What are some successful remote work models and practices?

I love the hybrid. We come together face to face, our physically present and we deliver. We also discuss, we overcome whatever we need to, we clarify, and during hybrid, we actually get to know each of our personalities. This is vital, because when we are online, we know what is expected out of us, we are comfortable with the people/team. Making communication smooth. I practice this as well with my clients. Before we proceed to online yoga sessions, we have at least 2 or 3 physical sessions. We get to know each other, we get to know their personality & they mine as well. Working for us.

The hybrid model is a dance of flexibility and structure. It’s about understanding when your presence amplifies collaboration and when solitude fuels productivity. It’s a rhythm you create with your team, respecting both collective needs and individual rhythms. How do you balance your in-office and remote days to maximize both your focus and team synergy? In many ways, Hybrid takes the most thought and effort to balance effectively, but can provide the best of both environments if managed consciously.

A nice way to keep people connected is to have a Weekly All Hands session (online). This can include short intros by newcomers, updates on key initiatives, polling on key questions, breakouts to get to know new people etc. It should be a fun, energizing, short and sweet event at a fixed time in the week.

Embracing fully remote work is embracing a world without borders. It offers a canvas to paint your work-life balance, but it’s not without its challenges. Cultivating a strong virtual culture and ensuring you have a workspace that inspires productivity are key. How have you tailored your remote environment to foster both creativity and discipline? This is mostly where I live. Laptop, phone, work.

I have been lucky enough to enjoy a fully remote position for several years now. For me, it is so much easier to focus and get more accomplished in this type of environment as I’m easily able to close the door. When working hybrid roles, it was easy to see how much more work was completed fully remote versus any other type of work. While I do agree that isolation can set in, I believe that managers who ensure there is team collaboration through enjoyable meetings as opposed to strictly working meetings.

A great practice of fully remote companies is for everyone to write Friday Updates: a short overview of what you achieved this week on your #1 priority and a look ahead at your #1 priority for next week. It's a great way for managers and peers to stay informed of what you are up to, and knowing that you need to write this it will keep you focused during the week.

For discussion boards and other chat options, it is important to post guidelines somewhere that can be easily seen. Users would be able to refer back to those guidelines when deciding what to say or how to say it.

Asynchronous communication is the art of time management. It respects diverse work patterns, allowing for thoughtful responses and uninterrupted deep work. How do you ensure clarity and continuity in your asynchronous communications? This is how I exist on Linkedin. I have no expectations for a response, ever. It's nice. Then you're never disappointed, and always pleasantly surprised by a reply! Could also be described as Stoicism :)

Not all students learn the same. Ideally, there should be options for both synchronous and asynchronous communication. For instance, someone could decide to use Microsoft Team meetings for instruction and emailing for assignments.

Synchronous communication is the heartbeat of a team. It’s where ideas collide and evolve. The trick is not to let these live interactions overrun your calendar. How do you keep these real-time engagements efficient and purposeful? Ensure that you know the communications preferences of every player on your team, and design your presence based efforts to serve the best environment for results.

Mindfulness in remote work isn’t just a practice; it’s a tool for clarity and calm in a digital world. It’s about grounding yourself in the now, amidst a whirl of virtual interactions. How do you integrate mindfulness into your daily routine to stay centred and focused? Tell me what you know about the proven difference between live and recorded mindfulness programs!

Mindfulness, meaning accessing this innate capacity using practices like meditation, can enhance our stress management, be it in the office or working remotely. When working from home, mindfulness can help us to more likely to be aware of the need to establish healthy boundaries to separate our work time from not working time. We can commit to starting and ending our work hours at reasonable hours and create rituals for transitioning into and out of the work day to replace the traditional commute.

I completely agree. One of the major drawbacks to remote work is the tendency to sit and stare at the screen for ages to get as much done as possible. Personally I’ve found that as a team leader or course director, it’s important to schedule breaks for synchronous meetings or remind the team to take mindful breaks at various points in asynchronous lessons. Remote work is supposed to make our lives better with improved efficiency so we shouldn’t set ourselves back with headaches, eye strain and poor physical & mental health. That would be most ironic!