Distant Manager Basics: Strategies for Remote Directs

Making Work Visible to Remote Managers

• 💡 Make your work available to your boss, even in draft form, by using shared drives or other technology.
• ✅ This demonstrates that you are working on your boss's priorities and builds trust.
• ⚠️ Don't worry about your boss seeing if you're behind; focus on getting ahead and making your progress visible.
• 📬 Consider copying your boss on important emails to vendors or stakeholders, using blind copy if necessary, to keep them informed.

Effective Communication with Remote Bosses

• 🗓️ Aim for daily communication with your boss, even if it's a brief voicemail or email, focusing on what they care about.
• 🎧 Tailor your communication method (voicemail vs. email) to your boss's preference (listener vs. reader).
• 🎙️ For listeners, provide short, executive-summary-style voicemails to ensure they are heard.
• 🚫 Avoid lengthy, detailed messages that might be ignored, even if well-intentioned.

Conference Call Etiquette for Remote Employees

• 🔇 Avoid muting your phone on conference calls unless absolutely necessary due to extreme background noise and lack of alternative quiet space.
• 🚫 Never use speakerphone on conference calls, as it hinders simultaneous conversation and annoys participants.
• 💻 Minimize distractions by closing unnecessary desktop windows and turning off email/IM notifications.
• 🧠 Pay attention to the call; multitasking is a myth, and inattention is easily detected, damaging your professional image.

Building Trust and Reliability Remotely

• 📈 Task accomplishment reliability is crucial for building trust with a distant manager.
• 🎯 Meet deadlines consistently; slips and misses erode trust more significantly in remote settings.
• 🚀 Be proactive with frequent, voluntary updates about your work, issues, and progress, rather than passively relying on shared systems.
• 🔑 Make your boss's understanding of your accomplishments a certainty, not a matter of chance.