way in the prescribed timelines. And let’s address the elephant in the room: Why should it matter if they are doing their laundry during the workday, as long as the work is getting done and the rest of the team doesn’t suffer as a result?

You think you would be distracted so you are projecting that on others. You may be someone who struggles in the quiet environment of working from home or who needs the structure of getting in the car and going to the office. If so, that is fine (and yes, routines can be built to overcome some of those challenges if needed), but that doesn’t mean everyone struggles with them just because you do, or you did once.

You fundamentally believe that “when the cat’s away, the mice will play” If you believe that people only work effectively when supervised, you are going to be hampered in leading any team, especially one that is remote. Do you think that just because you aren’t there they are screwing off? Remember: If they are getting the work done, what are you really worrying about?

Oh, and there is one more really important one too:

You have a perceived need for greater control. Underlying at least some of the issues above is this fundamental point: if you are worried about your ability to lead remote team members to successful outcomes, you might have control issues. If people have been well trained, have the tools and resources they need, and have your support, they will be successful. If you struggle with control and tend to micromanage (and if you get that feedback consistently, you are micromanaging even if you don’t think you are), you will be more challenged with leading remotely.

If you were nodding your head at any of these items you just read, we have some suggestions for you.

Build processes together. Job aids, procedures, checklists, and proven templates to help people do the work are key to good performance and critical in a remote environment, where people can’t easily watch and learn from their peers. When people have input into what those processes are, the engagement and success will be even higher and compliance more likely. And, these processes may provide a clue to people’s progress and status; in other words, they may be a predictive measure of progress and accomplishment.

Create mutually clear expectations. It is important to define and agree on the expectations of the work and the results—and how you’ll measure success. When people know their peers are committed to responding before the end of the day, there’s less sitting around fuming when they don’t get an immediate response. Also, when people are part of creating the rules, they take responsibility for abiding by them and being better teammates. This is especially important for project teams, where people depend on input from each other on a regular basis. But even on sales teams, where it often feels like “every person for themselves,” it helps keep everyone connected and reduces the perception of favoritism.

Change your belief. Listen to the research, pay more attention, and you will likely change your perspective on the productivity of people who aren’t working in the office. They will likely be very productive, especially if you have taken our advice.

Reduce your need for control. We know that may be easier to say than do, but we encourage you to think about what you can influence rather than what you can control. Make sure people have the skills and training they need, provide them feedback and encouragement, give them resources and tools to be successful, and then let them do it. And beyond those actions, repeat after us: let it go.