{"id":204151,"date":"2020-02-17T13:28:04","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T10:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww-vb.mine.nu\/w108\/ive-worked-in-a-virtual-office-for-3-years-heres-what-ive-learned\/"},"modified":"2020-02-17T13:28:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T10:28:04","slug":"ive-worked-in-a-virtual-office-for-3-years-heres-what-ive-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hameed.nwar.uk\/sa\/ive-worked-in-a-virtual-office-for-3-years-heres-what-ive-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve worked in a \u2018virtual office\u2019 for 3 years \u2013 here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I\u2019ve successfully managed tech company teams for many years (including at Expedia and Zillow), and for decades I thought my magic as a manager was an in-person kind of magic. I thought to be effective, my team and peers needed to see and hear me in person<\/em>. But three years ago I joined eXp Realty \u2014 a real estate startup with an entirely remote workforce.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At eXp Realty we use our own <\/span>virtual workplace<\/span> called <\/span>VirBELA<\/span>. That means not only that my colleagues and team don\u2019t see me in person very often, but they don\u2019t even see me. That\u2019s because in the virtual world, we all have avatars \u2014 just like in a video game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Turns out, I still have my magic, even though I couldn\u2019t tell you with certainty what color hair some of my colleagues have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a world where more people are working remotely (almost <\/span>one-third of US workers say they work from home full-time<\/span>), how does a manager keep their \u201cmagic?\u201d I\u2019m now CMO at our parent company, and I manage a nine-person team in charge of marketing, communications, events and more. Here are some tips I\u2019d like to share. <\/span><\/p>\n

1. Trust your team<\/b><\/h2>\n

Trust is the foundation to a high-functioning remote team. That starts with hiring \u2014 I always try to hire people smarter than me. <\/span><\/p>\n

My head of communications engages directly with the media far better than I can (or sometimes have the patience for), and I like it that way. I can certainly be the loudest voice in the room, but hiring great people really means I can count on them to make good decisions, and they feel that trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as important is the trust between team members. If they don\u2019t trust one another, remote work just doesn\u2019t function very well. How to establish that trust? Good communication is essential, so that means establishing norms with the team around how quickly they should be responding to emails and chat or text messages. <\/span><\/p>\n

Plus, we have all made a commitment to each other of being in our virtual world together most of each working day. This lets the team hold one another accountable, which leads to trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: VirBELA<\/figcaption>
<\/a>I might not know my coworkers\u2019 actual hair color, but that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re not a great team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. Don\u2019t clock hours \u2014 look at results<\/b><\/h2>\n

Remote work is great for many reasons, but the no. 1 reason I enjoy it is the flexibility. My office is in a finished area of the basement. It\u2019s perfect as it\u2019s steps away from the kitchen and it has an outside door where I can slip out for a quick walk around the block, which is something I like to do to help clear my head and think about things more deeply. <\/span>Catching my son\u2019s soccer game or running errands at odd hours is another benefit of working remotely. <\/span><\/p>\n

To empower my team to enjoy that flexibility means I need to set clear expectations, and then measure how people are performing against those expectations \u2014 not how many hours they\u2019re sitting in their virtual seat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Have fun<\/b><\/h2>\n

Remote work means the team isn\u2019t often grabbing happy hour or lunch together. But building relationships is just as important as being in an office. On a typical workday morning, I check in with my team in the \u201cmarketing circle\u201d where we all \u201csit.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

We might quickly chit-chat about our previous night\u2019s activities (\u201cDid you watch the Seahawks on Monday Night Football?\u201d) and then segue into an open conversation about a project we are all working on. I can split off into 1:1\u2019s or team meetings. It\u2019s very collaborative, and those fun parts of work keep us connected and prevent people from feeling isolated.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the last three years working remotely, it would be hard to go back to working in an office. I think about some of my past commutes \u2014 driving bumper-to-bumper and listening to two full albums a day \u2014 and would never want to go back to that. And I know I\u2019m not alone. <\/span><\/p>\n

Remote work is efficient, it helps companies\u2019 bottom lines and people are happier and more productive \u2014 it just needs trust to flourish.
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\n Published February 17, 2020 \u2014 10:26 UTC\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n