Welcome to Remote That Works, a weekly newsletter hand-typed by the Valentina Thörner, the Empress of Remote herself. Proudly non-AI, and proudly all-opinions-my-own. If you’d like my pragmatic advisory for yourself or your team - make sure to subscribe.
The hardest thing about leading a distributed team or organization?
Everything requires intention.
You can't just go with the flow.
If you want a successful distributed team you have to think before you do.
You have to actively engange to figure out if something doesn't work.
You have to clarify your own ideas before calling another meeting.
You could almost say that remote work is an active verb.
And just like any vocabulary that you are trying to introduce into your lexicon - it's helpful to have some fixed phrases to practice with.
🤝 You check in with your team members, individually, every other week (1on1s).
📓 Every meeting has an agenda.
🎤 Everyone uses headphones with good microphones for their calls.
💃 Social banter in thematic Slack channels on non-work topics (pets, specific hobbies) is encouraged.
Having some example rules on how remote work shows up in your company can make all the difference.
It infuses intention into a new "flow" that you are creating. So don't leave it to chance.
Create those guidelines intentionaly, they are the processes you’ll grow through.
Not sure where to start and what to base them off? Check the Dimensions of Distributed Work.
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To find out more about what I do, visit https://linktr.ee/empressofremote