21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team

Re:21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team by atacrawl on Thursday June 27, 2013 @02:30PM (#5953897)

I setup a recurring monthly event with each team member where we both jump on Skype or Google Hangout to chat about three things: what's one thing I can do better to help him with his job, what's one thing he can do better to improve at his job, and what's one thing the company can do better to make everyone's lives easier.

I was just talking with a friend of mine about this very topic -- it's critically important for any company, remote or otherwise, to have this kind of meaningful, open dialogue periodically, and yet so few companies actually do this. I'd love to see some statistics on what kind of effect a half hour per employee per month does for overall happiness and employee retention.

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Re:21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team by 6d0debc071 on Thursday June 27, 2013 @02:46PM (#5953993)

I know that company Y does something similar with their artists as part of their yearly reviews, and their artists don't know of anything they could be doing better. As one of them said to me "If I knew what I could be doing better, I'd be doing it."

Feedback can be useful, but I'd be hesitant around structuring requirements for it.

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Re:21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team by sokoloff on Thursday June 27, 2013 @02:56PM (#5954046)

It's less to get and act on a concrete answer to the question, but rather that asking the question unambiguously signals openness and desire to improve. As long as the recipient of the question believes it's being asked earnestly, it doesn't ever need to be directly answered.

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Re:21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team by zck on Thursday June 27, 2013 @05:12PM (#5954728)

Part of the benefit is that setting aside time to talk about what you can do better forces you to think about what you can do better. Sure, some people will think about that without needing prompting, but having a set time to do so is beneficial for everyone else.

Additionally, it gets the employee and his or her supervisor on the same page -- "here's what we agreed I would work on, here's how it's going."

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Re:21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team by gz5 on Thursday June 27, 2013 @05:20PM (#5954780)

I don't have stats but for me it has proven invaluable (managing remote teams for years).

Unstructured, no agenda 1:1 video pings - hey, what's new type pings - have been very important too. The virtual version of the in-person coffee machine conversation, helping to replicate that important part of the co-located enviro.

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Re:21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team by dmiladinov on Thursday June 27, 2013 @11:21PM (#5956007)

> I'd love to see some statistics on what kind of effect a half hour per employee per month does for overall happiness and employee retention.

I would too, and here's some anecdata for you: one of my old bosses would conduct weekly one on one meetings with all of the developers on his team (anywhere from 4 to 8 of us at different times) and I'd have to say that personally they were some of the best manager-direct experiences I've ever had since.

One on one meetings are one of the most important tools out there for helping organizations build relationships with their people, helping them produce more results, as well as increase retention.

Anybody interested in starting them at their organizations should check out the manager tools website. They produce several weekly free podcasts as well as offer other products and services.

https://www.manager-tools.com/docs/Manager-Tools_One_on_One_...

http://www.manager-tools.com/2005/07/the-single-most-effecti...

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Re:21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team by markdown on Thursday June 27, 2013 @11:16PM (#5955994)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen

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