WLP337 Career Progression in Remote Teams - the local and global perspectives
Pilar welcomes back Tammy Bjelland, CEO of Workplaceless and Theresa Hollema, author of “Virtual Teams Across Cultures” to talk about career progression in remote and global teams. Tammy covers how organisations can ensure that remote employees don’t miss out on career development in hybrid settings, and Theresa talks about how hard it is for distributed employees to get the attention of HQ for resources and career opportunities and how that adds a type of stress, which has nothing to do with performance.
Our first guest is Tammy Bjeland, CEO of Workplaceless.
There are many articles warning employees of the dangers of being remote when it comes to advancing within organisations. Tammy recently shared a piece where the CEO of IBM warned against “remote work hurting your career”, (subscription required for the article) while Pilar remembers Jack Welch in 2016 warning people who wanted to become CEOs about the dangers of staying away from the office.
Unfortunately, in hybrid organisations there is still a danger of remote employees being left behind. When it comes to career progression, especially in large companies or that have a longer history of being colocated, it becomes increasingly challenging to access development opportunities.
Currently implementing flexible work is a danger to people's careers. It shouldn't be that way.
It should actually open many doors for people's careers because you can access opportunities that don't exist in your local area.
The Role of Organisations
What an organisation invests in or recognises as important can limit what an individual is able to accomplish within that structure. In terms of what an organisation can do:
Evaluate which jobs have to be in the office and which jobs have or can be remote or have additional flexibility. (Tammy has been recently researching job openings and almost all of them required being in the office at least three days a week.)
Prepare managers to effectively manage remote employees and enable those desired performance outcomes regardless of where those employees are located.
Make sure that the career and professional development resources provided to employees are built through a distributed lens - making sure that the skills that the skills you’re teaching, as well as the resources you're providing, are not perpetuating proximity bias. Remote workers need to be able to see examples that are relevant to them as well as career paths and options that have flexibility.
On the importance of training resources, it's not just about whether the training is available online or in person. It's crucial that the content is designed with a variety of locations, setups, and flexibility in mind.
The first step is to identify which and how many employees have workplace flexibility built into their roles. Before designing and delivering training, it's essential to understand the audience. Are they part of a remote team? Or perhaps they're in a hybrid setup? Knowing this helps tailor the training to be more relevant to them.
Next, it's about identifying any gaps. Are there performance differences between various groups? If so, why do these gaps exist? It could be due to a lack of training or perhaps a lack of management tailored to specific employee groups. When creating new training modules, it's vital to include workplace flexibility as a characteristic in the learner personas and storyboards. This ensures that the training always considers the experience of the remote worker.
Furthermore, it's about integrating effective remote work practices within the content. This aligns with the idea of ensuring that the skills are applicable in any environment, be it remote or on-site. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the desired outcomes, whether learning or performance-based, can be achieved by an employee regardless of their work location.
Lastly, training should provide examples of flexible work scenarios. It's also crucial to eliminate any content that might perpetuate biases against flexible work arrangements.
(No wonder organisations are not quite there yet - there’s a lot to take into account!)
The Role of The Individual
Anyone who values flexibility and wishes to access and grow through flexible work opportunities should see themselves as an advocate for flexible work.
Part of this advocacy involves highlighting situations that might inadvertently hinder access to flexible work. Often, unintentional actions arise simply because of the fast-paced nature of work. It's challenging to consider every nuance when making decisions on the fly.
For instance, consider a scenario where a last-minute meeting is called, and everyone is expected to be present in person. What about those coworkers who aren't physically present? How do we ensure their involvement? Asking such questions and ensuring inclusivity is one way of continuing to advocate for flexibility - for all.
Regardless of one's preferred work location, be it an office or a coworking space, being conscious of these considerations enhances everyone's work experience. It's essential to remember that even if one is always in an office, consistently excluding remote colleagues can be detrimental to the team's cohesion and effectiveness.
Career Pathways
When examining career pathways within organisations, especially larger ones, it's evident that many have established procedures for promotions. However, how many of these procedures consider the location as a factor? And if they do, is it always necessary?
Many promotion processes might not even explicitly mention location. Yet, in many leadership opportunities or job listings, stipulations such as "relocation required" or "must report to headquarters multiple times a week" are common. It's crucial for organisations to evaluate whether such requirements are genuinely essential.
By analysing the history of promotions within an organisation, HR and senior managers can find patterns. For instance, are fully remote employees promoted at the same rate as their in-office counterparts? Achieving an equal rate of promotion among different employee groups should be an organisational goal.
Highlighting examples of successful career paths that flexible employees have taken can also be beneficial. When employees, especially those who value flexibility, see senior leaders or role models who have embraced flexible work, it serves as an inspiration.
Interestingly, the concept of hybrid work isn't foreign to senior leaders, including CEOs. For many at the top, flexibility is seen as a status symbol, allowing them to, for example, play golf mid-week. If such flexibility has benefited their careers and personal growth, shouldn't they be promoting it more actively within their organisations?
Tammy Bjelland
Grow Placeless
27.30mins Workplaceless has recently launched the "Grow Placeless", a self-paced course designed to help individuals navigate the challenges of remote work.
Let’s have a look here at some of the areas it covers because, regardless of whether you end up taking the course or not, it might help remote employees with their career progression:
1. Limited Remote Job Availability: The demand for remote jobs far exceeds the supply. Many job listings don't offer the level of flexibility that candidates seek, making the competition fierce for the few available positions.
2. Lack of Flexible Leadership Models: There's a scarcity of leadership or career progression examples that emphasise flexibility. It's up to individuals to find role models who've incorporated flexibility into their careers.
3. Productivity Paranoia: A pervasive belief exists that remote employees might not be as productive as their in-office counterparts. This scepticism can hinder career progression if managers hold these views.
4. Visibility Issues: Especially in hybrid teams, remote workers often struggle to make their contributions as visible as those of in-office employees. To combat this, some remote workers might overcompensate by being ultra-responsive or overworking, leading to burnout.
5. The Challenge of Shared Work: When working remotely, many of the spontaneous conversations or shared experiences that happen in an office are missed. Remote workers need to find ways to communicate their achievements and interactions, ensuring their contributions are recognized.
6. Changing Remote Work Policies: Some companies might offer remote positions only to rescind or limit these policies later. This lack of commitment to long-term flexibility can be a significant challenge for remote workers.
When seeking a remote position, especially in larger organisations, it's essential to understand the company's stance on flexibility. Is it a short-term solution, or is there a genuine commitment to long-term remote work? One way to gauge this is by understanding the company's flexible work policy and evaluating the public statements of high-level leadership regarding remote or flexible work.
In the "Grow Placeless" program, one module focuses on advocating for workplace flexibility. It emphasises understanding the flexible work policy of your current or prospective organisation, evaluating the public stance of leadership on remote work, and assessing the resources available to ensure success in a flexible role.
Lastly, when considering a position, it's beneficial to inquire about the flexibility levels of senior leadership and your potential supervisor. Understanding not just the theoretical flexibility but the actual day-to-day implementation can provide valuable insights into the company's genuine commitment to flexible work.
The Global Perspective
Theresa Sigillito Hollema
At 40mins, let’s switch guests.
Theresa Hollema is the author of the book Virtual Teams Across Cultures, which dives into how leaders of global teams can navigate cultural differences and still achieve great results.
After listening to Pilar’s conversation with Tammy, what most stood out for Theresa was the concern around visibility. How do employees ensure that their contributions are recognised? How do they communicate their achievements and get noticed?
Multinational organisations are increasingly tapping into global talent pools. They're no longer restricted by location, assembling teams from various parts of the world. However, while this approach broadens the talent base, it also presents challenges for employees seeking career advancement from remote locations.
A study by Professors Iana Christia and Paul Leonardi from the University of California, Santa Barbara, titled "Get Noticed and Die Trying: Signal Sacrifice and the Production of FaceTime in Distributed Work," delves into this issue. Their research, which focused on two organisations in the automotive and high-tech sectors, revealed a significant bias at the headquarters (HQ). Employees outside the HQ often felt the need to go above and beyond to get noticed, leading to added stress and burnout.
For instance, an employee in China might be expected to attend a meeting on a Friday night to accommodate HQ in Europe. Such expectations, while indicative of commitment from the employee's perspective, can lead to an unhealthy work-life balance. Over time, these "norms" can become ingrained in the company culture, further exacerbating the issue.
The question then arises: can employees advance their careers without relocating to the HQ? The hope is that insights from experts like Tammy can help shape a future where career advancement is location-independent.
One potential solution is to distribute high-profile projects more evenly across global locations. This approach could help counteract the bias towards the HQ or any particular hub. However, it's essential to recognize that even when projects are distributed, certain hubs might still emerge as “de facto HQs”, presenting similar challenges.
Ultimately, organisations need to be aware of these challenges. If talented employees feel overlooked or burnout due to unrealistic expectations, they might leave or underperform, posing a risk to the company.
The learnings from remote work can be applied to global organisations. By actively seeking out talent, regardless of their location, and implementing mechanisms to recognize their contributions, companies can move in a more inclusive direction.
Theresa will continue to dive deeply into the topic of working "virtually across cultures." While many organisations have been operating internationally and remotely for years, the pandemic and advancements in technology have amplified this trend. With talent spread globally and increasing research highlighting opportunities, she's fascinated by understanding how individuals can effectively work across cultures in a virtual setting. Theresa consistently explores research and stories about companies' strategies in this domain, sharing insights on her website virtualacrosscultures.com and LinkedIn.
Connect with Tammy Bjelland on LinkedIn, and subscribe to her newsletter. (And don’t forget to check out the course Grow Placeless!)
Follow Theresa Sigilito Hollema on LinkedIn, where she regularly posts “micro learnings” on the topic of virtual global teams. Also check out the resources on her website and her book Virtual Teams Across Cultures.
And if you would like to hear more from our guests, check out Tammy in episode 286 talking about the challenges of adopting asynchronous communication
and Theresa’s multiple contributions to the show (her and Pilar like talking A LOT about the world of work!). Ep 315 Effective Manager Mindset for Global Teams, Ep 300 parts 1, 2 and 3, and Ep 251 Leveraging Cultural Differences in Global Virtual Teams.
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