As a leader, how do you coach course correction for your remote workers?
I’ve been thinking about this as I hear people complain about meeting burnout. Great leaders help their team members understand and move through different levels of interdependence. I wrote about this in my last post, here. But when a course correction is needed—when the performance of a remote worker truly needs review—how do you manage this virtually?
When this topic comes up with my coaching clients, we discuss tactics and best practices. Below is a compilation; you can use this as a guide for your planning, conversation, and follow-up.
Coach Course Correction
- Explore what and why. Before you begin the conversation, explore your own expectations and attitudes about the employee. What is the expected outcome of their efforts? If there is a gap, review your communications. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding, extenuating circumstances, or, your employee is privy to information that is not on your radar. Open the conversation with an attitude of curiosity, rather than judgment.
- Segue in to exploration of their goals: business and personal. Ask about the challenges and obstacles they are facing. Right now, most workers are doing their best to manage increased pressure and stress, and many are hesitant to share this. In some cases, it may be childcare or eldercare. Alternatively, it could be they lack the energy and creativity they found in their previous work environment.
- Collaborate on next steps. For example, if there was a misunderstanding, identify an effective communication process that works for both of you. This could be something as simple and specific as not interrupting during a virtual meeting, or conversely, asking for clarification. If skill was the issue, identify an effective training process, including mentoring and/or online learning. For those who miss the office environment, explore how employees might be able to connect virtually for water-cooler hangouts. The key is to not jump to solutions, rather, coach them to find insights and solutions they will implement.
- Follow-up as agreed. Be as specific as possible in your feedback, and link behavior to outcome. Whenever possible, use the 3:1 ratio: for every negative critique, share three positive observations. To reinforce lessons learned, ask how it will help them achieve their own goals. Use open questions to encourage self-discovery, and avoid micromanaging. And remember: level 3 management is reciprocal management. Your feedback should be a dialog, where you are open to ways in which you can improve, as a leader, manager, and interdependent team player.
What do you think? How do you coach course correction for your remote workers? I’d love to hear from you. I can be reached here, on LinkedIn, or give me a call: 561-582-6060.
