EP09 - Motivation, Engagement and Trust in Remote Teams w/Nadia Harris
How do you motivate, engage and build trust among remote teams? Our guest on this episode is Nadia Harris, the founder of remoteworkadvocate.com, the go-to place for companies embracing flexible work and individuals willing to thrive in the remote world.
We cover motivation and engagement, building trust, remote team performance, and how there's a shift happening from top down to bottom up management
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Transcript:
Matt Hayman (00:16):
Hi, and welcome to Leading Remotely. I'm your host, Matt Haman. Thanks as always for taking the time to listen to the show today. In this episode, I'm speaking with Nadia Harris, the founder of remote work advocate.com, the go-to place for companies embracing flexible work and individuals willing to thrive in the remote world. A fantastic episode. This one I love speaking with Nadia. She's clearly a deep thinker on the subject and we cover a lot of ground in this episode. We cover motivation and engagement, building trust, remote team performance, and how there's a shift happening from top down to bottom up management. My thanks to Nadia for coming on the show and being such a generous guest. Let's get straight to the interview with Nadia Harris.
Voiceover (01:01):
Woo,
Nadia Harris (01:03):
I'm doing really good. Thank you so much for the invite. I'm really excited.
Matt Hayman (01:07):
Fantastic. I'm thrilled that you're on the show. It was a while ago that we first spoke and I'm keen to get you on. Loads to discuss. Loads to cover. We're gonna talk about motivation, engagement, trust, performance, topics that I know are super relevant to our audience, but let's kick off in the way we usually do with it. Little bit of an introduction to you and some of the work that you
Nadia Harris (01:26):
Do. Thank you very much, Alex. Sharing the beginning of my story. I started working remotely before anyone else did <laugh>, if I can call it that way. Back in 2015, uh, I started with a gig for which I was paid $4 exactly. And I still have the check at home. I never cashed it. I thought it was a skim in the end with time. It turned out, yeah, it was a voiceover gig that was paid by the minute, so obviously that's why it was just $4. But then with time I started seeing that well, hmm, this may be really interesting. And it has actually triggered my mind to think about the opportunities that the world has to offer, that we don't have to be connected only to the workforce talent pools and also to the opportunities that are around us. But, um, sky is the limit literally.
(02:08):
And throughout time, obviously today, sometime ago I founded remote work advocate.com, which is, I call it the goal to place when it comes to companies willing to embrace flexible working, whether it's hybrid working, remote working, having a remote first mindset, operations, talent, and also legal elements when it comes to the flexibility. Now we talk a lot about, um, working from anywhere, how is that possible? How can you work and travel, all that kind of stuff. But also frameworks when it comes to managing a team, uh, like this. And also I think it's a resource for individuals who are willing to find a remote job because there's so much out there, but they don't know how to start. So I thought, well, if it's remote work advocate, why not really advocate with full force? So that's what I do and I work with companies all around the world and that is so much fun because my mission means everything to me.
Matt Hayman (03:00):
That's brilliant. So as you know, we are really talking to remote first leaders on this podcast. And one of the issues that I know comes up for them time and time again is the issue of motivation and engagement. They're working with teams who are remote, but they know that motivation and engagement are important. What do you think are some of the characteristics of a really engaged remote team?
Nadia Harris (03:19):
Well, I would start with the fact that the market has taught us for the past few years that motivation is really important to keep people on board. And that's the reason why we've seen for the past few years an explosion of benefits of employee benefits. So what's happening right now is that when we have people in a remote team, we keep thinking, what can we give them? Like what can we give them so that they stay so that they're happy? And that's a moment when I say, take a step back here because this is not a rat race, it's not a composition. You give something, someone else is gonna give a little bit more gone. They are, Yeah. So we don't want to make this happen. So in other words, we have to distinguish two different types of motivation. We have to distinguish intrinsic and and extrinsic motivation.
(04:06):
So the first one is exactly what we want to have. It's the why behind why I want to join this company, why I want to be here, what resonates with me, what do I believe in. So when I see remote risk companies that have a very well formulated mission, vision, and values, and the people connect with it immediately, then that's the most important factor that keeps them on board. Now, the second type of motivation means that we are giving something to someone. Okay. And because of the fact that motivates the person to do something or they're scared of something. So that's why they do a certain thing that we ask them for. And obviously, as much as it's also important to build a culture where people get rewards for all the great job that they're doing, they feel fulfilled, they're more committed. That makes sense.
(04:54):
But I would say the ratio is 70, 30%. So what makes a team motivated really and engaged? When we talk about a distributed team, it's definitely starting with the cultural fit. And with cultural fit, I don't mean hiring people like ourselves, that's a complete misunderstanding, right? <laugh>, and I've see this in many companies, that we have a young dynamic team. So we are targeting young dynamic people. No, no, no, that's exactly not the story. It's how we connect when it comes to what we believe in together. So how we embrace the fact that we are diverse, but how do we see that we are on the same mission, on the same rocket ship, right? To reach its destination. That's really important. And then in that case, when we don't see each other on a daily basis, okay, then we know, okay, I know why I've joined because I just really want to, and I'm not waiting for someone to give something to me.
(05:46):
Except what do we talk about engagement as well? I say when you join the company because of that deep motivation that you feel, it's a promise you get from the company. It's a promise that the company gets from the candidate that, yeah, we will do this together. Then now what we need are the tools for the candidate, for the employee to succeed. And that builds engagement. So if you make a promise that yeah, we're going to do great things together, but then the person joins, they are at home, never, You never get feedback, you never get proper tools. You don't have, I don't know, KPIs, OKRs in place. Your manager literally doesn't tell you whether you're doing a good or a bad job. You don't connect with anyone. You can't succeed. And even if you get a gift, you're not gonna be engaged because it's nonsense.
Matt Hayman (06:29):
I'm nodding away cuz I completely agree with you. And, and we talked about this in in before we hit record around, uh, some of the bad practices that you've seen. You mentioned gifts there. What are some other examples of, of well meaning perhaps, but very ineffective ways of, uh, of trying to build this engagement that you've seen?
Nadia Harris (06:45):
Yeah, definitely incentivizing people. And I also see this in hybrid companies these days. A lot hybrid in both remote definitely. So that doesn't help. Those are ideas. Like probably the worst one that I've heard, and I always mention it, no offense to anyone, is sending people honey when it got cold. I mean I, I really appreciated a lot, but you know, that's nice that you would send me a jar of honey. I mean let's look at it that way, but how is that going to help me succeed in my role? And then I, I observed these HR forums and that's where I get all these negative inspirations on what not to do. And I feel that we have a clash. We have a clash between what and HR and people department sometimes is willing to do and what the people actually want. Okay, everyone has great intentions, but then in the end there is a clash somewhere in between and it's just not working out.
(07:38):
So definitely incentives like that, what I've mentioned, for example, organizing socials that are mandatory. How can a social be mandatory? Like you wanna say, okay, today in the afternoon we are going to play bingo. It's a very important social, well maybe I don't care about playing bingo, you know, online developing a deep zoom fatigue syndrome even more than I've had that before. So I think when it comes to great examples of how it's done properly, it's something a bit deeper than just giving something to someone but rather connecting how we can do this together. How it adds value to me. And I don't want to make, I don't want to guess. I think that we always should ask our people. Ask them. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. It's really that simple.
Matt Hayman (08:24):
So you mentioned earlier on there about mission and vision and alignment between employees and those in particular. Is that something that you think is fairly common amongst younger employees or are you seeing that across age group sage gaps? How do you see them?
Nadia Harris (08:40):
I would say that it differs when it comes to different age groups. And I think that one of the most important things to realize, especially today in the distributed world is the fact that the workplace is changing. And again, the clash that I see a lot is that we and companies have some patterns on how we've always done this. And then we have younger generations stepping into these companies and the thing is that they have completely different expectations of how they see things happening, how they should be happening. So for example, a very good concept is flexibility. Most companies that I speak with, they say okay, flexibility is the fact that you can work remotely, which they associate with literally working from home and that's what I'm giving you. Whereas you are looking at your laptop eight hours straight, it has nothing to do with flexibility, just not with the commute.
(09:35):
So I think that today people are looking for a fit when it comes to, it's called a work life fit, right? Sometimes work life integration. That's what they look for. So that a job, a role gives them personal fulfillment. They know why they are here, they know what's expected from them. They also require definitely trust, okay, that I will get things done, don't monitor me, don't look at me for hours and check, you know, and push all these buttons and show that you are my supervisor. That's long gone. It's not how we would build a transparent remote company culture these days.
Matt Hayman (10:13):
There's a couple of ways I wanna take this. We could go to trust and I think we will, we will in time. I wanna come back to trust. I think it's absolutely vital. Interestingly, I saw a report from McKinsey a while ago looking at flexibility as one of the key markers Now for remote employees it's the thing that really they are looking for and value probably above all else. Have you any examples from the work that you've done or clients that you've spoken to of a very effective approach to flexibility and what that might look like in the real
Nadia Harris (10:40):
World? Absolutely. So definitely copying the nine to five model in a distributed setup. This is not remote, This is absolutely not flexibility. Again, as I've said, the only thing that falls off is the commute. Okay? So if you want to do this right, we definitely have to have very clear expectations. So some clients of mine would say, okay, we have core hours, uh, during these core hours we are expected to for example, have meetings be available if necessary. And those are let's say three, four hours within a day. The rest you plan the way you want it, right? You work this way that suits you best, right? So that's what we do. And also one of the most common benefits these days and that's something that I've been extremely passionate about and also designing different solutions. My background is also a lawyer, I'm also a lawyer.
(11:30):
So hence this, this passion for that is flexibility when it comes to the location. So enabling people to travel to work from different destinations. So I see that there is a very strong influence of digital nomads and like yeah, live the way you want, travel the way you want. It's not always possible if you have people hired on an employment contract, especially in your country. But it's possible to draft a vocation or short term working abroad policy. And I see this extremely effective when it comes to flexibility. Of course not everyone wants to travel, but let's look at it that way. We have relatives, we have family in other countries, we want to spend a bit more time with them. So obviously it is possible to design frameworks like that. So let's say someone during summertime, they go somewhere and they stay there for two weeks and then they're like, Oh I just don't wanna go back home, let's stay two more weeks. But I'm gonna work from there as long as we are aligned when it comes to the goals and the time zone and everything. So I think like becoming location independent definitely and also time independent except the core hours. It's not about sitting straight looking at our calendars, whether they're full or not, to be like, yeah, you're busy today. It's absolutely not this kind of story.
Matt Hayman (12:45):
Okay, so then let's think about the value that employees bring and and how employers demonstrate the value of the employees work. Why do you think it's important then that team members have a good sense of how their contribution to the overall objective impacts on team performance?
Nadia Harris (13:04):
Because that gives them fulfillment and that's how they understand uh, the importance of being there. So now when we look at it from a management perspective, we have serious problems with proximity bias in hybrid teams today, but also with kind of something that is also proximity bias remotely, which this is all about my manager looking at me online in meetings, looking at my calendar, checking how quickly I respond to messages, things like that. So this definitely has to go because if we are again aligned when it comes to what we are supposed to deliver, when we are supposed to deliver it, how our path is being designed to do check-ins on the way, Okay, I have a problem, I am lost. I don't know how to do it. Who is that go-to person? Who's going to help me? How can I succeed? Have we designed the whole process when it comes to project management this way that our people can succeed then we don't have to keep monitoring them constantly.
(14:05):
I think it's also a bit mindset shift of being self-sufficient. So I think that we are now shifting from a culture where we're from cultures where it was all about what an employer is going to give me, give me this, give me this, give me this and I'm just gonna be there in the office nine to 5, 5 0 1. Bye bye. I'm gone. I'm not here. Now we are going towards something different, which is all about creating an environment that will help you succeed as an individual so that you can feel your commitment. And also knowing that if you do something wrong, like you're gonna be like, I'm just not gonna finish this task today. You're blocking your team from succeeding because we have agreed all of us that your contribution is super important for them to move on. And if we have that kind of understanding rather than pinging and supervision or what are you doing then, then we are on track.
Matt Hayman (14:59):
And this is where I want to go to now. When we think about trust in particular, the trust that's required on the part of the employer to assume that the the employee's doing what they should. You talked about proximity bias and I wanna come back to that cause I think that's a, a fundamental part of trust. Can you just unpack what you mean by proximity bias and its impact on the way employers trust employees
Nadia Harris (15:21):
Proximity bias in a nutshell, <laugh> is something that I believe in what I see, okay, So that means especially when I talk about hybrid teams that start with that where we have par some team members in the office and it's gonna be like, okay, you're in the office, I see you, you're working, you are there. So you have better chances to succeed, to get promoted, to get raised right, to be recognized, to be appraised, right? If you're remote, I don't see you, I have absolutely no idea what you're doing. And then if we have a distributed team, okay, it's all about how can I using the tooling and software now replicate this visual issue that I don't have. So let's try to look at our Slack or discord or MS teams or Skype, whatever you're using, and check if the light is green. Oh it's green there, there.
(16:16):
And then we see situations that are completely ridiculous. Where I have for example, channels when I work with some teams, I have channels in in their communication apps. In one channel there's 300 people and one person at one o'clock literally is sending a message, Guys, I'm just gonna grab a quick coffee, I'll be back in 15 minutes. Why <laugh>, does everyone need to do this? Would you walk around the office space and tell everyone 300 people that you're off for coffee for 15 minutes? It's ridiculous. But it's the way that people are trying to express and show their managers and everyone, Hey, I'm here although you can't see me, so this is very ridiculous. But whereas today we should be focusing on results on the output on not showing that I am there because we can't replicate this virtually. It's completely ridiculous.
Matt Hayman (17:14):
Hey, it's Matt again. Do you lead remote teams but struggle with spontaneous communication and collaboration? If so, I'd like to invite you to check out our platform wonder.me a virtual workspace where teams can connect, collaborate and grow working side by side from anywhere. For a limited time only podcast listeners can use the discount code L r P 30 to get 30% off your first three month subscription or annual plan. Head over to wonder.me, start your free trial today and use the discount code l r P 30. Now back to the interview. And that brings us really nicely on to performance because I think that's another element here that's very important to remote leaders. I know that you are a big advocate of OKRs and I'd like to just explore that a little bit. Some people listening to this will be familiar with OKRs, some people less. So could you just give us a bit of a primer around OKRs, but specifically why you think they're most appropriate to remote teams in particular?
Nadia Harris (18:19):
Absolutely. So we spoke about the mission and vision briefly in the beginning. We spoke about the values. So this is our foundation, okay? That's the foundation. We, let's say we have the right people on board. We know we are on a mission to do something together. So those are our OKRs. Okay? So it's OKRs are really all about the moonshot that we are willing to achieve together. It's something o OKRs, objective key results, okay? It is where we want to be. And it's usual. You're very ambitious. It's a very ambitious goal. So if I feel that the mission, vision and the values of the company resonate with me and we have this big goal and I know how my team is working and contributing towards that big goal together, I feel that it's giving me fulfillment. Whereas most teams, for example, when they use KPIs, which is really good, it's all about productivity.
(19:10):
I agree. It's not like you have KPIs and you can't have OKRs because still you can have KPIs which are these operational steps. Um, very much data focused on what you have to achieve, but then still it can bring us closer to an okr. So OKRs are great because they focus on the super important aspect that I spoke about in the beginning, intrinsic motivation, right? I know why I'm here, I want to be here. It is just so amazing that we can do this together and it's all of us as a team that contribute to this mission. And that's why OKRs are so important to keep people motivated and engaged, um, and also feel part of the team even if they don't see each other on a daily basis.
Matt Hayman (19:54):
And, and part of that then is, is around collaboration and working together towards a shared objective. You talked about briefly just about designing the entire collaboration process and, and ay, how does a process, a collaboration process fit into that? And any examples of good practice that you've seen in your experience?
Nadia Harris (20:11):
I am a deep believer of asynchronous work. As a matter of fact, I believe that not only remote first or hybrid companies should be async first, but also office first companies should be ay first <laugh>. Why? Because it's all about intentionality behind our work. So asynchronous work means that we are able to deliver results that are aiming towards our common goal in our own time. But it's not just what's really important to, to, to stress here. It's not about me, me as an individual because I may be like, I prefer working at 6:00 AM you prefer working, you're the most productive at one. It doesn't mean that I am just going to do my thing without paying attention to how my team works best. So when we design our processes in a remote for steam, we should think about it. Um, how are we going to automate our work?
(21:09):
Maybe asynchronously, maybe if we want to be on track several times during the day or during the week, we can even set up these bots that are going to user communication tools and say, okay, um, WhatsApp is everything on track, Any issues, any problems do you think we should meet? Yes, No. And it gives us this feeling that yes, it's automated as much as we can. We know when our deadline is by when we can deliver, but we don't have to sit straight and admire our beautiful faces all the time, you know, looking at our screens and our laptops. So it's all about, um, intentional planning of everyone's work and tasks taken into account. The fact that we know by when something needs to be done, how do I do this? Who can help me? What can I expect on the way if there is, I don't know a problem I need to reach out and um, how are we going to check quality?
(22:05):
And then if we have everybody on track with that and everyone knows what to do, very precisely what tasks are assigned, they just do it and on the way we meet. But a very crucial aspect of that is documentation. So asynchronous communication is not going to happen if you don't have your processes documented and if you don't have proper project management software either. So, and then obviously the next element of that is communication. So you have to communicate. You can do this asynchronously verbal or nonverbal. Yes, you can be verbal async, you can also record video messages, share your screen. There are tons of apps to do that. But you can also meet synchronously, but you should be async first because it helps save time and it's just much more productive. Taken into account the dramatic statistics that even a few months ago there was a report released by Cisco that says that on average 30% of our employees on average spend one full day stuck in meetings. So imagine how much that is if you multiply it by the number of employees. And then if we go one step farther, there's also a really good research from the University of North Carolina that tells us that on average 70% of meetings are nonsense. So now think about it, how much time and money and resources you're losing on not doing it the right way.
Matt Hayman (23:24):
So what one of the elements of that is around communication, as you mentioned. And I know that I think we both have a shared interest in some of the psychology of of communication. And I wanted to just dial in a little bit onto one of the models, the desk model, the D E S C model, because I think that now is a good time to bring that in because if you are a sync and you are disconnected in a sense from your team, team, how you give feedback I think probably is even more important than if you were face to face. So could you just talk us through the desk model at a high level and some of the benefits it can bring for a remote leader to use that in the way they communicate?
Nadia Harris (23:57):
Absolutely. So the desk feedback model is anything but not the sandwich model, okay, <laugh>, which leads to tons of confusion. And if you leave a call then in the end you don't know whether you did something right or wrong and you just may feel very weird and have mixed feelings. So the desk feedback framework, why I again believe that it's um, quite appropriate for distributed teams, it's because it focuses on facts and it focuses on the way we feel. So it's not about, hey, you did this wrong, whatever, how could you And speed up, speed up whatever. No, no, no, no, no. It's all about the process of understanding what really happened. So the desk feedback framework helps us to focus on the context. So first we focus on the context. We say, okay, that's the context. That was the situation. You remember last week when this and that happened, then we had this particular situation.
(24:47):
You remember this particular situation because it's a fact. So to focus on facts, we go back to a few sentences when I mentioned we have to have things documented, right? If it's not documented, it doesn't exist. If we don't have project management and we don't have metrics, then it will be based on our assumptions. And remember the desk feedback framework always relies on facts. So this happened, it happened then that's the context, Okay, how does it make me feel? Okay, so you did this. That's exactly what happened. That's a fact unquestionable. And it caused the whole team to be very disappointed because we lost this deal. Okay? And then that person who has committed this crime, no, just kidding, <laugh> cuz desk can also be no, cause the desk piece, my framework can also be positive, right? Not necessarily constructive only, but then that person who did this, they're like, oh, I realize now what it did to you, how it makes you feel, how important it was for you.
(25:47):
Okay? So it also helps us eliminate unconscious bias about thinking I'm the one who's overworked, I'm constantly working, I'm delivering, you're making a big deal out of something and I'm trying very hard to make it work. No, no, no. How did it make you feel? And then I'm like, who? Okay, I was working very hard. But then I really have overseen this super important element that actually my action has now caused this side effect so to say. And then we go to the last element where we say, okay, what can we done better? And it's not me as the manager who's going to say, you do this different next time, but it's the person, it's, it's the team member who's gonna be like, okay, my suggestion to do it better next time is this and this and this. So we kind of shift the responsibility. I think that many managers also have this problem that they feel very responsible of everything. I need to keep everything together. It's my responsibility. I will tell, tell you I will give you this. No, no, no. How can we trigger our team member's mindset to help them improve and be the best versions of themselves. That's what the desk feedback framework is about.
Matt Hayman (26:55):
Excellent. And and just to be clear, for everybody listening who's not familiar with it desk, it's D E S C. So that's describe, express, specify and consequences and you've articulated those extremely well and super helpful for everybody. So in the time that we have left, I wanna pivot a little bit and think more about management more broadly. You were telling me that you are seeing more of a shift towards a bottom up type of management style away from top down. So could you just talk me through that? Why do you think there's a shift taking place from top down to bottom up and and how much of this is a result of the pandemic do you think?
Nadia Harris (27:31):
Well <laugh>, that's a very broad and very good question. Thank you for that. Top down, we know I'm your manager, I'm your boss. Do as I say, Okay, very simple. Your responsibility is to be in the office and do the duties that I have assigned to you and I am going to decide whether you did well or not. Okay, this is what you do. That's it. So now let's look at the situation from a different perspective. I can't see you. This we have already determined together here, right? So how am I going to make sure that you are committed and that you are really at your best and that you're delivering results? This subordination can't be there because I can spam you and bombard you with tons of online tools, but hey, that's just going to limit your productivity cuz you won't be able to focus.
(28:21):
So that is definitely a limitation. So now the bottom up approach is all about me being the manager, me being the leader, but everything comes from the bottom, which means it comes from my team members. So let's go back to the mission, to the vision, to the values, to the OKRs, to project management. I am here as a leader, as a manager. I have given you, I have designed a framework for you to be successful. Now I've hired you for a reason here. I've hired you because you're most probably great at what you do. So this is what I've designed for you. This is your playground. So play and make things work the way you can and I'm not going to be the person to tell you what to do because then again, proximity bias, then me, you know, being completely crazy as a manager who's working on what, Where is that?
(29:12):
No, no, no. I've automated my processes. I've given you all the tools to be successful and you do your job. And then again, this aspect, when we then look back on motivation and engagement, there are statistics that prove that people want to feel appreciated, that they can actually influence the company's results. You don't want to be a person who's just doing repetitive tasks and you're not even feeling appreciated. And it's just your manager who pushes you. That's not gonna build an engagement team. But if you feel that you are being valued, that you're contributing to the whole mission and that your manager is like giving you this space to succeed, then that's exactly what we need to build a great remote company culture.
Matt Hayman (29:53):
And what do you see as some of the biggest challenges then of, of people trying to implement this, perhaps it being a little bit uncomfortable for them? What are some of the biggest challenges that they face and how can they overcome those?
Nadia Harris (30:02):
Um, I think it's a big process of change management and that is not easy. I see this much more effective and easier and remote for teams that have been like this by default for years. So they, from the very beginning they have had, they've had a really strong focus on values, some culture on the cultural fit. Even now when I work with companies and we designed the whole recruitment process for remote people, we do it this way that within the process there's always a case study but not a case study to check your skill. Whether you said I am proficient with Excel but you're not. Okay, it's about giving you a real task in real life that you would do and then you are that's, that's gonna your job. So show me how you would react with the team, how you would build it, what are the steps, what would you do?
(30:47):
Whereas in traditional companies, it's rather like, okay, role fit or not, then you go, then you join, that's what you get. And here you work. And here with remote first teams, we try in the very beginning to be very much aligned on why we are even looking for each other. Why is the company looking for that person and the other way around? And I think those people, um, usually in remote first teams, they are, as I've said, very resourceful, very self-sufficient. Before they ask a question, they're going to check if it's maybe not documented somewhere because most probably it is. And teams that are shifting from an office first model towards a distributed model, usually the problem is with processes, usually the problem is with documentation, with project management, with managing exactly, again, productivity. And that also relates to then engagement, commitment, motivation, everything altogether. Because we are trying to in a way replicate all the habits that we had in a completely different working setup. It's a huge mindset shift, it's a change management process also to drive our employees to be part of that mission. To understand that I'm not gonna be checking on you every five minutes, but I really want you to understand that if you committed to something you just get it done right And nobody is used to that that much. So it's a really long
Matt Hayman (32:06):
Process. Fantastic. I feel like we've covered so much ground in the interview. Really, really appreciate your input, your, your insights. One quick question before we go though. I ask this of most of the guests now that come on the show. If there was one tool app system, something related to remote work that you could not work without, what would it be and why?
Nadia Harris (32:24):
Okay, when it comes to, well a no brainer now my laptop and my phone, that would be one. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, I think I would say Slack a hundred hundred percent because it's the number one source to stay connected with everyone and it has so many integrations that bring me to other tools that when I say Slack I probably mean 20 other tools that build the whole infrastructure <laugh>.
Matt Hayman (32:51):
Excellent, excellent. I love it. Nadia, I know we've covered a lot of ground and I know some of these areas that you know, you're advising companies on this type of work. If people wanna find out more about you and the work that you do and how you can help companies in these areas, tell us a little bit more about where they can find out more about you and maybe a little bit more about how you can help companies as well.
Nadia Harris (33:08):
Absolutely. So I strongly invite you to visit my virtual home, which is LinkedIn <laugh>. So Nadia Harris, you can find me there. And also my website, remote work advocate.com. Very simple, you'll find it for sure. So what I do, as I've mentioned, I design both processes and procedures to make the company asy first. Also, when it comes to remote first to remote and hybrid playbooks, I actually wrote a book which is called How to Tackle Hybrid Working. Um, it's also available a link to it on my LinkedIn profile. So strongly encouraged to check it out. Many things that I've discussed today that we've discussed today are describe more in depth there. Definitely. Um, what else? Definitely when it comes to implementing flexibility, being location free locations, um, traveling core hours, processes as I've said, and also the tooling that's really important to build a remote infrastructure.
(34:03):
So I think that the biggest confusion that we get today is that when I speak with companies they say, Yeah, we have MS teams, we have Zoom. Yeah, yeah, we are remote. No, no, no, no, you're just trying with software to replicate your office. That's a no. Right? There are so many applications that you can really build a scalable infrastructure that is totally automated that it has like one spot where you, as I've mentioned Slack. Slack has so many integrations that from Slack you can literally get connected to Zoom meetings and you don't have to click through different apps. So make the user experience, uh, for your employees as great as possible so that they don't have to be overwhelmed with all the software. So those kind of things. Webinars, workshops as well. Also about remote leadership. I don't know, it's probably a lot, but everything is on my website.
Matt Hayman (34:51):
So I, I first discovered you through your YouTube channel. In fact, actually it was popped up as one of the recommendations on there and that's how I first came to know about you and the work that you do. And I would recommend people take a look at it. I think the content on there is really, really good. But yeah, as you say, LinkedIn seems to be the place where everybody is these days. So I'll make sure that we link up to your YouTube channel, your LinkedIn profile, and also your, your website as well. I'm sure people can find out much, much more about you. Thank you so much for your time, Nadia, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on the show and uh, yeah, thanks so much and uh, enjoy the rest of your day.
Nadia Harris (35:20):
Likewise. It's been super exciting and thanks a lot. Thank you.
Voiceover (35:26):
Lets go.
(35:27):
Thanks for listening to Leading Remotely. For show notes, resources or to discover how you can make remote work for your team, head over to wonder.me. That's wonder.me.
