Team Anywhere Leadership Podcast

Today we interviewed Brant Cooper, author of the newly released book Disruption Proof. Brant suggests in a time of continuous disruption, we must spend more of our time innovating in what he calls “exploration mode”. Leaders need to be more open to trying things out, experimenting, exploring and finding solutions to near-term ever-changing problems. As companies innovate, they must work towards building a “RAD” organization (Resilient, Aware, Dynamic) so that they can empower their teams, and create an organization that embraces uncertainty and agility.

In a post-pandemic era leaders need to rethink their roles. Instead of thinking about a five or 10 year horizon, leaders must empower their teams to deal with uncertainty and solve near term problems. This approach allows leaders and teams to be exceptionally skilled to Team Anywhere.

Why are Leaders having such a Hard Time Accepting a Hybrid Style of Work?

Many leaders are still using an Industrial Age mindset, one that believes the leader should know all the answers. This outdated mindset focuses on a centralized, top-down decision making style that causes leaders to think are the only ones responsible for solving the problems.

Today, COVID has increased uncertainty in business at astronomical levels and the way of doing business is now radically different. Today, successful companies are depending on their front line teams to be heavily involved in both making decisions and implementing change. This approach is completely opposite to what many executives and leaders understand, but this is where true transformation happens.

Embracing Uncertainty Requires More Time in Exploration Mode

Executives and leaders need to step out of their mid or long-term outlook to spend more time exploring near-term problems. Your leaders can’t buy into a long-term vision if they are crippled by current issues. In order to do this, leaders and executives need to step into more exploration work.

In the pre COVID era, work and leadership was centered around certainty. An average team would roughly spend 95% of their time in execution mode and 5% of the time in exploration mode. This worked in the pre-COVID era, but with so much uncertainty now, this approach no longer works. Today, leaders need to spend more time in exploration mode and use their innovative mindset to be able to solve near-term challenges.

The Shift from Managing to Empowering

When leaders rely on their teams to find solutions, they empower their teams. This gives the leader more space and time to remove obstacles in the way of the team. When teams are empowered to exercise their intelligence and their creativity, they are more engaged, enjoy their job, and look forward to coming to work. Leaders can begin to empower their teams by trusting them to solve problems that are low risk and create near term impact. Empowering teams in this way helps the teams demonstrate their ability to solve those problems.

5 Elements of A Disruption-Proof Business

To build a Disruption proof Business, Brant explains that it’s important to build a RAD Organization (Resilient, Aware and Dynamic). A RAD organization is much like a palm tree that bends as it weathers a storm but doesn’t break. RAD organizations are flexible and strong. These organizations continuously gather data, collate themes, formulate external and internal trends, expand perceptions, and transfer this dynamic knowledge into strategic planning and everyday work. These organizations are able to quickly change based upon that new information.
1. Empathy

2. Exploration

3. Evidence

4. Equilibrium

5. Ethics

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The rules have changed. What used to work for you as an employee, as a manager, or as an organization isn't going to work anymore.

Today on the podcast we have Vice President of User Experience at RingCentral, Michael Peachey. Michael has been at the forefront of Human Centered Design, especially looking at how teams collaborate from anywhere. In this episode, we explore the rules that change and your new responsibilities as an organization, a team leader, a team member.

If you're remote, or if you're on a hybrid team in the office, you need to go out of your way to connect to your team. It's always been an obligation, but it's now more crucial for you to take on that responsibility so that you can thrive as you Team Anywhere. As teams continue to evolve, follow these simple rules to help you succeed as a hybrid team.

New Rules for Successful Hybrid Teams

• Fully Appreciate & Design Around Reality
• Focus MORE on Strengthening Relationships
  • As a Leader:
    A leader’s main focus is getting their team members to perform at their best. And to get the most out of your people, you need to connect. If someone is not connecting, leaders need to reach out.
  • As a Team:
    In a hybrid meeting, particularly a larger one, assign a specific person on the team in the office who is responsible for making sure the remote people are engaged. This person has the authority to interrupt and advocate for the remote employees. This keeps remote attendees connected, engaged and participating.
  • As a Team member:
    In today’s work environment, most people don’t get work done all by themselves. Most of us have to work with other people. Folks don’t necessarily love attending meetings, but well-run meetings increase engagement, collaboration, and communication.
  • As a team member, you need to recognize that you need connection for social and emotional nurturing. Work relationships are important. The people you work with are an important part of your social and emotional systems.
• Foster a Remote-First Culture
• Create and Follow a Strong Hybrid Meeting Etiquette

See the full summary here.

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Despite the return-to-office plans, remote work is here to stay, and leaders are searching for remote work culture ideas to help build strong teams. As the founder of DistantJob, a company that finds global remote talent, and author of Surviving Remote Work, Sharon Koifman has over a decade of experience finding, hiring, and creating great remote cultures. Sharon shares that his success has been based on a clear definition of culture, building trust and caring about remote workers' mental health.

The Truth: Remote Work is Here to Stay

Nearly all of the research out there is showing that remote work provides greater productivity and is preferred by many workers. According to SloanMIT research, remote work has created happier and more independent people. Coco-cloud research shows that people are 77% more productive and 23% are willing to work more hours if they can work from home. Additionally, 23% of people would prefer a lower wage if they could work from home. Remote work is becoming a necessity, and leaders need to figure out how to continue to strengthen their remote culture, and adjust their leadership style to support their remote workers.

How to Keep Remote Company Culture Alive

Clearly Define & Declare Remote Company Culture
Even after 14 months of working remotely, people are still having a hard time understanding what a remote culture even is. Leaders need to have a clearer definition of what a remote culture is in the first place if they are going to be successful at building it.

Remote Company culture is about creating connection. Culture in the remote world is your connections between you and the company, between colleagues, and between clients and employees. A clearer definition of remote culture allows leaders to prioritize what is needed to shape the culture going forward

After the clear definition of company culture has been created and agreed upon, it should be shared and role modeled in the early stages of growth—whether in person, virtual, or hybrid. However, as the company grows, so does the culture. The culture is a living, breathing organism that eventually shifts its power from the leader to the employees. Eventually, other people, your culture champions, will begin to take charge of defining and declaring the culture. This will empower the company to create and support a healthy remote culture that becomes embedded in all organizational processes; including, hiring, personal growth, completion of work, and engagement.

3 Ideas to Strengthen Remote Culture

Donut App

One idea that Sharon personally uses is an app called Donut. With Donut, he has 1-on-1’s with each person on his team. With the Donut app, remote companies can connect serendipitously for virtual coffee, peer learning, DEI discussions, and more.

Define & Build Trust

Most leaders think that they need to define and build trust with their team so that they can trust their team. But Sharon challenges leaders to think about trust the other way around. The question isn’t whether the leader can trust the employers; rather, the question is whether employees can trust the leader. As a leader, are your employees comfortable approaching you when they don’t understand something?

See blog for full summary.

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In today’s podcast episode our guest, Perry Maughmer, shares his insights on how to effectively manage oneself and others. He introduces a unique framework based on exploration, experimentation, and evolution, emphasizing the importance of connecting with individuals and building trust as a leader. Perry also dives into the concept of "hostage groups" and the power of peer advisory for leadership growth. Join us as we explore the challenges of change, intentional leadership in a remote work environment, and the key to establishing meaningful connections with employees as we Team Anywhere!

READ THE FULL EPISODE SUMMARY HERE!

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