New Employer, New Employee = Fear of the Unknown 

A new hire. A new job. 

The word new in this context expresses unknown. 

In a situation where a new employee is brought onto a team, there are a lot of unknowns on both sides: 

The employee is not certain of what to expect of their new position and team; and 

The employer is not sure whether the employee will be a good fit or not.

Those unknowns can cause tension and anxiety, not to mention unmet expectations, dissatisfaction, disengagement, and employee turnover.  

In a remote environment, there are even more unknowns because you must rely only on virtual communication methods to communicate and understand expectations. 

How can you reduce unknowns?

There are several ways you can reduce the number of unknowns in a new hire situation. 

Remote Employers can: 

• Thoroughly vet candidates by going through various rounds of interviews,...

 Learning and development doesn't just happen in a formal class setting—it can happen anywhere. And one of the beautiful things about the internet is that there is plenty of inspiration to be found for all sorts of topics—including how we work. There is no better example of a source of new ideas than TED. Here are 10 TED talks that will inspire you to work differently, or at least consider the possibilities. 

1. Jason Fried, Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work

2. Stefan Sagmeister, The Power of Time Off

3. Simon Sinek, How Great Leaders Inspire Action 

4. Arianna Huffington, How to Succeed: Get More Sleep 

5. Linda Hill, How to Manage for Collective Creativity 

6. Luis von Ahn, Massive Scale Online Collaboration 

7. Celeste Headlee, 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation 

8. David Grady, How to Save the World or at Least Yourself from Bad Meetings 

...

Back in the fall we posted a list of remote work conferences... as is everything else in this space, things are always changing and there are more and more opportunities for connecting with other remote professionals! Here are three events that are coming up this summer. 

Rebel + Connect Remote Work Summit 

Dates: May 31-June 4, 2018 

Location: Lake Atitlan, Guatemala 

Audience: Remote leaders 

Website: http://www.rebelandconnect.co/remote-work-summit-2018/ 

Remote Work Summit is a leadership conference that addresses the specific needs of business leaders who oversee distributed teams. Hear insights from and connect with leaders from speakers from Dell, Microsoft, Buffer, Automattic, and many many more. 

The programming, sessions, and cultural and nature excursions will give you a well-rounded experience. 

Running Remote 

Dates: June 23-24, 2018 

Location: Bali,...

We've been busy here at workplaceless! In addition to content we create on this blog and the content we share on social media, we’ve been developing a portfolio of learning experiences for remote professionals. We are finally at the point where I can share the good news:

We're launching a brand new program JUST for remote leaders:  

The Leadplaceless Program is a 3-month program that consists of six complete self-paced courses on Remote Leadership: 

1. Culture (Weeks 1-2) 

2. Communication (Weeks 3-4) 

3. Managing Performance (Week 5-6)

4. Conflict Management (Weeks 7-8) 

5. Vision (Weeks 9-10) 

6. Learning & Development (Weeks 11-12) 

The program begins on September 4, but you can reserve your spot right now!

Ready to sign up? Click here!

Let's talk networking events. You know that building a network is important to getting a job and moving up in your career, so you attend them, or at least, you've attended them in the past. 

You take your business card and you head over, ready to work the room and meet new connections. Sometimes it pans out, sometimes not. Sometimes, you have to explain what working remotely is all about. And sometimes, it's just a complete wash. 

Now tell me this: have you ever wondered why all these events are still done in person? Think about the time it takes to attend traditional networking events: getting ready, traveling to the place, and then the actual event itself, then traveling back. It seems silly to use all that extra commuting time when there are so many tools that are at our disposal now that make simulating face-to-face interactions so much easier. 

Well, now there is an event that uses these tools to network virtually. 

And you're...

If you've ever gone through the process of hiring a new team member, you know it can be one of the hardest things you have to do in business. How do you know if someone is the right person? How can you make sure you have the best remote employees on your team? 

While there is no one equation to find the perfect fit for an open position (and one might even argue that there is no such thing as a perfect fit) there are some attributes that make an individual a good fit for a remote position. Here are just some adjectives that describe ideal remote employees.

 Traits of the Best Remote Employees

Curious

Since remote workers often have to do a lot of digging to get a solid understanding of work structure and expectations, curiosity is a key trait to look for. Does the candidate ask questions? How do they solve problems? Are they invested in their own learning and growth? What are they learning right now, or plan to learn in the near future?

Communicative

Communication is...

As I write to you from Madrid, Spain, and checking things off my work to-do list, it occurred to me that I haven't spent much time on this blog discussing one of the best perks of working remotely: being able to travel while working. If you take this perk to the extreme, you're in a group of professionals called digital nomads.

People have been traveling for work since... well, forever. Hunting, gathering, sailing, exploring, sales...plenty of work-related activities have long involved leaving the home for a certain amount of time.

So what's so special about being a digital nomad?

If you're a digital nomad:

• All you need to complete your work is a computer and internet connection
• You can work from literally anywhere in the world — and you do!
• Your livelihood doesn't depend on you staying in just one place
• You use various tools to communicate with your team and customers, like email, video chat, Slack, phone, or other tools
• You have a flexible schedule

The...

In remote teams, meetings are essential to building relationships, communication, and collaboration. But virtual meetings can also be one of the biggest time-wasters in remote teams. 

Tell me if any of the following situations sound familiar:

• You're at a meeting that you probably don't need to attend, but attendance is mandatory
•  All anyone is doing at the meeting is presenting updates
• There is no interaction between meeting participants
• One or a couple of people dominate the discussion
• The meeting runs long
• There is no clear agenda
• By the end of the meeting, people are confused about next steps

We've all been in meetings that were poorly run, boring, or just unnecessary.

Virtual meetings don't have to be that way

Meetings are critical in virtual teams because they provide structured opportunities for team members to interact. Note that the key word here is interact. If your meeting participants are not interacting, then you should rethink the purpose of the...