Managing & Teaming in a Virtual World

When Telecommuting's Not Working

Your monitoring your telecommuters as approriate for their job. Everything's OK with Mary but it's not working for John. What does it mean… it's not working?

When I ask managers the opposite, in other words, how do you know when it is working? And have them answer very quickly…I gain some insight into their management style. Many first say, the employee is meeting their goals. Some will say, they're happy in the telecommuting situation. Some will say, they're productive. And some will say, they're not goofing off.

Whatever "working" means to you (and please do define it before you take on telecommuters), what will you do if comes to a point that it isn't working? How will you know? When will you know? What will you do?

Looks for a trend. You determine for the job what the trend should be. A week, a month? If the trend indicates "it isn't working," take action immeduately. Ask questions. Explore what might be going on. Coach. If after a period of time, you have determined and communicated, it still isn't working, action needs to be taken. Action needs to be based on the guidelines of your company, i.e., bring them into the physical workplace, put them on a performance improvement plan, etc.

 

Is Your Employee Telecommuter-Ready?

Tony, a student from our November workshop, coined the term "telecommuter-ready" during an after class discussion. The term refers to the readiness of an employee to undertake a telecommuting work option.

Does the employee have the right stuff? Just like selecting a candidate for any job, there is some art and some science to predicting whether an employee will be able to perform up to your standards while working from home or some other offsite location. Yes, it is a prediction. And you only know after the fact if it worked.

I'm sure you know some of the obvious "readiness" characteristics: can work independently, routinely meets their goals, works well in a team, etc. But I'd like to raise some awareness about the less obvious…

Don't assume a high performer in the office will be a high performer in the home environment. Chances are good but not certain. Why? A high performer like any performer, has an ecosystem around them in which they operate. Change that ecosystem (people, physical environment, feedback, energy, equipment, etc) and their performance may change. This can be true for low performers as well, but is more true for middle performers where there is a greater amount of variation.