To many people, working remotely has one giant perk: we are free from the interruptions caused by other people. Of course, many people say that the biggest downside is the lack of communication with other people. (Honestly, some people are NEVER satisfied.) How you interact with others — because you want to, or because you

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When talking about people who choose to work remotely we often make some (reasonable) assumptions: They crave human contact, they want to be in touch with their teammates and bosses more often, they need to feel like part of the larger organization, and they miss talking to live humans. These ideas sound rational…but what if

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If you live in the United States, you have to 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. But this post isn’t about politics. The lesson today is something what we, as organization

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Do the people on your remote team do pretty much everything you ask, without asking questions? Do you get very little push back when you assign them tasks? That might sound like manager’s dream, but it can be a sign of a problem lurking under the surface.  How can people doing what they’re told be

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Fall foliage is beautiful, so if you are lucky enough to live in an area that experiences it, like me, I consider us very lucky. Still, while the trees are beautiful as their leaves turn from green to yellow, orange and red, they pose a problem too—if you’re responsible for removing them after they’ve fallen.

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If you choose to look the other way when employees exhibit bad behavior, remember this: Failure to confront a negative behavior is a subtle acceptance of it and an encouragement for it to continue. I absolutely prefer encouraging good behaviors over punishing bad ones. Encouragement is more comfortable to me, and that might be the

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As a leader, you know how important communication is to a highly functioning team. As a Long-Distance Leader, you know that you need to communicate even more often, and in different ways, with your remote employees than you do the people in the office.  You might also be frightening them a little. Our research with

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When teams work together in one location, they see each other on a pretty regular basis. They see each other at lunch and in the break room. They pass each other in the hall, or when they walk by a person’s office or desk. They get frequent, visual reminders that other people are part of

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When you interact and work with other people, you will eventually disagree with someone. Sometimes, the disagreement will be over minor issues that you can easily ignore. Sometimes, however, you will disagree quite strongly about an issue that is vitally important to both sides. It might be about what course of action to take to

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People have worked remotely since time began. Remember, Genghis Khan ruled half the world from a yurt, and Julius Caesar had a pretty good thing going until he returned to the home office. But if it seems like remote working has changed in only a few years… well, you’re not wrong. In October 2018 we

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