Editorial
Welcome to Courage Coach, where expert columnist Karin Hurt answers readers' tough leadership challenges with practical tools and techniques you can use right away. Have a question for her? Drop her a line!
Dear Courage Coach,
My company’s “work from anywhere” policy sounds great on paper, but it's getting out of control! My coworker “Tim” ghosted me on three important emails, and I need a response! But wait for it… today he posted a picture on LinkedIn of his “work from anywhere” choice du jour, a petting zoo — one hand holding onto a Zoom call and one feeding a pony. 267 likes, 58 comments. Oh yeah, and this bozo has responded to Every. Single. Comment. But not any of my emails! AND, my client just sent me a screenshot of the pony pic, with a “WTF” and a questioning shrug emoji. I'm not this guy’s boss, and technically a petting zoo is "anywhere." What should I do?
Signed,
Zoo Fatigued
Dear Zoo Fatigued,
Let's start here: I agree, working from a zoo is a little extra. This seems like a policy taken one pony too far. But before you blame the pony or the pony feeder, I recommend you make a list of your expectations and concerns.
Your coworker is not returning your emails in what you consider an appropriate time frame —so, lack of responsiveness is a big one. Is there anything else? Focus more on "what" is not happening than where. The pony is just a hoof-note in this conversation.
The bigger issue is that your team needs to define what success looks like in a "work from anywhere" world. This is a huge issue for so many teams right now.
The pandemic’s emergency flash cut to remote and work-from-anywhere teams forced many teams into survival mode: Just do whatever it takes to keep the lights on, employees safe (physically and mentally), and customers supported.
Got a baby in your lap or a cat typing gibberish in your email? “So cute!”
Need to dramatically shift your hours to homeschool or take care of an aging parent? “Sure.”
Just not feeling it today? “Okay. Take the day off. I hope you feel better.”
Can’t turn your camera on because you haven’t showered in three days? “No worries. I’m sure your customer will understand.”
Most high-performing teams we work with have found that there’s a sweet spot somewhere between a “let’s make a rule for every exception” level of clarity and the “just do whatever it takes” mentality of the pandemic.
And yet, most teams don’t have a productive way to talk about it.
Related Article: How to Tell if Your Hybrid Work Model is Working
Questions to Make Your “Work From Anywhere” Team Stronger
It sounds like your company may not have clear "work from anywhere" policies, but it's worth checking. If there is a clear policy in place, that's a good place to start a conversation — but it’s not usually enough for most teams. Successful remote teams set up clear expectations and guidelines for how they'll work together.
As your Courage Coach, here's what I'd love for you to do: Share this article with your manager and ask if you can facilitate a conversation about team expectations in an upcoming team meeting.
Here are a few of my favorite potential conversation starters. Let the team pick the ones that are most needed. Of course, you also don't have to discuss these all in one meeting. You could start with the "what does success look like" conversation in one meeting, for example, and then go deeper with some of the others as a follow-up.
“What does success look like?”
Conference
Oct
20
Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo Orlando 2025
Register
Conference
Oct
27
Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo Orlando 2025
Register
One easy way to jump-start this conversation is to have everyone on the team draw two pictures, the first showing how the team is functioning today and the second as they would like it to be, (It might be a little passive-aggressive to draw a zoo, but there are lots of metaphors you can use to show people disconnected from one another.)
Then have a conversation about specific behaviors and habits that will get you closer to your desired vision. For example, if someone draws a picture of team members working to close sales deals in their pajamas, you might have a conversation about attire standards for client calls.
It’s amazing how quickly this exercise gets the team laughing and nodding about the work that needs to be done for better collaboration, productivity and innovation.
“How and when will we communicate?”
This is a conversation about expectations for synchronous and asynchronous communication, and you’ll want to get as specific as possible.
Topics within this umbrella may include:
- How do we ensure our meetings get results, and that we feel it’s a good use of our time to attend them?
- When is it appropriate to use messaging vs. email or picking up the phone?
- Will we require cameras to be on in all video meetings, or only in certain ones? If someone needs to request an exception to the team's norms, how do they do that?
- Is it okay to record a video meeting? If so, when?
Related Article: Why Your Work From Home Plan is Only Partway There
“How will we ensure everyone feels included and connected?”
If your goal is to have a high-trust, highly connected team where people care about one another at a human level, that’s going to take some work. Giving people a chance to weigh in on this can make a vast difference.
“How can we make the most of our time together?”
One of the biggest conflicts I hear from hybrid or work-from-anywhere teams is what happens on “required” in-person days. Here are just two examples: “Our company policy requires everyone to be in the office on Wednesdays. So, I commute an hour, only to have us all taking conference calls from our cubes.”
Or the flip side: “The only time we talk to one another is when we come into the office. Other than that, I feel like I’m on an island.”
Talking about how to make the most of in-person, live-online,and remote time will go a long way in increasing productivity and engagement.
Most conflict comes from an expectation violation of some kind. The more clarity your team has about what good teamwork looks like, the less drama you’ll have — resulting in more productivity, better results and maybe even time to take the whole team out for a pony ride.
Learn how you can join our contributor community.
