Think, Feel, Behave: A framework to perform better at remote work 🙆

We would all like to perform at our peak productivity, even more so as a remote worker, don't we? But to do that, we need to first understand our own (or that of our colleague or direct report) personality.

In this context, I vividly remember this meeting I had with my engineering manager, back in 2014. We were discussing how best to onboard new hires and effectively utilise each person's strengths & weaknesses. My manager proposed we map each individual to a personality type - introvert, extrovert & ambivert - and have measures in place to help him/ her perform better.

Simple and effective.

Now, a few days back, I was reading this article on Fast Company which proposes that a remote workers' personality type can be used to understand how they manage their workload and in effect, help them perform better.

Again, this seems convincing but if you take a closer look, all three (personality types) like being alone at times and enjoy being around others at other times. Plus all three agree that structure and schedules help 🧐

Clearly then, there's some nuance missing in this 'personality type' framework, which is where this framework proposed by Gallup comes into the picture.

If you want to help your colleagues or direct reports (who are remote workers) or even yourself to measurably perform better, here's what you need to know about them (or yourself) first:

Think: Every person has a default setting, conditions (when created) that help one succeed. Some people are motivated by strict deadlines, others need partners to brainstorm. It is important to identify these conditions as managers, colleagues or even for oneself so that you can recreate them reliably. It is also important to have clear expectations set and aligned to enable top performance.

Feel: Each individual has a unique emotional response and it's important to understand this before you interact with your colleague or direct report, especially for things like feedback. For example, certain individuals appreciate honest feedback and can potentially take everything as constructive feedback, while others might seemingly get offended even when offered constructive feedback.

Behave: Behaviour is largely shaped by how a person feels and it's critical, especially for managers, to be able to predict their employees' behaviour. According to Gallup's framework, strengths-based coaching seems to be quite effective, especially for remote workers who feel they are isolated. It sends a strong signal that their boss cares.

Finally, here are three questions about conditions in which your remote colleague, direct report or even you yourself, thinks, feels and behaves at their best:

1. What circumstances or strengths have enabled this peak in performance?
2. Who was involved?
3. How can the areas of greatest strengths be further developed?

Remote Working Chronicles - A content creator who finds comfort & mental wellbeing in remote work  

Candace is a content creator based out of Seattle and realised that she wanted to work from home, in her junior year of college itself. She says she's never felt comfortable in an office setting and needs to be cosy & at ease, to completely focus on work. Read about her entire journey here.

As always, here are our top-picks of remote-first products:

⚙️ MetaTask is a process management software for agile business teams

🌎 WeRemoto is a remote job board & community for Latin Americans

⏱ TimeStack is a decentralized & fully encrypted time tracking & invoicing app

💵 PayRequest helps you generate simple & fast payment links via Stripe

🗂 Attio is a fully customizable workspace for your relationships & workflows