Guest Post by Jonathan Bechtle

Suddenly the remote office has become a matter of survival, rather than preference. Most companies have dabbled with it, but that’s an entirely different matter than going all-remote. If your organization is scrambling a bit to get everyone set up to work from home for the next few weeks…or months, you’re not alone.

Transitioning to a permanent remote culture is not a quick change (it has a lot to do with the type of people you hire), but there are some basic principles that can help you from Day 1. We learned these (often the hard way) in five years of having a fully remote workforce at the Foundation for Government Accountability. Just for context, FGA is a nonprofit research organization with thirty-two staff and forty contractors living in thirty-three states.

Tip #1: Video, video, video

This may seem basic, but using video calls is an absolute must if your team is remote. It forces everyone to focus and be more engaged, especially in large-group meetings. It also simply makes communication more human.

There are a number of good services out there now, including Zoom, Skype (part of Microsoft), Google Hangouts, etc. We use Ringcentral/Zoom, but it doesn’t matter as much which service you use, just pick one and make sure everyone is using the same thing and knows how to set up and join meetings.

A basic rule of video versus phone is if the meeting has more than three people, you should use video instead of a conference line. But even if you set a different standard, pick one and cascade it to your teams. Having a shared expectation will push them to switch faster to video calls, especially in that first awkward stage. 

Establish a few ground-rules to make video calls go smoother:

• For meetings with more than five attendees, people should stay on mute until they have a comment. That cuts down on the annoying typing noise that you don’t know you’re making.

• Tell everyone its ok if their kid or cat wanders by in the background. They’re still a professional, and it’ll lower their stress if they don’t have to make everything perfect around them. (call it the Professor Kelly rule) 

Lastly, make sure everyone gets the phone app for whichever video system you use. They need a back-up in case their computer acts up or if they are on the go. 

Tip #2: Think Transparency to combat micro-management

If managers are used to checking in on their teams by having in-person interactions, they’re going to have a loss of visibility that will feel like a loss of control in a remote environment. They may react by checking in constantly with their teams, asking for daily updates, or similar requests that signal a lack of trust. 

It’s even worse trying to keep up with other teams that don’t report to you directly. After a week or two, people will feel as if they don’t know what’s going on beyond their own team and projects.

The key to managing a remote workforce is to have lots of transparency. If you have a central hub that everyone can look at and see what others are working on, it provides that feeling of being in the know and your managers don’t have to bombard their teams with update requests.

That’s why remote companies usually have adopted a cloud-based communication platform like Basecamp, Asana, Smartsheet, Slack or similar products (At FGA, we use Basecamp). 

And no, email isn’t a good substitute. Email is a non-transparent system unless you send lots of all-staff emails, which is highly annoying to everyone.

 If you already use one of these platforms, consider declaring a “No Email Week” to ramp up its adoption quickly by having staff use it for all internal communications.

If you don’t have a platform set up yet, you may be able to turn on collaboration functions for products you already use, like Microsoft Teams or Dropbox Business. And you could begin to add transparency by having each team post a weekly update on big projects and happenings on the platform for everyone in the company to see.

Tip #3: Focus on outcomes, less on how things get done

Working from home creates new challenges. It’ll be an adjustment figuring out how to juggle work around family life. Flexibility is key. Don’t make it harder than necessary on your folks by mandating how they do their work—unless you have to. If someone is answering phones, of course they need to do it during normal business hours. But if a staffer is writing grant reports or research papers, let them have flexibility in how and when they do their work.

If you worry that someone is too distracted by kids or home stuff, don’t focus on that. It’s extremely hard to manage. Instead, focus on outcomes. Does everyone know what they need to accomplish? If so, is that work getting finished? Don’t worry about how they did it. If those five op-eds get written, why care if they did it from noon to 9 pm?

What really helps keep people on track is if they know how their work contributes to a big goal. We all dig a little deeper when we know that others are counting on us. Go out of your way to reiterate your vision and have your managers talk with staff ASAP to make sure they know how individual priorities connect to big shared goals. 

Tip #4: Level the playing field

Remote workers often complain they feel left out of office discussions and decisions. When some people are in the office around a conference table and the rest are on a conference phone, those on the phone will always miss out on some part of the conversation. 

Level the playing field in small ways. For your video conference calls, make sure everyone has the same setup. Even if a few people are left in the office, they should close their door and join the video call individually like everyone else. 

If you normally have a Friday staff lunch served in the office, or bring in bagels in the morning, think about ways to recreate that experience for the home workers. Could you have a snack box delivered to them via Amazon? Or eat lunch together on Friday via a video call with no agenda? 

Working in a remote environment can be fantastic. It allows people to focus, cuts down on wasted commute times, and gives flexibility that is extremely helpful to those with families. And if you stick with it long-term, it can give you a much bigger talent pool for your hiring. Seek to reduce the downsides and embrace the positives of remote work, even if it’s just for a few weeks.

Guest Post by Jonathan Bechtle, COO at the Foundation for Government Accountability

Jonathan Bechtle is the chief operating officer and general counsel at the Foundation for Government Accountability. As COO, he is responsible for building and upgrading the organizational structure and core systems of FGA through hiring and management, and as general counsel, he works to ensure FGA’s compliance with all relevant state and federal laws. A devoted family man, history buff, traveler, and fan of the Indianapolis Colts, Jonathan currently resides in Naples, Florida with his wife and four children.