Do you have the skills to work remotely long term

Most companies now have some element of remote working in place. A small number have moved to a fully remote model, the majority are opting for a hybrid pattern of two to three days per week in the office and the rest of the time working remotely (although many are still not enforcing this).

But have our skills and people processes caught up with this reality?

Of course we went through a crash course in working remotely, and in particular in using collaboration technology, during the pandemic period. But now working remotely is business as usual for the long term, we need to update our leadership collaboration and personal effectiveness training and practises to reflect this

If you are working in a remote or hybrid pattern then every “soft” skill you exercise at work needs to be delivered in an environment where some people are present and others are remote.

If you need to make a presentation, run a meeting, influence people, build a team, lead others etc. you need to do this in a way that works across distance and through technology.

If you are a leader or organisation operating a hybrid model where some people are in the office and others not then you need to overcome proximity bias in the way you lead, communicate and allocate work, development and progression

If you run hybrid meetings you need the skills to ensure that both the people in the room and the people joining remotely are engaged and contribute fully.

Are you creating an equivalent experience for the people who are remote and the people who are in the office?

With training budgets under pressure we need to prioritise developing the skills people need to succeed in this environment long term.

We have been developing and delivering training for people who work remotely for 30 years now, since we developed the world’s first remote and virtual teams training program.

Unsurprisingly we’ve moved beyond the basics to develop a whole curriculum of training that supports this way of working and we have trained over 150,000 people around the world from over 400 organisations.

Here are just some of the key modules that we have developed.

• leadership in hybrid world
• engaging hybrid meetings
• leading a hybrid work conversation
• virtual essentials
• building trust remotely
• staying visible when working remotely
• running engaging virtual meetings
• developing a remote communication heartbeat
• sustainable productivity at work life balance when working from home
• continuous empowerment
• remote coaching
• staying creative working virtually
• ready more inclusive virtual meetings
• positive remote performance conversations
• introduction to global leadership
• working across cultures

Does your learning curriculum include these topics? If you don’t see what you need please get in touch, it is unlikely to be something we haven’t come across in 30 years of focus on this area.

If you need to embed the skills of remote working into your people for the long term you can find out more about each of these modules and download a brochure at https://www.global-integration.com/virtual-teams-training/

Your might also enjoy our book Leading remote and virtual teams