How I remedy my fears about leading a remote team

(Guest post by Shane Reiser) At Startup Genome I lead a remote team of seven—some full time, some on contract. I have three fears leading a remote team: not knowing what my team is doing, not being there to help them push through an obstacle and not having enough fun. Here’s what I do to…

Founder Friday is a weekly guest post written by a founder who is based in or hails from the Silicon Prairie. Each month, a topic relevant to startups is presented and founders share lessons learned or best practices utilized on that topic. January’s topic is working remotely. 

About the author: Shane Reiser is the co-founder of Startup Genome, a nonprofit based in Omaha. 


At Startup Genome I lead a remote team of seven—some full time, some on contract. I have three fears leading a remote team: not knowing what my team is doing, not being there to help them push through an obstacle and not having enough fun.

Here’s what I do to remedy my fears:

  1. Build yourself a notification command center so you always know what’s going on.
  2. Do for them whatever you expect them to do for you. Answer the phone when they call. Call them when the email you’re writing gets more than five sentences long. If you’re going to be out of the office, communicate why and when you’ll be back. Follow all the same processes and rules you ask of them.
  3. You have to be an inbox master. Pretend that when your team emails you, they are sitting on their hands waiting for your response before they can get back to work. Respond to everything that same day, always, even if it’s just “I will get back to you on this on Thursday.” You must be there for your team. They need you. Lead by example. You want them to respond to your emails quickly, don’t you?
  4. Minimize tools. Stop trying a new productivity tool every week. Your goal should be to decrease the number of tools your team uses. At Startup Genome, we use Asana, Pivotal Tracker, Github, Google Docs and Google Hangouts.
  5. None of the above matters if you don’t hire the best people. Don’t settle. Wait for the best. Pay them what they’re worth to get them. There’s nothing worse than working with someone who does just enough to get by. You will die a little bit inside each time they send you mediocre work. Hiring (and firing) is your first priority as a team leader. No one on the team should ever feel like someone else isn’t pulling their weight.
  6. Have fun. Be goofy on video chat. Drink a beer with your team virtually on Fridays. Schedule time to fly out and see them in person and don’t talk about work while you’re there, just have fun. Make jokes in team chat rooms and emails. Your mission is to never let an employee think “this company is boring.”

Prior to Startup Genome, I worked remotely for three organizations over the past five years. As a remote employee, I had two fears: getting distracted and being forgotten. Here’s how I ultimately solved those:

  1. Forget about “time management,” just be in the right environment. Do whatever you need to find a place where you slip into that state of euphoric focus in which you get real uninterrupted time. Maybe your house isn’t the best place for you to work. Maybe you need to go into your basement. Maybe you need to literally remove the TV from your house or send your dog to doggy daycare. Try a standing desk or sitting on an exercise ball. Don’t open email or Facebook (or whatever you’re addicted to) before lunch or until you’ve completed your most important task for the day.
  2. To make sure you’re not forgotten, over-communicate. Email, chat, call and comment on documents and tickets like crazy. When in doubt, communicate more. Be annoying. Tell your boss to let you know when it’s too much for him or her. Each person on your team has a different communication style. Your boss might like the over-communication or they might hate it. After just two or three weeks of doing this, you’ll have a feel for how much communication is too much and no one on your team will forget to include you on stuff.

 

Credits: Shane Reiser photo courtesy of Reiser. 

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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