From my upcoming book “Effective Remote Tech Teams”
to be published by Taylor and Francis.
Real life story —
Decades ago, I worked for NCR, the company had problems, so many problems. Changes were made. A new CEO was hired, Lars Nyberg.
Lars was awesome, Lars directly addressed all 15,000 NCR employees every month. He did a brief (10-20min) video. Copies of the video on VHS tape were distributed worldwide. He wanted the video to be seen by everyone.
The monthly “Lars Video” was viewed at all team meetings with managers present.
The format was consistent: 1) some good news, 2) some “needs work” and 3) some general management guidance. The call to action was consistent: discuss with your team, discuss with your manager. This is the means of closed loop feedback to both front line management and up to exec management if warranted.
His guidance included this memorable quote “Push decisions into the hands of the people closest to the problem, they are most qualified.” This was 20+ years ago and was a refreshing change from top-down hierarchical management. Seeing Lars speak, seeing his body language, and hearing his deliberate language imparted both trust and credibility. Lars did not try to be someone he wasn’t. He was not high-energy, or charismatic, nor did he attempt to exert any force of personality. He was himself, very genuine and highly credible. The kind of leader who everyone wanted to be with.
Lars Nyberg, using VHS tape, effectively implemented a frequent and high value “All Hands” to a very large worldwide company with tens of thousands of employees.
Fast forward to present day, we now all have video conferencing. So, a “Lars-style all hands” monthly video call is not just possible, its easy and near zero cost. As we are remote, executive presence is more valuable, more impactful, and more mandatory than ever.
Do a monthly “Lars-style all hands”. Why not? It serves to connect the remote personnel to organizational leadership and impart a shared sense of place: you belong to the bigger group, and a shared sense of purpose: the shared goals of the organization.
Remote (and video conferencing) presents an incredible opportunity for executives to be more present and engaged. Executives can offer to informally join the occasional team meeting. Can be just 5 minutes, to communicate the teams’ importance in the bigger picture, re-iterate the goals and key results, and say thanks for the hard work (catch them doing something right).
Brain – when remote, Am I invisible? Do I matter? Do I have a place and a purpose?
Best methods – Executive video conference for monthly all hands. And Executive appearances at team meetings show: The team is not invisible. The team does matter. The team does have a place and a purpose.