Overcoming fear and ego

Hi Thea,
I have read your column for years and agree with you on many topics, but I have to disagree with you on remote workers. I am old school. I want to see my employees in the office, working. I want to be able to see and monitor the work. How do I know they are not slacking off while they are “working from home?” I had to share my viewpoint, there are many of us old school credit managers that feel this way. I feel we are underrepresented and need to be heard.

­— Respectfully agree to disagree

Dear Respectful Disagreement,
I live on a golf course. I live on a golf course and I don’t golf. I don’t want to golf and I don’t want to learn. About once a week, usually when I am strolling into the club for lunch, some wisenheimer tells me I should learn to golf. That I would love it, and everyone stinks when they start.

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Like you, I like “my way.” I bought the house because I like having a well-manicured yard with a great view that I was not responsible for. Not because I golf, or ever wanted to learn. I am pleased with my POV and the more neighbors pushed me to golf, the more I dug my heels in.

Eventually, a neighbor asked me why I was so set against it. Why was I not even willing to entertain the idea? What’s really the issue? Much as it pained me, and you may not believe it, I had no answer. I quietly skulked away. Over the next few days, I replayed the convo over and over.

I had to finally admit the reality is/was: I was afraid. I had only golfed a few times in my life and to say I did not excel at it is kind. Learning something new, being open, or accepting a challenge makes you vulnerable. You have to want to be open, listen to people, accept that you may not be awesome right out of the gate. To learn, change your view or thinking.

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Same with remote work. It’s fear, baby. Fear of loss of control, fear of trusting your team, fear of acknowledging they don’t need your hovering over them, fear that you will not be needed. Could the heart of it be your leadership style? I am throwing down the challenge to ask yourself these questions and honestly answer them:

  1. Can you measure the work being done?
  2. What accountability have you put in place?
  3. Do you have the right people in place?
  4. What kind of leader are you?

The last question will be the hardest and most introspective. You should already measure the AR results and be holding people accountable. That leads us to, is it you or your people? Do you “need” to see them because you don’t trust them? Are you a micro manager? Do you have the right people in place? If not, it doesn’t matter if you stare at them all day; if the fit isn’t right, it’s not right. Do you think your role as a leader is a micro-managing eyeballer of people?

Have you considered your teams viewpoint? If they were good enough to work remote when it was necessary to keep the company going, why is it different now?

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At the heart of my anti-golf stance was actually ego manifesting as fear. Is the heart of your anti-remote work really your ego? As Peter Drucker said “to achieve something new you have to let go of something old”. I made the call to join Wednesday’s Cocktails & Clubs, now its your turn.

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