Many of my clients, like so many other organizations, are looking for ways to help them establish and cultivate a productive remote workforce. In some cases, they realize that greater workplace flexibility will allow them to attract and retain certain kinds of employees. In other cases, companies simply to have to slash costs, forcing employees out of company offices.
When starting up telecommuting programs, some of my clients start with a pilot program where a group of new telecommuters will pave the way for others to come. The first step: Making sure the people who are selected are likely to succeed in a virtual workplace. My clients ask me: Is there some sort of test or tool that we can put people through to make sure they’re the right candidates?
Here are some qualities and attributes that, taken together, can be pretty good indicators of a person who will thrive in the virtual world. In the interest of writing without bias, I alternate genders in the points below:
- Wants to work virtually: Is this person looking forward to working remotely? Does he see benefits to working from home? Does he see this opportunity as positive?
- Self-motivated: Can this person work without a lot of direction or guidance on a day-to-day basis? Can she work in the absence of frequent feedback? Does she feel confident enough about her work that she can operate independently for periods of time?
- Tolerates ambiguity: Can this person make progress without having all of the needed details or answers? Can he withstand the absence of certain information as he moves forward on some of his own work, and then circle back to fill in the blanks when answers are known?
- Desires social contact: Is this person likely to reach out to team members to make frequent connections, whether by phone, email, social networking or face-to-face? Is she a natural collaborator who thrives on sharing information, brainstorming with others, or simply checking in from time to time?
- Communicates thoughtfully: Is this person aware of how different types of communications can best be applied to reach a different objective? Is he a clear, concise writer who respects others’ time? Is he sensitive to different communications preferences and aware of how his own style might be received by others?
- Manages time: Has this person demonstrated a solid track record in setting priorities and completing work on time? Does he seem to value a reasonable work-life balance? Does he have a good sense for how long things will take before making commitments? Is he aware of how his own ability to fulfill commitments affects others on the team?
- Self-organized: Does this person seem to have a good sense as to where important information can be found? Does she usually have the information she or her team needs at her fingertips? Does she organize files logically, especially those shared by other team members?
- Comfortable using technology to connect and collaborate: Does this person know how to use the different meeting technologies available to him and his team? Is he willing to accept others’ preferences for using technology tools in certain ways, even if it’s outside of his comfort zone?
While this is just a short list of qualities and characteristics of people who are suited to working in a remote environment, it’s a good place to start when evaluating which employees are likely to thrive in a virtual world. And when employees don’t have a choice, this can be a helpful list for managers who want to make sure their new telecommuters have the competencies they need to work successfully.
posted by Nancy Settle-Murphy
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01:56
Hi Nancy
A nice piece – and I’ll pass it on to my partner, who often gnashes his teeth about colleagues who work in a remote office (not even from home) and just don’t seem to be keeping in touch enough!
I’m interested in the ambiguity in point 4 – desires social contact. Is the worker more or less suited to working remotely, if they score high or low on this? I think there are two sides. If they’ll be lonely and miserable, and fail to do their work well in the absence of face-to-face contact, then they’re not suited. But if they are the kind of person who will proactively seek out ways of staying in touch whilst working remotely, and are willing to come into the office for those important face-to-face contacts from time to time (social as well as directly work-related) then they are probably very well suited.
What do you think?
Kind regards
Penny
[Self employed, working at home today
]
17:20
Hi Penny,
Thanks for the question. I suppose I was deliberately ambiguous here, for as you said, a very social person may find it difficult to work alone, and at the same time that same desire for social contact can make someone a great collaborator.
Now that we’ve had a few years’ experience with widescale telecommuting, many people report that in fact the most social people often make the best remote workers, since they are motivated to reach out and call, IM, email, and otherwise communicate and collaborate with others. Since they crave frequent social contact, they make an effort to stay connected with others in their team.
Ironically, perhaps, it’s those who are the most introverted that often do not make good candidates for remote work. The reason: They are more likely to stay hunkered down, working independently, with as little contact with others as possible. The result? Very little sharing of knowledge and experiences, to or from this person, with few chances for collaboration.
There are, of course, some social people who absolutely must have frequent face-to-face contact with others to feel energized and motivated. Unless the remote work environment offers opportunities for periodic face-to-face interaction, this kind of person may not be happy working from afar.
Nancy Settle-Murphy
15:36
Nancy – Thanks for this list. I think it would make a very useful discussion starter for a new virtual team as a way to discuss the nature of working together remotely and some of the communications needs required to be successful. Team members might do a self assessment and the team could look at their collective “scores” and discuss ways to work around collective weaknesses and build on individual strengths.
Adding to Penny’s comments, I might think of #4 as a proactive communicator – someone who takes the initiative to reach out to others, stay in touch and check in on a regular basis.
I will make use of this list. Thank you.