378. You Don't Have A Remote Work Problem
You don't have a remote work problem. You have a trust problem. You always have.
I had a realization during a client call last week.
The client is the founder and CEO of a fairly successful company. Smart guy. Incredibly nice. And he genuinely cares about his team.
But that doesn’t mean he won’t get frustrated with them.1
And that’s how I found myself on a Zoom, listening to him vent about his employees.
“They act so entitled,” he said. “They constantly complain that they need to work from home. Nobody needed to work from home before COVID. They don’t understand that you can’t effectively run a company without people in the same place.”
He’s not alone in his venting. I hear some version of this from leaders on a regular basis.
A lot of leaders are frustrated with their teams when it comes to the work-from-home policy.
If you’re one of those leaders, there’s something important you need to know:
You think you’re playing the same leadership game as the one from 6 years ago. You’re not.
The game has changed.
Believe it or not, it’s better for everybody. Including you.
You’re just the only one who hasn’t realized it yet.
You Don’t Have A Remote Work Problem
If you’re a leader who thinks employee attitudes changed after COVID, then it sure sounds like you’re someone who only trusts people are working when you can actually see them doing the work.
You probably manage your team by judging how they get something accomplished, more than the results they achieve.
I hate to break the news to you, but you don’t have a remote work problem.
You have a trust problem.
In fact, you’ve always had a trust problem.
You just needed a global pandemic to expose it.
The Real Reason Productivity Improved
Here’s a little something you should know about human behavior. There are two types of productive people: structured workers and fluid workers.
Structured workers thrive on structure (duh). They love the freedom of the 9-to-5. They feel comfort with clear boundaries and defined processes. The office can sometimes give them the focus to be their most productive. The drive home is where they can decompress and transition to their personal lives.
Fluid workers, on the other hand, thrive on integration. They love the freedom of not being bound by a 9-to-5. They may start work early in the morning, run errands at lunch, work, exercise, then jump back into work before and after dinner. They blur boundaries because the boundaries make them feel confined.
Both types of workers are equally effective. They just have different methods of getting the same results.
In fact, a 2021 study of 16,000 workers found a 13% increase in productivity due to remote work.
Another study found 77% of remote workers were more productive than their in-office counterparts. Even when they were sick!
Think about this for a second.
For decades, you forced everyone to be structured. Even the fluid workers. They came to the office, sat at their desk, and pretended to be productive between 9 and 5, when a lot of what they were actually doing was pestering the structured workers who just wanted to get their work done.
People were being as productive as they could be, while feeling trapped in a cage.
When COVID hit, the fluid workers finally got to work the way they work best. And that also allowed structured workers to focus the way they focus the best.
It’s no surprise to me that productivity improved.
Many structured workers still want to go to the office.
Many fluid workers are fine with the office, they just don’t want to be judged if they don’t adhere to a strict 9 to 5.
It’s not laziness. It’s not entitlement.
It’s trusting people to be as productive as they can be in the way that suits them best.
You Say It’s About Collaboration. It’s Not.
When you say you want your team in the office, you talk about teamwork and collaboration. But that’s not really why you want them there. What it’s really about is more simple:
Control.
You think visibility means productivity.
You mistake attendance for commitment.
You want to control them, but you can’t do that when you can’t see them. You don’t know how to lead what you can’t watch. And you don’t know how to trust what you can’t oversee.
That’s not the team’s problem.
That’s a you problem.
They’re Not The Ones Who Are Entitled
Your team spent a bunch of years learning to work in a way that’s actually better for them.
They got more done. They felt more human. They even built better lives.
They watched their kids grow up - and got better work/life balance because of it.
They started exercising - and became mentally and physically more healthy.
They reduced their carbon footprint, lowered their stress levels - and still hit their numbers.
And now you want them to give all of that up because you’re uncomfortable.
They’re not the ones who are entitled.
You are.
They know what they’re worth. They know how they work best. They know that the version of work you believe in wasn’t actually better.
It was just easier to manage.
And easier to manage doesn’t mean better for the company.
It just means better for you.
What To Do About Your Remote Work Problem
Here’s my advice: stop trying to manage where people work and start managing what they produce.
Figure out who on your team is more structured and who is more fluid. Most leaders have no idea. You probably don’t either.
Ask them. They know.
Then build accountability around outcomes, not hours.
Here’s the simplest tool I can give you. It’s only two questions.
“What are your top 3 objectives right now?”
“When do you think you will accomplish them?”
Make sure their answers align with your expectations, then hold them to it.
If they hit their objectives, and communicated effectively, who cares whether they did it from a desk, a couch, or a coffee shop in Cape Verde?
If they don’t hit their objectives, you need to have a C.A.R.E. conversation. Not about where they work. About what they’re delivering.
That’s how management works.
The ones who get that, are the ones who succeed in remote and hybrid environments.
It’s Time To Solve Your Problem
Go ahead and force everyone back into the office five days a week. Punish flexibility and reward physical presence. I dare you.
Your fluid workers will either quit or quietly check out while cashing their paychecks. Your structured workers will get frustrated with the lack of structure.
And your best people will leave for companies that already figured this out.
The game changed.
It’s time you did too.
P.S. Ask yourself this: if your team hit every objective, every quarter, without fail - would you still want them in the office?
The patterns driving how you manage your team - including whether you’re managing outcomes or managing presence - are exactly what the free Leadership Diagnostic Workshop reveals.
He is actually having a tough time with communication and accountability with his team. So I got called to help with senior leadership team coaching.