Are you Micromanaging your Remote Team?

As we all know, remote work has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially since the pandemic hit. But, were leaders really ready for this change? Unfortunately, some leaders still hold onto the old outdated notion of prioritizing productivity above everything else. This can lead them to micromanage their teams and treat them like machines, which is not the path towards a positive work environment. Something to think about is…do you think you are micromanaging your remote team?

In this blog post, I am sharing my view on the foundations of a successful business, toxic productivity, remote work, micromanaging and leadership. 

The 4 foundations of any successful business

Our work culture is over 200 years old and has been very influenced by Henry Ford, who created the most boring, humiliating, most unstimulating work environment, to have people work more and faster and increase productivity.

But this fact, ruined our creativity. In order to be more creative, we need to come back to nature, to our practical spiritual roots.

In my job as The Time Alchemist, I help people unlearn the patriarchal forces of capitalism and everything that holds us in this hamster wheel.

I am here to break all of these systems and tear them apart to create something sustainable so people can finally live in a way on their own terms, benefiting them and the people around them.

The Framework that I use in my work is called The T.I.M.E. Method, and I extended it to be Time Alchemy.

T.I.M.E. stands for Time Management, Impactful Leadership, Mindset Mastery and Energy Efficiency.

The 4 pillars hold everything up in a business, and if you don’t build a strong foundation on these pillars everything can break apart.

I work with entrepreneurs that earn 7 figures, but funnily enough, many of them have no systems, no structures, no foundations, and they don’t know how they got there. This lack of foundations will break the owner or the business at some point.

My job is to solve the bottlenecks, and the gaps in between, and create rock-solid foundations where something can be built.

This is actually one of my Superpowers.

I am autistic and I can hear in patterns, structures, and systems.

My job as the Time Alchemist is coaching, consulting, and teaching, depending on what it is needed.

I focus on implementation in order for people to understand what they need to do and learn it their way.

I collaborate closely with the business owner, working together on a 1.1 basis. In addition, I occasionally facilitate team workshops. When doing so, I may bring in one of the management executives and provide them with coaching on various skills that are necessary for them to lead the team effectively and achieve specific outcomes.

Manipulative Leadership is real

Sometimes teams describe themselves as being like a family, which can create a sense of responsibility to take work home and emotionally manipulate employees.

However, if a business were to express genuine support for its employees’ well-being both inside and outside of work, it could implement strategies to promote health and well-being.

For example, a company could offer to pay for employees’ gym memberships to help them stay healthy.

Unfortunately, many businesses do not invest in these effective methods of supporting their employees, which can require time, money, and effort.

But… if a business doesn’t invest in its employees, how can it expect the employees to invest in the success of the business?

Toxic Productivity and Capitalism

Productivity is not how we think about it. It is a concept that has been sold to us in the Industrial Era, in the hustle & grind world.

Capitalism is not bad, but you really need to understand what it is. It means consistent growth, always. If you stall you already failed. But, how in the world is that possible?

It is not.

If you look at nature, there must be a time for rest and stillness in order to grow again. And there is no space for that in capitalism.

The systems are not made for us to rest and recover and rejuvenate so we can grow in a healthy way, and this is a big problem for people, for systems, for the economy, and even for natural resources. We just keep pushing, but we are pushing boundaries way too far.

We need to step back and see what we mean by productivity because productivity is a result. It is something we result in if we do certain things. And these things must be a cycle vs a linear form.

We need to unlearn a lot of things that have been put in our brains by society. They are very against nature, just for the benefit of a few.

If we don’t sleep for more than 7 days we can die. So, how should we be working for 12 hours a day and be productive or produce something of quality?

There must be much more rest and space, and rejuvenation so that creativity can come to us as well.

Remote Work and Micromanaging

Leadership is different from a Team Manager. And Team Manager is different from just having a team.

If people just “have a team” and they try to control a lot of things, they become micromanaging and controlling. Remote work for these people is a total disaster.

If you are a manager, are you micromanaging your remote team? Maybe you are, and you don’t even realise.

Suddenly employees have to install screening software on their laptops in order for their bosses to have 24-7 control of what they do and how they do it.

This is not okay. This kind of manager should not be working with people if they do something like that.

They should rethink their career path.

By micromanaging your remote team, you do not trust people to do the work for you, so you should just not work with people.

Remote work can be really good for a lot of people. people who are not doing well in offices or in surroundings that are not made for them, like autistic or disabled people.

We need to go back to more trust and stop micromanaging. And of course, there will be people using WFH and remote work for their advantage, but if we look at the actual setup, that is only 1 to 5% of people.

Plus, you will be the person who has to filter them out early with a proper hiring process. The filter process starts even earlier when you set proper core values for your business. Otherwise, you will always run into people using stuff like that against you.

When you micromanage your remote team, you don’t know what it does with their minds, and emotions. I kid you not, it is very difficult to deal with iOne receives it as not being trusted or not being capable. What it does to people it can turn into abuse. People need to be more aware of how we treat each other.

One great thing about remote work is that it can help us view each other as human beings.

It’s important to recognize that every individual is unique and not simply a robot here to serve our needs.

We can’t communicate with everyone in the same way because people have different needs and come from different cultural backgrounds, which can affect their understanding of things.

By embracing these differences, we can build a more inclusive and supportive work environment that values and respects the diversity of its members.

How to reduce working hours without reducing the income

The main rule is to cut the bullshit.

This is a very simple line to say, but it is not easy to do.

Cutting the bullshit means there are so many things that we do every day that do not drive our business forward or help us to preserve it.

There are things that people do that go against their own nature, their own energy, and their capacity. They drain them more than they help them get somewhere else.

It is really a lot of work to get to understand what is actually helping them, what comes naturally to them, what is increasing or keeping their energy at the same level, and what are the tasks that really move the business forward, helping them get more money or more time back, without taking all the effort in the world.

Sometimes there is a task that takes the least effort but has the most impact, but there are tasks we don’t want to do because they make us feel insecure, or unworthy. We need to find a way to be more confident in doing them, and the way to do it is to just do these tasks.

We will get much more return when we don’t have to do all the BS around it.

This has a lot to do with habits, routines, patterns, and restructuring how we behave. And that is the reason why it takes 6 months to work with me because it takes time to break those patterns.

This blog post was created based on the below Podcast Episode hosted by Matt Rickard.

You can play it here below. Enjoy it.

As entrepreneurs and business owners, we now have more influence and impact than we may had 50, 20, or even just 10 years ago. Thanks to social media, the fast-growing amount and diversity of opportunities, and the globalisation of our world. With influence comes power. And with power comes responsibility.