One of the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on teams is that even people who have worked together for a long time are seeing differences in how they work together now. And they seem surprised by that. We’re not. In The Long-Distance Leader, rule number 3 is this: “Know that working remotely changes interpersonal

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You hear a lot of negative things these days about working separate from everyone else on your team. We’ve all heard the complaints (heck we’ve written enough about them here). Remote workers sometimes feel isolated. They don’t interact with their team members enough. People who work remotely sometimes go down the wrong trail and spend

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The events of the past few days have been emotional for everyone. A glance at the news will leave you horrified, hurt, angry, sad, or one of many other emotions. I am not qualified to offer solutions to the anger, protests, and violence. Rather, I write to you as a fellow leader and someone who

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We hear all the time that the hardest part of being a connected, engaged member of a remote team is the lack of spontaneous communication. We say it an awful lot ourselves. And it’s true. When you work from home, every communication requires at least a little planning and effort. You don’t just bump into

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How often have you leaned across your desk or paused in an office doorway to ask a colleague a question? Or made eye contact with a team member and raised your eyebrows, a show of silent, supportive communication in the face of a tricky client? Along with water cooler conversations, these small confidences and day-to-day

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by Kevin Eikenberry, co-founder Remote Leadership Institute The transition from leading from the corner office to leading from home has created a number of logistical and management challenges. We’ve already unpacked a number of those here on this site, in our book, The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership, and on our COVID-19 resource site.

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by Kevin Eikenberry, Co-founder If you are like me, you had never heard the phrase “social distancing” a month ago. Now, it is something we hear almost every hour. And while I understand the purpose of and support the goal of the practice (doing things to reduce the possible spread of the coronavirus is the

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For a remote team to function well, trust is one of the most important factors. We leaders need to believe that people are working when we can’t see them, that the quality of the work will be high, that people are accountable for the deadlines and outputs that others require to achieve the team’s goals.

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Working remotely by definition means you aren’t in constant contact with your manager or the members of your team. Sometimes, let’s face it, that’s a blessing, and the whole reason you work from home. But as social animals, we all need some contact with the outside world in order to do good work and build

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You’ve likely heard about the DISC assessment before. Maybe you’ve even taken one. Most people take an assessment, and that’s about it. It is a popular, pleasant, and fun training or team building exercise, but too often doesn’t go beyond that. Why not actually use the results of your DISC assessment to be a better

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