The Effective Manager, 2nd Edition

5Doing One on Ones with Remote and Hybrid Workers

One on Ones (O3s) are the foundation of effective management. Of all the manager tools we have ever created and tested, O3s have the most positive impact on results and retention, which are the hallmarks of an effective manager.

If your directs are remote or hybrid, our data show that absent manager behaviors, trust—the most important engine of effectiveness—declines noticeably. The Allen curve shows us that distance affects communication far more than most of us realize.

Despite our modern digital communication tools, the nature of human relationships causes us to communicate far less with those who are distant from us. As we said earlier, most of us have been mistakenly assuming that we “adjust” to communicating with those who are distant from us with more email, more Slacks, more text messages, or more phone calls.

But again, the data show that that's not so. We do not “compensate” with digital tools. We simply communicate less. And even if we do communicate more in writing digitally, those tools do not build nearly enough trust to achieve high levels of effectiveness.

What this means is that with the move toward more remote and hybrid workers, O3s become even more necessary.

The professional effective manager of our new work environments must work harder than a collocated manager to build the trust we need for effective relationships and results.

Before we talk about how to deliver MTO3s remotely, we encourage you to consider ...