Last Friday, we hosted a Virtual Think IT Panel Event on Can You Lead Your Team from The Moon? The Pros and Cons/ Do’s and Don’ts of Remote Leadership. A huge thank you to our panelists, Scott Senden, Vice President at UnitedHealth Group, Tammylynne Jonas, Global CIO at Donaldson Companies, Mike Mathews, CIO at Deluxe, and Melissa Flicek, SVP, Digital Transformation at Optum Digital for sharing their experience on leadership with the group. Thank you to everyone who joined us as well!
Below you will find an overview of the most popular questions from our members and a summary of what was discussed.
Balancing the in-person experience for collaboration and recruiting anywhere is a tough balance. How are your companies managing this balance?
The panelist’s companies are managing this balance by opening up positions for all over not just the locations their headquarters is. It helps if your company has good intentions and company culture to recruit their candidates. It’s nice when companies give employees options as well because not every scenario works for everyone. The panelists mentioned that it is helpful to have your employees be able to come to the hub if necessary.
What has been the most challenging about leading your team remotely?
One thing that has been most challenging for the panelists while leading their teams remotely has been having to step up to the plate while everything is still unknown to them as well. They had to understand where and when they needed to lead and when they needed to be there for their teams. The panelists also agreed that sometimes, the team just needs to be together in person.
How do you manage remote performance?
To manage remote performance, it’s important to have clear goals and set objectives for your team. That way, they will know what to expect and clarity can work as a superpower. Also, as a leader, it’s important to focus on your intentions and what your meetings will be about. Establishing outcomes and focusing on those will ease the burden of managing remote performance.
How do you lead effectively in a remote workplace?
Fundamentals are important and also to have relationships with your team members. The panelists mentioned how they think that all this remote work will come back to get us. We’ve done working remotely but have we REALLY done it? The team overall does better when they are together. Looking into the future of remote working, it’s important to double down on talent management and focus on communication.
Knowing what we know now, what would you have done differently over the past year and a half? And how will that impact your outlook for the near future?
Being able to connect with your employees on a more personal level is so important and something that the pandemic has taught leaders. The panelists are now preparing to figure out how to connect their culture back together and continue to be an authentic leader when they go back to the office.