PDF Summary:Leading From Anywhere, by David Burkus

In today's remote work environment, managing off-site teams requires new skills and approaches. In Leading From Anywhere, David Burkus provides insights and actionable advice to help you successfully lead virtual teams to increased productivity and cohesion.

You'll learn how to establish shared expectations to foster unity and identity among remote workers. Burkus reveals communication strategies tailored for virtual collaboration and explores methods for giving feedback, preventing burnout, and hiring the ideal candidates for remote positions. Prepare to navigate the complexities of managing remote employees and teams with greater confidence.

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Practical Tips

• Implement a "Two-Minute Feedback" session at the end of meetings where participants can share their thoughts on what was respectful and what could be improved. This encourages immediate reflection and reinforces the importance of mutual respect. It's like a quick temperature check that gives everyone a voice and helps you adjust your leadership style in real-time.
• Start a trust journal to track and reflect on daily interactions where trust is involved. Each day, write down instances where you either placed trust in someone or someone placed trust in you, and note the outcomes. This practice will help you become more aware of the reciprocal nature of trust and how it plays out in everyday situations.
• Implement a "Respect First" policy in your email and social media communications by always starting and ending messages with a polite greeting and closing. This practice can help cultivate a habit of respect that carries over into face-to-face interactions.
• You can practice observing and interpreting social cues by watching silent films. Silent films require you to pay close attention to body language and facial expressions to understand the story, which can sharpen your ability to read these cues in real-life interactions.

Communicating and Working Together From a Distance

This section of the guide looks at various communication methods and provides guidelines for selecting the right medium for specific situations.

Set Norms for Written and Live Communication

Burkus argues that remote leaders should make a clear distinction between two communication methods:

• Asynchronous communication involves any form of communication done through text (email, team chat applications, message boards, or comments on shared documents).

• Synchronous interactions are real-time communication done through audio calls or video chats.

Guidelines For Communication Channels and Mediums

The author argues that remote teams work optimally by adopting norms and expectations around how each method is used and how often. Specifically, asynchronous communication ought to be the rule and synchronous communication should be the exception.

Other Perspectives

• Overemphasis on norms and expectations could lead to a bureaucratic or overly formal communication environment, which might hinder open and honest dialogue.
• It can reduce the sense of team cohesion and camaraderie, as team members have fewer opportunities for spontaneous interactions and social bonding.

Ensure That Communication Is Clear, Concise, and Positive

Burkus also offers some general recommendations for using both types of communication, emphasizing how vital this becomes when working remotely and your team doesn’t see you in person very often. He cautions against the easy assumption that working remotely means you're not working, because many remote workers actually overwork, which can quickly lead to burnout and resentment toward you and the company. He also outlines specific steps for overcoming the assumption of "always on," which can come from the "in the office" mindset of traditional workplace arrangements, as well as the always-accessible nature of modern mobile devices and communication tools.

Practical Tips

• You can practice brevity in daily conversations by setting a personal time limit for your responses. For instance, when someone asks for your opinion or an explanation, aim to respond within 30 seconds. This will encourage you to think quickly and prioritize the most important points, leading to clearer and more concise communication.
• Schedule a weekly 15-minute video check-in with your team to establish a routine of face-to-face communication. This can help build rapport and ensure that any misunderstandings from written communication are cleared up quickly. Use this time to discuss priorities, share updates, and address any concerns.
• Use a visual or physical token to signify work mode and switch it off or put it away when you're done for the day. This could be a specific lamp you turn on while working or a work-only mug; when you turn off the lamp or clean the mug, it's a clear signal to your brain that work is over.

Facilitate Effective Virtual Meetings

For Burkus, one of the biggest shifts in this era of remote work is how companies use meetings — specifically, virtual meetings. The author acknowledges that in-person meetings were often unproductive as well, but stresses that for remote workers, virtual meetings become especially important, because it’s likely the only opportunity for the entire team to connect in real time.

Design Meeting Agendas and Frequency to Maximize Productivity

Burkus cautions against overusing online meetings. Too many meetings, with faulty agendas, where too many people are invited, are a sure-fire way to decrease productivity, especially in virtual settings. For Burkus, the best meetings are infrequent, well planned, and focused on one central theme or purpose. He cites research showing that decision-making meetings are more effective when broken up into several smaller meetings with different agendas—and offers a framework around three distinct meetings for creatively solving problems, each with a unique purpose:

• Problem session: To identify the underlying cause of a problem and gather information.

• Idea session: To generate many potential solutions.

• Decision meeting: To discuss potential solutions to determine the optimal one.

Practical Tips

• Implement a "virtual commute" to transition between work and personal time. By setting aside time at the beginning and end of your day to simulate a commute, even if it's just a walk around the block or a dedicated routine, you can mentally separate work from home life, reducing the need for constant online meetings as a way to feel connected to the work environment.
• Implement a 'parking lot' document for off-agenda ideas that arise during meetings. This can be a shared digital document where any participant can note down important but unrelated thoughts that come up. This way, you capture valuable insights without derailing the meeting's focus. After the meeting, review the 'parking lot' and decide which ideas should be addressed in future discussions or delegated for individual follow-up.
• Establish a rotating meeting representative system for departments or teams. Instead of inviting the entire team to every meeting, designate a rotating representative who will attend, participate, and relay necessary information back to the team. This ensures that the team stays informed without crowding the meeting room, allowing for more efficient discussions.
• Use a decision-making app to determine the necessity of a meeting. Before scheduling a meeting, input the meeting's objectives into an app designed to evaluate its necessity. If the app suggests the meeting isn't crucial, consider alternative communication methods like emails or quick check-ins.
• Implement a 'no devices' rule for shorter, stand-up meetings to encourage attentiveness and efficiency. This can help participants stay engaged and contribute more effectively, as they won't be distracted by emails or messages. For instance, during a 15-minute stand-up meeting, everyone would leave their phones and laptops at their desks.
• Implement a "single-question rule" for your catch-ups with friends or family, where each person comes prepared with one important question related to a central theme you've all agreed upon. This encourages everyone to think critically about the theme and ensures that the conversation remains focused and meaningful. For instance, if the central theme is personal growth, each person might ask a question about a habit they're trying to develop or a skill they want to learn.
• Implement a "single-topic rule" for each meeting you organize, where the only items on the agenda are directly related to one specific decision that needs to be made. This could mean having a meeting solely dedicated to deciding on a vendor for a project instead of trying to tackle multiple decisions at once. This approach helps participants prepare and contribute more effectively, as they know exactly what the focus will be and can gather their thoughts and research in advance.
• Create a post-meeting reflection log to capture insights and improve future sessions. After each meeting, take five minutes to jot down what worked well and what could be improved, focusing on how the meeting's structure contributed to its effectiveness. Over time, this log will provide actionable insights to refine the meeting process, ensuring that each type of meeting is as productive as possible.

Optimize Online Meetings: Limit Presenting, Encourage Participation

The author also acknowledges the unique challenges some remote teams find difficult to overcome when conducting virtual meetings and offers several guidelines for facilitating more effective meetings, including:

• Distribute the difficulty of joining at bad times by rotating meeting schedules so everyone is inconvenienced occasionally.

• Requiring that everyone attend the meeting via video — or that none do.

• Keeping presentations brief and focusing on discussion, debate, and collaboration.

• Frequently using participants' names during the meeting.

• Kicking off on a positive note.

• Dividing it into segments.

• Separating into groups.

• Maintain an open chat feature.

Practical Tips

• Use visual participation indicators during video meetings, such as virtual hand raises or reaction emojis, to ensure active participation from all attendees. This can help maintain engagement, especially in large meetings where it's easy for some participants to remain passive.
• Create a "discussion guide" with key questions and topics to steer the conversation post-presentation. This guide should include open-ended questions that relate to your presentation content, encouraging deeper thinking and debate among participants. For instance, after a brief presentation on a new product, your guide might include questions like "What potential challenges do you foresee with this product's adoption?" or "How can we enhance the product's appeal to different market segments?"
• Practice name recall with a friend or family member by turning it into a game. Take turns describing someone you both know, including details about their life, and challenge the other person to remember the individual's name. This can sharpen your memory and make using names in conversation more natural.
• Start your meetings with a "good news minute" where participants share a recent personal or professional win. This sets a positive tone and encourages a sense of community and support among team members. For example, one person might share a successful project completion, while another might celebrate a child's achievement.
• Use a visual timer during meetings to keep track of each segment's duration. By setting a timer that everyone can see, you create a shared sense of time management and urgency. For example, if you have a meeting divided into four segments, set the timer for each part, allowing participants to adjust their contributions to fit within the allotted time, ensuring that all topics are covered efficiently.
• Create a 'skills swap' board in your community or workplace where individuals can offer a skill they have in exchange for learning a new one from someone else. This naturally forms groups based on shared interests and fosters a collaborative learning environment.
• If you're active on social media, use the platform's live chat features to host Q&A sessions or informal chats about your interests. This can be a great way to connect with like-minded individuals and share knowledge. For example, if you're passionate about photography, you could host a live chat session on Instagram to discuss photography techniques with your followers.

Supervising Remote Employees and Teams

This section of the guide focuses on ways to oversee remote output and coach for improvement. The author outlines specific ways to measure results and give helpful feedback.

Set Clear, Achievable Goals for Performance

Burkus argues that performance management when working remotely involves letting go of the "butts in seats" mentality of the conventional office.

Collaborate With Staff on Objectives to Increase Ownership

Rather than tracking hours worked, Burkus insists that remote leaders ought to prioritize setting outputs and deliverables instead. He acknowledges that numerous businesses are inclined to install software on company computers to monitor employee activity—but that these efforts actually backfire over time by creating distrust and resentment, which may result in lower-quality work, higher stress, and greater turnover.

Practical Tips

• Develop a "Deliverable Dashboard" using a simple spreadsheet or a free project management tool. In this dashboard, list the tasks you aim to complete with a specific column for the expected deliverable. For example, if you're learning to cook, your task might be "Prepare a new recipe," and the deliverable would be "Photograph of the completed dish." Update the dashboard as you complete tasks, focusing on the quality and completion of the deliverable rather than the time invested.
• Implement a results-oriented work environment by setting clear goals and evaluating performance based on outcomes rather than hours spent at the desk. This shifts the focus from monitoring processes to celebrating achievements, which can boost productivity and job satisfaction.
• Foster a culture of open communication by scheduling regular one-on-one meetings where employees can voice concerns and provide feedback without fear of repercussions. This approach can help mitigate the negative feelings associated with monitoring by ensuring that employees feel heard and valued. For example, you could set up a monthly "Open Mic" session where team members discuss their work experiences and suggest improvements in a non-judgmental setting.
• Create a stress-reduction challenge that encourages employees to engage in activities that lower stress, such as meditation, exercise, or hobbies. Track participation with a simple point system and offer small rewards for consistent engagement. This can help address the high-stress component, potentially reducing turnover by showing that the workplace supports personal well-being.

Align Objectives With the Group's Mission and Intentions

Instead of tracking activity and trying to manage through control, Burkus encourages managers to focus on managing through autonomy—by assisting their people in creating goals, monitoring advancement, and receiving necessary feedback to maximize their work quality.

Practical Tips

• You can empower your team by setting clear objectives and then stepping back to let them figure out the best approach. Explain the desired outcome and any non-negotiable constraints, such as budget or deadlines, but resist the urge to dictate how they should achieve these goals. This encourages creative problem-solving and ownership of the work.
• Create a feedback-friendly workspace by designating a specific area in your office where employees can give and receive feedback informally. This could be a comfortable seating area with notepads and pens available, encouraging spontaneous, constructive conversations about work quality.

Provide Regular Feedback and Coaching

Burkus stresses that a significant challenge that arises when managing through autonomy is determining how to provide effective feedback. Remote leaders can’t regularly “walk around” and see what everyone is working on and, even if they could, it wouldn’t be all that effective anyway — studies show that managers often can’t distinguish between those who actually work long hours and those who only seem to.

Identify Process vs. People Issues in Concerns About Performance

The author highlights the importance of distinguishing between problems with people and problems with processes. For Burkus, many performance concerns don't stem from an employee lacking skills or talent — but from the organization's insufficient systems and procedures.

Other Perspectives

• Some industries or job roles are highly dependent on individual talent and creativity, and in these contexts, the impact of personal performance can outweigh the influence of processes.
• In some cases, performance concerns are indeed a result of a mismatch between an employee's abilities and the job requirements, rather than the systems and procedures in place.

Collaborate With Workers on Solutions for Performance Improvement

Regarding the best method for delivering feedback, Burkus provides time-tested, but seldom-followed, advice. Clarify your feedback.

Practical Tips

• Start a 'Performance Improvement Partner' program in your workplace. Pair up employees to discuss and brainstorm ways to enhance their work processes together. This peer-to-peer approach can foster a supportive environment and generate practical solutions that might not surface in a traditional top-down management setting.
• Use a voice recorder to practice delivering feedback and then listen to the playback, noting if the message is clear and specific. If you find that your feedback sounds vague or general, rewrite it to include specific examples and suggestions for improvement. This self-review process can help you refine your ability to give clear and effective feedback.

Support Employee Wellbeing and Prevent Burnout

Acknowledging that the flexibility of remote work can backfire if it's not monitored, Burkus offers specific recommendations for maintaining your team's engagement.

Support Workers in Setting Boundaries and Managing Distractions

This work starts with the leader by modeling the behavior desired. The author offers straightforward advice to prevent your employees from burning out. Start by setting clear expectations about when your team needs to be available, as well as clear expectations that those will be the only hours they will be working—so that everyone knows they are not obligated to answer customer requests, reply to emails, or access team chat applications outside of work hours.

Practical Tips

• You can lead by example in punctuality by always being the first to arrive at meetings and encouraging a culture of respect for everyone's time. This sets a standard for timeliness that others are likely to follow, demonstrating that you value both your own time and that of your colleagues.
• Start a weekly check-in with your peers or family where you discuss and adjust your availability for the upcoming week. This meeting is a chance to reflect on what times you felt overextended and to set more realistic availability for the next week. It fosters a culture of open communication and proactive time management.

Acknowledge Successes to Boost Confidence and Inspiration

To help his teammates avoid both of those ditches, Burkus recommends setting “business hours” for when to work and when not to. It could involve working from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. but taking a two-hour nature break in the middle, or it could mean working for ninety minutes, taking a fifteen-minute break, and repeating, or any other configuration, provided it's deliberate and everyone on the team is aware of it. And lastly, he offers practical advice on how to limit distractions from friends, family, roommates, or your own wandering mind (all of which become even more tempting without the physical boundaries of a conventional workplace).

Practical Tips

• Partner with a colleague or friend to check in at the start and end of your business hours. This accountability partnership involves sending a quick message or having a brief call to signal the beginning and end of your workday. It can help reinforce your commitment to sticking to your set hours and provide a social incentive to maintain the boundary between work and personal time.
• Create a "break jar" with different short activities written on slips of paper. Whenever it's time for a break, pull out a slip and do whatever activity is suggested. These could range from stretching exercises, a few minutes of meditation, a quick doodle or sketch session, or even stepping outside for fresh air.
• Create a visual cue system to signal your focus times, like a specific light outside your door or a sign that indicates you're in deep work mode. This can be as simple as a red paper circle that you stick on your door when you need to concentrate, which will inform others not to disturb you.

Ensuring Remote Work Sustainability

This section of the guide looks beyond the basic management of virtual teams to address what’s needed to keep them humming for years to come.

Recruit the Best Candidates for Virtual Jobs

Burkus argues that a key consideration for ensuring work stays effective when done remotely (and for minimizing burnout and distraction) is figuring out who to let onto the team to begin with.

Seek Applicants Who Are Collaborative, Communicative, and Self-Starting

He acknowledges that many think that hiring someone to telecommute means looking for “lone wolf” employees who can do a task all by themselves, but research suggests that it's actually quite the opposite. Remote teams are even more collaborative than in-person teams, and the right new hire will not only possess the necessary set of skills but also have the ability to use those skills with the team. For Burkus, this entails making hiring decisions based on three important questions:

• Do they collaborate well with others? Can they collaborate effectively and take feedback from others?

• Do they possess communication skills? Can they communicate clearly and concisely using the established methods of communication your team already uses?

• Are they independently motivated? Can they be productive independently of direct managerial oversight (since, as previously covered, managers shouldn’t be looking over shoulders even if they could)?

Other Perspectives

• Some collaborative tasks, especially those requiring physical interaction with objects or environments, cannot be effectively replicated in a remote setting.
• Telecommuting roles can sometimes involve more individualized tasks that don't require constant collaboration, making self-sufficiency a more critical trait than collaborative skills in certain cases.
• In some cases, too much independence can lead to a lack of cohesion within a team, as self-starting individuals may prioritize personal goals over team objectives.
• The emphasis on these traits might overlook the importance of adaptability and learning ability, which are crucial in a rapidly changing work environment.
• In certain high-stakes or emergency situations, the ability to act decisively without seeking collaboration or feedback might be more valuable than the ability to work well with others.
• Overemphasis on brevity can sometimes lead to oversimplification, which might omit necessary nuances and lead to misunderstandings.
• Applicants who work well under direct supervision should not be undervalued, as they can excel in structured environments and contribute significantly to team success.

Assess Remote Work Skills With Trials During Hiring

The author highlights Automattic's practice of having candidates try out for the position. Instead of relying only on interviews, Automattic places a prospective candidate within a team for a project and asks them to complete actual tasks for three to six weeks to provide the current team with a more accurate assessment of what the candidate would be like to work with.

Practical Tips

• Create a personal 'remote work readiness' checklist that includes skills such as communication, time management, and self-motivation. Regularly self-assess and update this checklist as you complete online courses, virtual internships, or collaborative projects. This will help you identify areas for improvement and provide concrete evidence of your remote work capabilities when applying for jobs.
• Volunteer for team-based roles in community projects to gain experience working with diverse groups. By actively seeking out opportunities in local community centers, non-profits, or online platforms like VolunteerMatch, you can immerse yourself in a project-based environment. This will allow you to observe team dynamics, understand various roles, and learn how to collaborate effectively with different personalities.
• Create a personal challenge where you tackle a new task or skill each week for six weeks. Document your progress and the outcomes, reflecting on what you've learned and how you've improved. This self-imposed internship can be shared with potential employers or mentors as evidence of your self-motivation and ability to learn and adapt.
• Experiment with reverse interviewing by asking potential collaborators or team members about their work habits and preferences. During discussions about new projects or roles, flip the script and inquire about their expectations, communication styles, and work environment. This will give you a clearer picture of whether the work compatibility is mutual.
• Implement a feedback loop with candidates post-interview to gather their impressions of the process. Use a simple, anonymous online survey to ask how they felt about the interview stages, what they believe worked well, and where they see room for improvement. This can help you refine your interview process from the candidate's perspective, ensuring it remains effective and candidate-friendly.

Intentionally Prepare for Goodbyes

Burkus acknowledges that, despite doing everything right, your best employees will eventually opt to join other groups or organizations. For Burkus, saying goodbye well is not just a nice gesture but an important element to shaping your team’s culture and their experience of working for you — and doing so requires leaders to prepare for goodbyes to teammates and to the team itself.

Celebrate Departures and Smoothly Transition

Since remote employees probably won't be saying goodbye "in person" on their final day, it’s important to establish procedures that are transparent, respectful, and appreciative. This is partly for the departing employee’s benefit because, to be truthful, there will be further opportunities to encounter one another in your industry or on social media. The second is for the team’s benefit—employees who witness you treating a teammate poorly as they exit (virtual or real) will imagine you treating them poorly if they also decide to do the right thing and move on.

Burkus’s primary rule for celebrating departures is to remember they’re not “betrayals.” Instead, they are more like graduations—because all the teammates we guide will eventually be team alumni and, hopefully, champions of us and our leadership.

Practical Tips

• Host a "Future Goals Brunch" whenever someone is about to leave your circle, whether it's a coworker, friend, or community member. During the brunch, focus the conversation on the exciting opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for the departing individual. This can help shift the perspective from what you're losing to what they're gaining.
• Keep an updated "alumni" contact list: Maintain a digital rolodex or spreadsheet with contact information of former colleagues and peers. Regularly reach out with updates, industry news, or just to say hello. This keeps the relationship warm and can lead to mutual support, mentorship, or new opportunities down the line.
• Offer to write personalized LinkedIn recommendations for departing employees, focusing on their contributions and growth during their tenure. This gesture of goodwill can strengthen your professional relationship and increase the chances that they will reciprocate with positive endorsements of your leadership and the company. Make sure to tailor each recommendation to the individual's skills and achievements to show genuine appreciation for their work.

Depart Transparently and Gratefully Manage Your Group

Just as you will need to prepare for teammate departures, eventually you will be the person departing. You might be moving to another organization, transitioning to a new team, receiving a promotion, or letting a project wind down. In each of these scenarios, how you communicate your departure to your manager and the team is important. Burkus provides specific tips for achieving both effectively, along with some additional considerations to remember during that awkward but necessary conversation.

Practical Tips

• Set up a peer-shadowing program within your team where members periodically shadow each other's work. This cross-training approach ensures that there is always someone else who understands the basics of a colleague's role, which can be invaluable when someone leaves unexpectedly.
• Set up a digital legacy contact with your email and social media accounts. Many platforms like Facebook and Google allow you to designate someone to manage your accounts after you pass away. This ensures your digital presence is handled according to your wishes without burdening others with the guesswork.
• Develop a transition plan that outlines how you will hand over your responsibilities. This plan should include a timeline, key contacts for each of your projects, and any documentation you have prepared. Share this plan with both your manager and your team to demonstrate your commitment to a smooth handover and to minimize the impact of your departure on the team's workflow.
• Practice writing farewell messages for different scenarios. Write out a few templates for goodbye emails or notes for various situations, such as leaving a job, moving to a new city, or graduating from school. This helps you articulate your thoughts clearly and warmly when the time comes, and you can tailor the message to the specific person or group you're addressing.
• Practice active listening during departure conversations by summarizing what the other person has said and asking open-ended questions to encourage them to share more. This approach helps you gather additional information that might not be immediately apparent, allowing for a more in-depth understanding of the situation and a more meaningful farewell.