How do you develop and retain remote workers' skills and motivation?

While SMART goals are helpful, sometimes specificity is not enough. Mixing goal-setting techniques: ?? boosts team productivity ?? creates the right motivation ?? brings not only the result but also fulfillment These 5 goal setting techniques teach us to set effective goals and get concrete results: ?? Mmm - use this technique to nurture team growth ?? Smart - use this technique to set performance goals ?? Woop - use this technique to facilitate behavioural change ?? Raw - use this technique to boost personal & team motivation ?? Hard - use this technique to drive a long-term personal & team development #TheGoodBusy

Years before the pandemic I distance managed a team of mortgage advisers - it was one of the most enjoyable management roles I had. We would set crazy challenges at the start of the week and have bets as to who could achieve them and by when. One example was gaining a mortgage lead from the most unusual place - one of the advisors was travelling by train she accidentally on purpose dropped her business on the floor of the train - and a traveller helped her pick them up - only to advise they needed help with a new mortgage. Result !! Clear goal - with lots of fun added and it really created a buzz each week as they were keen to know the new goal of the week. Booking time in each week to chat with each team member was key !

Every time my team came to me with a question they needed the answer to they would explain the question and then laugh and say - you are now going to say this is a great learning opportunity to find out the answer. I would laugh and say I dont know all the answers - where do you think you could start , who might be able to start you off, how would you coach a colleague to find the answer. Giving people the confidence to find out for themselves and to not shame if things go wrong is powerful. We learn the most when things go wrong !! Every day is an opportunity to learn. Learning online for many a great way to learn - work at your own pace. As a provider of material for use with remote workers - it challenges you to be creative too

Here is how I used to provide learning & development opportunities to my team: 1/ L&D company offer (aligned with personal development plans) 2/ Any training the team thought would bring them closer to the personal development goal (they did the research) 3/ Ted Talks (I'm a huge fan...): I regularly shared with my team 4/ Books (again huge fan...): regularly shared what I learned with my team 5/ Learning exchange: if someone attended a training, learned a book, watched a documentary, we invited the team to share (team meetings for example) 6/ Uplifting each other skills: if I knew someone had a great skill, I would invite another colleague to ask them to teach them (same from different departments/teams) #TheGoodBusy

One of the things virtual teams miss out on is the "water cooler" chat moments where people share what is going on in their lives. While this is often superficial, sometimes these conversations uncover deeper emotions. One of the things we are doing with "small talk" is to reveal small vulnerabilities, and this helps us assess the degree to which we can trust people, which informs the networks we build at work. In one to one and small group video calls, leaders should make time to encourage everyone to check in and talk about what is going on for them. If someone has an upcoming challenge, schedule time to drop them an email to check how things went. That shows you are thinking about them even when you aren't directly connected.

My belief is there is no such thing as work-life balance. There is only balance. We live and breathe when we work. When we promote work-life balance, the indirect message is: - working is not living - working is bad Many people enjoy work. And we also can learn how. We all have to work in one way or another. Why not start accepting that work is an integral part of life? As a manager, my job was to ensure the work is done and the team is fulfilled. I didn't care how long they worked. And I made sure that they enjoyed life beyond work. But... my most important task for to teach them how to enjoy life at work. #TheGoodBusy

Take your annual pay work out your hourly rate - keep a diary of the number of extra hours you do in a week = a few emails whilst watching TV at night, a few quick messages whilst prepping tea. Add those hours up if your hourly rate was ￡10 an hour and you do an extra 5 hours a week - you can look at it 2 ways - you give your company ￡50 worth of FREE time each week or your hourly rate reduces per hour as you are doing more hours than your contract requests you to. I did this exercise myself once and was shocked to see how many FREE hours I was giving away - Remember this when you are about to take annual leave you work your magic to complete all your tasks before you finish. So is it really a case of working smarter not harder !!

Team Engagement results by creating a robust culture that champions Health & Wellness in the workplace. It is the responsibility of leaders to make it a way of life, conceptualize, and define the ideal culture. Transformation leadership ingrains empathy, mutual respect, and trust or transparency. Keep employees informed, “try to deal with them in an open, transparent, morally justified manner,”. Implement flexible work arrangements. Open communication and feedback. Continuous learning and development. Use of technology to facilitate collaboration. Share success stories, and recognition.