5 Ways to Ruin a Virtual One-On-One

As leaders, we know that one-on-one communication with our team is critical. When we can’t just look out and survey the cubicle-farm to see how people are doing, the little time we get to spend with each employee becomes more precious. That’s why conducting these meetings is perhaps the most important skill a long-distance leader

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The Worst Assumption You Can Make

With a remote team, you can’t just cast an eye over the office and see how things are going. We get visual (and sometimes verbal) cues that things are progressing nicely. Or not. But when you work apart from the members of your team you are running on a mix of trust and assumptions. Trust,

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Schedule “Gratitude” on Your Calendar This Week

“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” – Eileen Caddy In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, and it is appropriate, perhaps even expected, to find reasons to be grateful. Of course, the reality is that we should

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A Simple Leadership Message on Election Day

If you live in the United States, you likely know it is Election Day. Direct mail, yard signs, neighborhood canvassers, radio and television ads and more – all add up to an important day in the life of a democracy. This post isn’t about politics, and while I have often written about what we can

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Reverse-Gossip – Remarkable TV

Gossip is definitely not something we love or that we hope to have at any workplace. In fact, if we could REVERSE gossip, that would solve many conflicts and issues at work. But before we get to the idea of reversing gossip, we must first discuss two facts about gossip as a whole: 1. Gossip

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Fighting Isolation and Loneliness on Your Remote Team

For many people, working from home during COVID has been a big success. At least it’s worked better than many people anticipated. But the longer it goes on and the more uncertainty there is about what the return to the office will look like, or even if it will occur, the more we have to

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Mitigate Stress to Show Employees’ Appreciation

Saying “thank you” is more important than ever, says Deb Boelkes, author of Heartfelt Leadership: How to Capture the Top Spot and Keep on Soaring. “[Employees] may be working long hours. They may worry that their health is at risk. Maybe they’re coping with a home life that’s been disrupted in some way. In other

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Helping Remote Employees Cope With Perfectionism

Do you manage remote employees? Whether your company is remote by choice or not yet back in the office due to Covid-19, having a remote team can throw up some challenges as well as some great opportunities. While you might worry that remote employees won’t work so hard when they’re not in the office, the

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Listening with More than Your Ears

We all know that active listening is the key to being a great communicator. But when you aren’t face to face, and have to rely on tools like email, chat, and webcams this can get tricky. After all, can you “listen” to an email? Yes you can, and you know it. Have you ever read

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