Lack Of Empathy Is Killing Remote Work
It’s been some time since we started our monthly webinar series.
One such accomplished entrepreneur, I got to host was KRISH CHOPRA.
Recognized by Medium as a top writer in Leadership, Krish is the CEO of NPHub. He believes in two truths: everything is a learnable skill and real leadership involves caring for others. Krish’s mission is to empower underserved communities, and currently, he is developing a platform in the nursing industry to help Nurse Practitioners graduate on-time.
About NPHub: NPHub aims to empower Nurse Practitioners by providing innovative products and services relevant at different sections of their careers. Most recently, NPHub has a created an app that allows NP students to find preceptors and clinical rotations effortlessly. A painstaking process that NPHub has reduced from a typical three months timeline to under 30 minutes.
Coming back to the webinar, it was framed around Krish’s thoughts on what mistakes entrepreneurs generally make when working with remote teams. Being someone who has built his company with a team spread all around the globe and all remote, Krish was the perfect candidate for elaborating what all could go wrong in a remote work setting.
Five Mistakes That Entrepreneurs Are Making With Their Remote Staff:
1) Not Providing Adequate Training — The most significant difference between an in-house and remote team is that the in-house team gets to take advantage of unconscious competence. The in-house team gets to learn from you just by being around you, a remote team does not have this kind of luxury, so it becomes imperative for entrepreneurs to train their remote team.
Few ways to give better training to the remote worker that should be followed are -
First: is to recognize that you have to do it, there is no substitute for it.
Second: Assign someone from the office a mentor like a role. If you personally don’t have time to train your remote employees, assign that role to someone else.
Third: Providing training videos and setting a process to make sure that even in case if someone forgets something they can circle back and get the work done by watching those videos.
Training, in the beginning, sets the tone for experience and culture that remote team is going encounter.
2) Not Making Them Feel Part Of The Team — It is a must to make your remote team feel a part of your organization’s culture. There are far too many entrepreneurs that try to keep their remote team hidden. Make sure to include the remote team in the meeting that you have with the in-house team. It is very crucial to build that feeling of belongingness, making them feel part of something big.
3) Not Talking About Career Progression With Remote Team — I don’t know if I have emphasized enough on making remote teams feels a part of your organization or not. But it is vital for employers to talk to their remote employees just the way they speak to their in-house employees. Every single person wakes up every day with the desire to be fulfilled by the work they do, to feel like they are contributing to something larger, to feel a part of the team. You have to keep considering what the career progression is for the remote team.
4) Micromanagement — A lot of entrepreneurs tend to micromanage and underutilize the skillset of their remote team. The reason behind is; first, they are typically undertrained, and secondly, they are looked at as an assistant to complete some of the mundane tasks. The remote employees end up working to impress the boss instead of working for the betterment of the organization as a whole. The best way to avoid this sudden mind shift is by providing some flexibility to employees. Having patience and not micromanaging is essential for the growth.
5) Overall Belief In Others Ability To Do The Work — When you build a remote team of well educated high-level working team members from around the world you have to believe in their ability to get the job done. I think that for most of the remote employers because they can’t see and be around their remote employees, it develops a negative feeling that they can’t do the work. So trivial tasks are assigned to the remote employees, that’s the underutilization of the skillset.
Conclusion:
As a thriving entrepreneur, you always want what’s best for your organization and for that, you rely on the best talent available to you.
I think that most of the people who have worked with remote teams can relate to the points mentioned here in one way or another. And this piece of content can be a guide for others who are still in the process of working with a remote team.
Thank you, Krish Chopra, for taking time and sharing your experience with fellow entrepreneurs. It was indeed a fantastic adventure talking to you and hosting you.
We also have a fantastic article on Why Trying To Do Too Much Too Fast Can Be Fatal, check it out for some really cool tips.
About RemotePanda:
RemotePanda is a personalized platform for companies to hire remote talent and get the quality work delivered from our city Pune. All talents associated with us are close network connections. When we connect them with you, we make sure to manage their quality, their growth, the legalities and also the delivery of work. The idea is to make remote work successful for you.
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