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Author: Guy Harris

Communication & Interpersonal Skills, Leadership

The Power of Transition Conversations

By Guy Harris

Navigating changes in your professional relationships is a big part of successfully transitioning from bud to boss. The change in your role and your responsibilities demands that your relationships change as well. You will experience changes in the type, scope, and sensitivity of relationship issues you face. The relative power dynamic or imbalance between you, your team, and people who were formally senior to you will change. All of these changes will create other changes in your professional, and possibly, personal relationships.

One of the more powerful things you can do to successfully navigate these relationship changes is to have Transition Conversations. The people you have these conversations with include:

Your Team
- The team you lead.
Your Friends
- People on the team you lead that you used to mingle and socialize with more than others.
Your New Boss
Your New Peers
- Probably people who also report to your new boss (this could include other people of similar level in the organization even if they do not report to your boss)
Your Former Boss
- This one can vary a great deal depending on your former boss’ role. For example, your former boss could also be a new peer or a member of the team you lead. I have seen both scenarios, and they call for different types of conversations.
Anyone else affected by the change in your role and responsibilities

The purpose, or point, of these conversations is to head-off miscommunication and misunderstanding during the transition of relationship dynamics you have with the people in each of these categories.

The type of conversation you need to have is what many people call a meta-conversation, or a conversation about how you have conversations. Transition conversations are less focused on a specific business topic, problem, project, or issue and more focused on defining and clarifying each party’s relationship and interaction/communication wants and needs. The things you want to focus on in these conversations are:

Relationship and time boundaries
Expectations for decision making authority, change notifications, etc.
Communication preferences – both style and mode.
- Do they prefer direct bottom-line communication or friendly, relational communication?
- Do they prefer that you drop in their office, give them a phone call, send a text, or draft an email?

Ultimately, you want to make these conversations intentional. Rather than wait for likely misunderstandings and miscommunication to poison these relationships, start the process of talking about how you talk with each other to minimize negative events. It is unlikely that you can anticipate every potential relationship challenge. You can minimize the negative effects of the likely ones, though. By initiating these types of conversations before there is a problem, you also make it easier to discuss problems when they arise.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills

Managing Expectations to Encourage Satisfaction

By Guy Harris

Have you ever noticed that people are sometimes dissatisfied with situations that are not that bad and sometimes satisfied with situations that are not that good?

I will use myself as an example.

I can think of times when I was sitting comfortably in a restaurant with food in front of me, and I was dissatisfied (even a bit angry) because of minor issue with the food. A little cold. A bit too salty. You get the idea. I was in a good, safe, comfortable location with food that was safe to eat, and I was dissatisfied.

I can also think of times when I had a numb mouth, two people about six inches from my face, and one of them had their hand in my mouth while drilling on my tooth. I was uncomfortable and satisfied at the same time.

It is a conundrum.

Why would a person be dissatisfied with a situation that is objectively pretty good and satisfied with a situation this is objectively uncomfortable or bad? It seems like we should be happy or satisfied when things are comfortable or good and unhappy or dissatisfied when things are uncomfortable or bad. And that is not really what happens.

What actually happens is that we tend to be happy or unhappy (satisfied or dissatisfied) because of how closely our expectations match our experience. When our experience matches or exceeds our expectations, we tend to be happy or satisfied. When our experience falls short of our expectations, we tend to be unhappy or dissatisfied.

When it comes to human psychology, I am hesitant to state anything that sounds like an absolute truth or rule, and there is a statement that is generally true that I have seen and heard in several places. I have seen it stated two different ways:

Happiness = Reality/Expectations or
Happiness = Reality – Expectations.

Either way you state the “rule,” it leads to the same place: when reality meets or exceeds expectations, our happiness “value” is on the plus side.

Going back to my two situations. In the restaurant, my experience fell short of my expectations, and I was dissatisfied. In the dentist scenario, my experience matched my expectations, and I was satisfied (not necessarily happy, but satisfied at least).

Why should leaders care about happiness and satisfaction?

Because happy/satisfied team members tend to get better results, have fewer conflicts, and create a better team environment. The team functions better, and the leader’s life (your life) is easier.

I do not propose that leaders can magically make everyone happy or satisfied. I do propose that leaders need to understand what supports this condition and what they can do to positively influence it. One of the more powerful things that leaders can do to promote satisfaction and happiness is to practice the skill of setting fair and realistic expectations with the goal of at least meeting the expectation and possibly exceeding it.

For example, if a situation is going to be difficult and will take many hours of hard work, tell people that is what they can expect so that they are not surprised when things get difficult. I am not convinced that your team will necessarily be happy about the challenging times. Maybe you can avoid creating dissatisfaction, though.

On the other end, when you expect things to go well, moderate your optimism so that you leave a little room for exceeding your most optimistic prediction. I am not suggesting that you downplay your excitement and enthusiasm, only that you remain aware of being optimistic to the point that the best you can hope for is to meet the expectation and there is little or no room to exceed it.

Setting fair, realistic, and honest expectations is one of the most powerful tools you have for creating a hopeful, satisfied – possibly even happy – work environment for you and your team

Communication & Interpersonal Skills

The Principles Don’t Change: Get on Their Side of the Table

By Guy Harris

Have you ever struggled to persuade another person to change their mind or their behaviors?

Based both on my personal experience and in what I have heard in Bud to Boss workshops, my guess is that you have. In fact, I think most of us have recently struggled with this issue, are struggling with it, or will struggle with it in the near future. Trying to persuade people to either change their mind or behaviors is a pretty common interaction in general and an almost daily occurrence for leaders.

Here is an example of a question I recently got from a Bud to Boss workshop participant:

“How do I convince my peers that the way they are handling line problems actually hurts the equipment they are trying to fix?”

The interesting thing about the question is that we had discussed a similar issue earlier in the day except that the context for the prior discussion involved communication with team members reporting to the supervisor rather than with peers – similar issue, different audience.

I have noticed a pattern in questions like this about communication with peers and supervisors: there is a widespread perspective that the basic principles of both communication and influence somehow change depending on the person with whom we are communicating.

While there is a different power dynamic in conversations with peers compared to conversations with team members, basic communication and influence principles do not change. Application of the principles can change depending on our relationship with the other person, and the principles themselves do not. Remember that all the people you are interacting with are, well, people.

As we talk about communication and influence principles in From Bud to Boss and in Bud to Boss workshops, a great deal of the discussion is in the context of leaders interacting with people on the teams they lead. Inherent in that conversation is at least some assumption of power or authority relative to the person with whom you are interacting.

While power or authority relative to the person is often an unstated assumption in the conversation, it is not a prerequisite for the ideas we are attempting to convey. If you read From Bud to Boss or any of the articles we have written, attend a Bud to Boss workshop, watch one of our videos, or listen to one of our podcasts, what you will see is that very few – actually, I think, none – of the strategies or approaches we advocate, promote, or teach depends on the projection of power or authority to make it work.

Power and authority are tools in your leadership toolbox that should be used only when absolutely necessary. In the overwhelming majority of situations, I suggest that you work with influence strategies instead. If you work exclusively with influence strategies, who you are working with does not change the key principles you apply to the situation. Who you are working with might change your phrasing, body language, and tone. It does not change the foundational principles that make your efforts either succeed or fail.

One of these foundational principles is to:

Get on their side of the table.

Here is a mental picture to illustrate this idea that I got from a mentor of mine many years ago.

Imagine that whatever issue you need to address or problem you need to solve with another person is represented by a piece of paper.

If you sit across a table from the other person with the piece of paper between you, the issue is, quite literally, between you. The physical positioning makes it difficult to see the issue the same way – you see it from the top of the page, they see it from the bottom of the page. This difference in perspective almost immediately creates a confrontational approach to the discussion.

Now imagine that you are both on the same side of the table looking at the piece of paper in front of you. The problem is in front of both of you rather than between you. As you discuss the issue or the problem, you are sitting side-by-side looking at the same thing and talking with each other rather than facing off over the problem and talk at each other.

Talking with a person about an issue or a problem is much more likely to persuade or influence them than talking at them about it.

No matter who you are working with – your team member, your peer, or your supervisor – one key principle of influence and persuasion is always the same: get on their side of the table.

Looking for more information on upcoming workshops? Click here or email info@kevineikenberry.com for to find out more!

Communication & Interpersonal Skills, New & Frontline Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

It’s Okay to Ask for Help

By Guy Harris

Most new, front-line leaders have a history of being excellent individual performers. They are good at what they do, and, as a result, they get the opportunity to move into leadership. It makes sense in so many ways, and that common path to leadership can also create a challenge.

The challenge comes when front-line leaders continue to act like individuals on a team rather than leaders of a team. The challenge reveals itself in several ways, and all of the manifestations have a common root cause. Front-line leaders create problems when they confuse being responsible for a business result with being the person who gets a task done.

As a leader of a team, you are responsible for making sure things get done. You are not responsible for doing all of them or even knowing how to do all of them. To get past this challenge, you have to be okay with asking for help.

Two of the most common issues where you can ask for help are delegation and performance issues.

Let me explain:

Delegation

When you delegate a task to someone, you are effectively asking for their help (and trusting that they will do what you ask). For a person who is used to doing things on their own, that can be a difficult issue to confront. I have heard (and used) many reasons (well, excuses) for NOT delegating tasks. To be successful as a leader, this is one challenge you must confront and overcome. You cannot do it all. You have to ask for help.

Employee performance

I hope that you have an amazing team and that you never have any serious performance issues to address. I also realize that you are likely to have at least one experience with a team member who is not getting the results you need. When this happens, be ready to ask for help.

I do believe that you are the first point of interaction when you face an employee performance issue. In fact, I strongly encourage you to do everything in your power to address the issue within your team. I also encourage you to ask for help from your supervisor and from your HR department and to do so early in the process.

When it comes to performance issues, there are personal issues, legal issues, company policies, and historical precedent that you to need navigate successfully. Unless you are an expert on labor law in your state and know everything about every employee issue ever addressed at your company, you are going to need help. The best place to get this help is from your supervisor and from your HR department.

I am not suggesting that you throw up your hands and ask them to handle the situation. I am suggesting that you engage with them early in the process to get both their perspective and guidance on how to best proceed so that everyone (you, the employee in question, the rest of your team, and the organization as a whole) is protected and treated fairly.

As you enter front-line leadership, remember that the personal drive and desire for accomplishment that gave you the opportunity to move into leadership has both good and bad associated with it. It is good because it makes you a high achiever. It can be bad if it stops you from asking for help when you need.

Remember, it is okay to ask for help.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills, Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

Four Steps for Selling a Change You Don’t Like

By Guy Harris

Have you ever had to sell a change to your team that “came from above” and that you did not like? If you have not yet, that day is coming. It happens for everyone in a front-line leader role.

Here is how the process often looks from the front-line leader position:

Someone in the organization, a customer, or a vendor has a problem or frustration.
They propose a change that gets accepted by a senior level leader.
The senior level leader communicates information about the change.
The change trickles down to the front-line leader to make it happen with little or no conversation about the front-line costs or implications of the change.

When you find yourself in this situation, there is a strong temptation to slip into negative interpretations of your senior leaders (assumptions like: they do not care about us, they do not know how this affects us, they made a stupid decision, etc.). Tempting, yes. Helpful, no.

If you allow yourself to drift into and dwell on these negative assumptions, you will struggle to get your team to implement the change. To sell the change to someone else, you first have to figure out a way you can buy it for yourself.

Here are four things you can do to sell a change you do not like to your team:

1. Assume Benign Intent

While it is easy to fill gaps in your knowledge about the reasons for the change with negative assumptions, beware of that temptation and actively work to avoid it. I hope that you can find a way to see the change in a way that is positive, and I realize that might be too much of a stretch. If you cannot view the reasons for the change positively, at lease see them as benign. Here is what I mean by benign: while the change might be difficult or uncomfortable for you and your team, assume that the person proposing the change does not intend for the change to be difficult or uncomfortable. Assume they either know something you do not know or that you know something they do not know and that you need to have a conversation to better understand each other.

2. Get Your Questions Answered

Engage in a conversation with your leader(s) to fully understand the reasons for the change. Approach them with a “help me understand” perspective rather than a “let me tell you why this is a bad idea” perspective.

3. Look for reasons that you can support the change

As you engage with your leader(s) to better understand the change, actively seek reasons to accept and support the change. It is often easier (and more natural) to see what is wrong with the change than it is to see what is okay with it. You do not necessarily have to like the change. You can look for reasons that you can support it, though.

4. Be honest about your reservations AND express hope that you can work it out

At the end of this process, you need to sell it to your team. You might still have reservations about it, and that is okay. Your team will notice your reservations and ask you about them, though. When asked, be honest about your reservations, and express optimism that you and your team can overcome the challenges you will face with the implementation.

Bonus tip – Focus on HOW to implement the change more than on WHAT you are implementing

While you and your team might not get to decide WHAT is changing, you can probably make important decisions about HOW to implement it. If you focus on HOW you and your team will implement the change, you improve the odds of getting positive momentum towards the change and to creating a sense of ownership of the process for you and your team.

I cannot promise your team will magically, miraculously, and enthusiastically get on board with every change even if you do everything I suggest. I can promise these steps will improve the odds that you get positive movement towards the changed future with minimum (not zero) pushback on changes you do not like and have to implement anyway.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills, Leadership, New & Frontline Leadership, Personal & Professional Development

How Do I Implement a Change I Don’t Like?

By Guy Harris

If it has not happened already, the day is coming when you will need to implement a change that was not your idea and that you either do not like or at least have reservations about. As a new, front-line leader, that situation is incredibly difficult. You might feel stuck between your team and “management.” You might struggle to satisfy both your desire to do an excellent job as a supervisor and to be loyal to the concerns of your team. Frankly, it is a tough line to walk.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to make the situation easier to manage. I cannot promise that the ideas below will remove all stress from the situation, and I do believe they will help.

Here are four ideas to help you more successfully implement the changes you do not like:

1) Assume Benign Intent – Beware of Negative Assumptions

When you have reservations about a change you have been told to implement, a perfectly normal response is to fill in any gaps in your knowledge with negative assumptions like:

They do not care about the problems this change will cause for us. (“They” is the generic “they” who makes all decisions we do not like)
They only care about making more money.
They are dumb.
They do not care about us.

I will not pretend that these assumptions might be true in some situations. The more likely case is that “They”:

Do not have all the information you have.
Have information that you do not have.
Have limitations or constraints that you do not understand.
Do not realize the level of difficulty it creates for your team.

When confronted with a change driven by someone else that is frustrating, irritating, or confusing to you, a better way to proceed so that you can more smoothly implement the change is to assume a version of the more positive assumptions during your effort to gain better understanding.

2) Get Your Questions Answered – In Private

Starting with positive or at least benign, assumptions, have a conversation with your supervisor to get a better understanding of the reasons behind the change and the desired outcomes. Ask questions, push for answers (respectfully, of course), and dig for deeper understanding. Express your concerns and frustrations. I suggest that you do this in a way that is focused on understanding the change rather than on objecting to it.

The “in private” part of this suggestion is a reminder to have this conversation in a setting that does not put your supervisor in an awkward position in front of your team. You want to have this conversation in an environment where they can be completely open and honest about any reservations or frustrations they have. Some teams have a high trust, and this is a minor point. Other teams have history that makes this conversation more difficult if several people are in the room. Remember to consider this dynamic before you start questioning your supervisor.

The more you understand, the better you can communicate the change to others and answer their questions.

3) Look for the Reason to Support the Change – For Yourself AND for Your Team

As a person who frequently notices what can go wrong before seeing what can go right with a change, I offer this next thought knowing that it is not easy for everyone. Here it is: focus on how the change benefits you and your team more than you focus on what it will cost you. (I know – easier said than done.)

Change acceptance is always affected by a cost-benefit analysis, and every change has both costs and benefits. If it costs more than it benefits you, you will reject it. If it benefits more than it costs you, you will probably accept it. Unfortunately, many of us tend to notice and focus on the costs more than on the benefits. By consciously choosing to look for the benefits, you might find excellent reasons for acceptance that you can highlight for your team.

4) Be Honest about Your Reservations AND Be Hopeful for the Future

Since change always has both costs and benefits, it is perfectly natural that you might have reservations about a change even after you have done everything above. When you go to speak with your team about the change, they just might ask you – directly – if you are 100% onboard with the change. I encourage you to be honest about any reservations you have while maintaining hope that everything will be okay. You might say something like this: “Well, I do have concerns about some of the details, and I believe we can work thorough those challenges to get a good outcome.”

As I said at the start, I do not pretend that these suggestions will miraculously fix strained relationships and make every change implementation go perfectly. I do think they are great starting points for improving your ability to implement changes even when you do not like them.

Coaching & Developing Others, New & Frontline Leadership

What CAN You Do?

As I work with frontline leaders in our Bud to Boss workshops, I frequently hear this concern after we discuss a coaching approach, change management strategy, or communication technique:

“Guy, I hear what you’re saying, and it all sounds great. I just can’t do that with my team.”

It is not always verbalized the same way. It is the same basic frustration:

Frontline leaders frequently feel constrained by organizational policy, frustrated by lack of support from their supervisor or their human resources department, stuck by a union agreement, stymied by lack of cooperation or buy-in from their team, or any number of other limiting factors affecting their daily work life.

I get it. The frustration they express is real. They do see policy, human resources support, union rules, and employee engagement as factors limiting their effectiveness or ability to “take charge.”

While the frustration is real, the real impact of the limiting factors might not be, though.

It might be true that they do not have the freedom and flexibility to do exactly what we discussed in precisely the way we discussed it. They may be constrained by organizational culture. They may be limited by labor laws in the city, state, or county that they are in. They may be boxed-in by company policy. They may have challenges because of what their supervisor will or will not allow them to do. Truth be told, the list of what constrains frontline, or first-level leaders, is pretty long. It is a difficult leadership role. They are asked to do many things with often limited authority. And, as a frontline leader, they cannot set company policy, they cannot negotiate union agreements, and they cannot change labor laws. Most – if not all – of those things are handed to them, and they have to work within those constraints.

As we discuss specific techniques and approaches in a classroom environment, we frequently talk about approaches that cannot be applied exactly the way we are talking about it in the class. There are simply too many local and organizational variations for us to cover every combination of limiting factors. As a result, some approaches we discuss will not work or cannot be used in some situations. For the person in the “that won’t work with my team” position, it triggers an almost immediate negative perception of both the specific technique and the underlying principle that makes the technique work. While I understand and attempt to honor the perspective, the question that always comes to my mind is: “Well, what CAN you do?”

Here is the idea guiding my question:

The principle that makes the technique work is true no matter what constraints are true in a particular environment. Constraints can limit the techniques that can be used. They do not limit the principles that make the techniques work.

In my years of both working with leaders and of being in leadership positions, I have rarely seen a situation where there is nothing that can be done. There is usually something we can do even if there are many things we cannot do. We might have to get creative, and we can usually find an action that applies a positive leadership principle.

When leaders are confronted with a long list of constraints, it is easy (and natural) to fixate on what cannot be done, to feel frustrated by the limited authority, and to get irritated because they cannot take certain actions to fix problems or address behavior challenges. I have been in that situation, and I get it. I have been frustrated with the inability to address particular behavioral or work approach practices on my team, and I have felt that my hands were tied. What I see in those situations is that when I focus on what I cannot do, I feel hopeless, sad, and discouraged. I lose all energy to accomplish things. However, when I focus on what I CAN do, when I work to find an alternative strategy, when I recognize that I CAN do something, then I feel hopeful, engaged, and optimistic.

Because there is usually something you CAN do even when there are many things you cannot do, the mindset I would like to share with you today is to focus on what CAN be done rather than what cannot be done. When you read or hear about a leadership strategy or tactic that cannot be applied to your specific situation, look for the guiding principle that makes it work in the example situation rather than look at the specific implementation. Then look for ways you can apply that principle to your situation. Continue looking for what you CAN do, and you will become a more effective leader.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills, Long-Distance Work, Organizational Leadership, Teamwork & Collaboration

Getting Clear on Your Relationship Building Expectations

by Guy Harris

In 20 years of working to help leaders grow their skills, I have yet to meet a leader who did not understand the need to be clear about their expectations with their team. I am not saying that I have never met a leader who had challenges in this area. I am saying that all of the leaders I have worked with were at least aware of the need to set clear expectations.

In nearly every case, their understanding of setting expectations was about task accomplishment and results. Rarely have I met leaders who consciously and clearly set expectations for relationship building.

Relationships Matter

Poor workplace relationships almost always lead to poorly or incompletely resolved conflicts. One study indicates that up to two-thirds of all workplace performance issues can be traced to an unresolved workplace conflict. Team relationships are more than a feel-good desire. They are directly related to business results. Good working relationships are as important to team effectiveness and results as good tools, good processes, and clearly defined results goals.

When everyone is working on the same schedule and in the same basic environment – in the same or similar physical location – you might not need to set relationship building expectations. You can rely on organic and incidental interactions between team members to generate the type of working relationships needed to build a good team. People who see each other on a regular basis can figure out a way to work together even if they are not “best buds” outside of work.

Remote Work Changes the Dynamic

When people work in a fully remote or hybrid work environment, accidental and incidental interaction will not happen, and relationships will not develop accidentally or incidentally. In a remote or hybrid work team, relationships will only develop intentionally and on purpose. You can make a valid argument that good relationships usually require some level of intentionality, and, in a remote or hybrid work environment, this need is amplified even further.

The need for heightened intentionality around building team relationships implies that leaders need to increase both their awareness of and focus on relationship building as a critical element for team success. One way that leaders can bring focus to the need for team relationship building is for team leaders to define behavioral expectations for each team member that facilitate relationship development with other team members – specific behaviors expected of every team member in order to make it possible to build a productive relationship.

What Leaders Can Do

While you cannot set relationship quality expectations for your team – you cannot demand or expect that everyone will like every other member of the team, you can set expectations for behaviors that are likely to improve relationships between team members. Exactly what behaviors to define will depend on your team history and environment, and here are a few ideas to get you started. You can set expectations for:

Frequency of team member interactions
Use of webcams for video meetings
Use of instant messaging channels and status notifications
Creating special instant messaging channels dedicated to “just for fun” interactions

For example, in the Kevin Eikenberry Group, we have an expectation that new team members will schedule a “get to know you” call (preferably on video) with every existing team member in their first two weeks on the team, and every existing team member is expected to make scheduling these calls a priority.

As you move forward with hybrid work teams, remember that relationships have a strong impact on team results. To improve the odds of great results, be as mindful and intentional about relationship building behaviors as you are about task accomplishment behaviors.

Check out this course from The Remote Leadership Institute if you would like to improve your remote relationship building skills.

Coaching & Developing Others, Long-Distance Work, Organizational Leadership

Coaching Leaders of Hybrid Teams

by Guy Harris

Coaching team members can be challenging even when everyone is in the same place. Coaching a team with everyone working remotely introduces additional challenges. And coaching a team with some members working in the office and others working remotely (a hybrid team), introduces still more challenges. Coaching a hybrid team of leaders who also lead hybrid teams steps up the challenges again.

Here are some of the challenges both you and the leaders you lead might face in this situation:

Communication breakdowns and miscommunications
Limited knowledge of what is actually happening in terms of both environment and output for different members of your team
Limited awareness of struggles and frustrations your team members deal with on a daily basis
Limited ability to resolve your team members daily struggles and frustrations

If you are trying to help other leaders work through the coaching challenges they face while working with a hybrid work team and you have limited experience with the environment yourself, you have a perfect storm for stress and frustration.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the principles of effective coaching do not change just because the techniques or the technology do. Coaching is still about:

Helping people to Identify gaps between where they are and where they want to be, and
Helping them plan steps for closing those gaps.

Despite the coaching challenges created by a hybrid environment, there are things you can do to make coaching work. While this is not an all-inclusive list, here are five ways you can succeed in coaching the leaders on your team to become better leaders in a hybrid work environment.

Admit what you don’t know or have experience with

The leaders you lead know that you have no more experience in a hybrid environment than they do. It’s not really a secret. So, turn it to an advantage.

When you admit the limits of your knowledge and experience, you build – not hurt – your credibility with your team. Acknowledging these limits creates an environment where you and the leaders you lead can honestly engage in conversation to find better ways to deal with the hybrid work environment. In the process of learning and growing together, remember to continue:

Seeking and sharing outside resources for your growth and your team’s development.
Seeking help and perspective from others who are working through these issues.
Trying new approaches, techniques, and tools to find what works best for you and your team.

Make it collaborative

This idea is a continuation of admitting what you don’t know. Since you and your team are both learning how to lead and coach in a hybrid work environment, invite ideas and input from your team on how to do the work of leadership better. Share experiences – both good and bad – so that you and your team continue learning and growing together.

Schedule time for conversations

Accidental or incidental conversations are not likely to happen with everyone. Invest the time and energy necessary to create the conversations that need to happen to make coaching work.

Ask more than you tell

Since you are learning with your team, beware of the temptation to slip in to “teacher mode” and start pontificating on the best way to move forward. Invite the leaders on your team into conversation by asking them how to solve problems. Getting their input will take both the pressure and focus off of you, and it will help them grow in their leadership abilities.

Focus on learning and connection more than on correction and instruction

This idea is related to the concept of asking more than telling. When you ask for input and solutions, you invite conversation and create a shared learning environment where everyone can learn and grow.

While a hybrid work environment does create new challenges and obstacles for coaching, the fundamentals don’t really change. You probably see that the five suggestions above are not new to the hybrid work environment. All of the suggestions fit the fully collocated work team situation as well as they do the hybrid environment. If you keep the principles of effective coaching in mind, you can succeed no matter what happens with work environment or technology change.

Make sure you stay up to date on all the latest challenges in the remote work world by subscribing to the Future of Work newsletter.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills, Long-Distance Work, New & Frontline Leadership, Organizational Leadership

Transitioning to Your Leadership Role with a Hybrid Team

by Guy Harris

The transition from individual contributor to leader calls for changes in at least three areas of your work life: your relationships, your skills, and your mindset. Managing these three transitions simultaneously is almost always a challenge, and the challenge is made even more difficult when you work with a “hybrid” work in the office/work from home team.

Of these three transitions, the relationship transition is the one most likely made more difficult by a hybrid-team work environment. In From Bud to Boss, we recommend that you have intentional transition conversations with your team, your friends, your new peer group of leaders, your new boss, your former boss, and any other people with whom you interact on a regular basis in your new role.

When you are all in one location, these conversations probably happen relatively easily and naturally. When some of your team and your peers are in the office and some are at home, these conversations can run in to some challenges.

Here are three suggestions for making these conversations more successful so that you can transition to a leadership role as smoothly and quickly as possible:

Talk with remotely located team members as richly and frequently as possible

For most people, the frequency and richness of talking with people in person is different from talking with people on the phone or on a video call.

Talking with people often happens naturally and organically in the office – you run in to each other in the hallway or the break room or you stop by each other’s office or work location during the day. It is relatively easy to have conversations without “making” them happen. They just happen because you are working in the same location.

Talking with people on the phone or via video call takes a bit more effort and rarely happens organically. You won’t “bump into” someone on your computer the same way you will walking down the hall.

This difference in conversation frequency and richness can lead to transitioning relationships with people you see in the office relatively quickly compared to transitioning relationships with people who are working from home. To combat this potential challenge, make it a point to schedule calls with your work from home team members so that you can put in the work necessary to develop a leadership relationship with these team members. (Pro tip – Phone calls are good, and video calls are usually richer and more dynamic.)

Talk with your peer group

Talking with your team is probably a pretty natural thing to do. Talking with your leader peer group might not be – especially if some are working from home and some are working in the office. As with your team (and assuming you are working in the office), you can have frequent, incidental conversations with other leaders who are also working in the office. And you can miss the opportunity to talk with leaders who are working from home.

As with your team, remember to schedule time to speak with your leadership peers who are not working in the same location as you so that you can also advance those relationships and work out any cross-team communication issues before they become a problem.

Make your conversations about more than just work

In all of these conversations, the tendency to talk only about work tasks so that you can get on to something else is higher with phone and video calls than with face-to-face conversations. While getting tasks planned or completed is definitely a reason for talking with either your team or your peers, remember that a big part of your leadership transition is also about relationships. Both sharing bits of your personal life and hearing parts of theirs are major contributors to building a relationship in order to develop the mutual trust and respect typically seen in high-performing teams.

While you work on developing your leadership skills and adjusting your mindset, remember to invest the time necessary to build healthy and productive relationships with both your team and your leadership peers. Having transition conversations with them so that you understand each other better is a key part of your relationship development effort. If you work in a hybrid work in the office/work from home team, keep these three tips in mind to minimize the risk of missing out on great professional relationships with people who work from home.

The best way to equip yourself with all the tools you need to effectively lead remote and hybrid teams is the Remote Leadership Certificate Series. Find out more about this career-enhancing opportunity.

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