With most of us now six weeks into staying inside, it’s become clear how difficult this working from home thing can be. We asked Hiten Shah - founder of work collaboration app FYI and one of the smartest WFH minds we know - to talk us through his methods of optimizing performance for distributed teams, his learnings on people management from afar, and even his advice on how to keep the peace at home. Jack Altman - founder and CEO of Lattice, currently working from home with a 4-month old - ran the interview and asked questions that yielded real, actionable takeaways.
In this time of the blind leading the blind - no one can see clearly right now - this conversation provided a little illumination for those of us struggling to get a handle on how to build companies remotely. We suggest taking the time to watch the whole conversation, and also reading through FYI’s resources on remote work best practices and working from home during a pandemic.
To watch the full webinar, please click below:
#1 Find new norms.
We’re used to being human in a tribal, offline, community context. If you think about your in-office norms for communication - they’re just gone. Going to tap someone on the shoulder and ask them a question? Gone. Finding the new norms of your team’s remote culture is essential - the onus is on us to be human.
#2 Make passive visibility easy.
One of the most valuable things Shah has found for running remote teams is so simple you could implement it tomorrow. Ask every team member to share a daily update that includes bullets of what they did yesterday and what they plan to do today. Open a dedicated Slack channel for this - larger companies may prefer to open individual channels for each team. This simple daily practice was a game changer for Shah’s team. The reason? It provides passive visibility without venturing into big brother territory. These short updates offer a dense amount of information: what people are working on, what’s falling through the cracks, and often how people are feeling.
#3 Let people work how they work.
Many people who work in startups are high functioning - it’s their nature to want to get stuff done. But that doesn’t mean they all work in the same way. Everyone has their own cadence and there’s an organizational onus to make sure folks can set their own boundaries. To optimize performance when everyone is working in different styles - set a standard of a 1:1 say/do ratio. That is, every team member agrees to do the things they say they are going to do. Once this is explicitly understood, clearly communicate expectations around communication modes and response time. For example, if you set the expectation that Slack messages should be answerable within a few business hours and an email should be answerable within a few days, your team will know not to ping people on Slack about things that aren’t urgent.
#4 Use an input/output framework.
Different types of teams require different types of management. With some groups, you need only be focused on their output - you don’t need to micromanage their inputs or the process that gets them there. Think of the difference between managing a sales team vs. a group of creative designers. Understanding whether you’re managing someone by inputs or outputs is always important, but with a remote team it’s crucial. Figure out how your teams need to be managed and adjust your expectations and style accordingly. When in doubt, start by focusing on the output - it will tell you if the inputs are off.
#5 Prioritize depth of documentation.
Before embarking on any project, Shah’s team assembles a robust document that includes enough detail to prevent any misunderstanding. This document has evolved over time and includes your typical “scope of work” information - background, objective, project goals, project scope, deliverables - but goes further to outline scope exclusions, detailed assumptions, constraints, and known risks and responses. For engineering projects, details of the tech stack are included alongside the specific project tasks and schedule. Finally, a communication plan shares visibility instructions as well as a meeting schedule and descriptions. This document is considered gospel until the project is through - and is capped off by a “change control” section to document any changes to the project that might have an impact. Using this as a template to implement your own governing document for big initiatives can keep remote teams on the same page.
#6 Rate your processes.
There are so many good ways to build a toxic culture - one of the most reliable is to allow a productivity divide to fester. When you have a team that includes some sled pullers and some who don’t seem to be pulling at all - how do you handle it? According to Shah - this is more of a process problem than a people problem. Take a look at the processes at play and give them a score using Shah’s own VACA Method. Specifically, measure your process on Visibility, Accountability, Communication, and Alignment. If productivity (or anything else) is off, going through this exercise will show you exactly where to focus to fix it.
#7 Get off the video calls to build rapport.
Video can be a great tool, but it can also be a distraction. When it comes to building strong relationships with new team members or people you haven’t met in person, those distractions can be a hindrance. Instead, turn your focus toward building rapport. Trim out the video distraction and get on a voice call. This allows you to give your full attention to the other person, ask meaningful questions, and put the other person at ease. This is also a great technique for managers who hold regular one-on-ones with direct reports.
#8 Practice vulnerability and extreme clarity for the tough stuff.
The most difficult conversations for leaders - dealing with sensitive personnel shifts, communicating bad news to the team, giving performance reviews - don’t get paused just because the team is working remotely. Being able to show vulnerability is key for these types of discussions. Demonstrating that you care through whatever method you can is essential. The other ingredient here is extreme clarity. Be prepared to have a hard conversation. Try writing out a private FAQ in advance to be sure you cover all bases and are ready for any questions. The lack of clarity is often the biggest challenge when it comes to communicating the hard things - so prep yourself even if you’re usually good at “winging it.”
#9 Pump up the consciousness at home.
As many of us are adjusting to working remotely, we’re also adjusting to new realities at home. For many, this looks like figuring out how to prioritize childcare and home-schooling during the course of a workday and having your life partner as an office-mate. Shah’s best tip from 17 years of working at home? Be aware of the other other people in your household and what their needs are. Focus on relationships more than ever before to make sure everyone’s needs are met. Address problems as they come - if someone is bothered, get present very quickly and deal with it right then and there.