8 Ways to Succeed as a Remote-first Leader in 2022

Localized has always been a remote-first company. We don’t have a physical office and our team is distributed across four continents in seven countries.

I wanted to share some of our best practices and lessons learned when it comes to managing across time zones and geographies. Especially since remote and international hiring is on the rise.[i]

1. Hire people who have the ability to work independently. With remote teams, you don’t get to watch people clock in or out. You need to trust that your team members can and will get the job done on time — without someone looking over their shoulder. The good news is that high performers tend to thrive with independence so long as their goals and the team’s methods are clear. Look for candidates that have taken ownership on previous projects or teams.
2. Over-communicate and encourage your colleagues to do the same. One of the challenges with a remote workforce is that you don’t always know what others are up to — especially if employees are working different hours based on their time zones. Share Google calendars throughout the team — including the CEO’s — so everyone sees what’s happening across the organization. Constantly update your Slack status or have it sync with your calendar. Cultivate spaces where everyone can share what they’re working on at a regular cadence so they can hold themselves and others accountable. Slack standups and weekly meetings are some of the methods we use.
3. Accept that life will happen. Half our company consists of parents with young children at home. It’s not uncommon to have kids pop into Zoom meetings, or to hear playing in the background during calls. We are accountable to one another to get the work done, and we are forgiving of background noise and occasional interruptions.   
4. Be flexible with how you communicate. Zoom fatigue is real. While some meetings such as sales calls require cameras on, others don’t. Five-minute phone calls, quick Slack chats or Slack huddles or even an email or shared Google doc can do the trick. I often schedule brainstorming calls while walking to pick up my daughter from the school bus.
5. Empower your employees to connect with one another. One challenge for remote teams is ensuring that information flows throughout the organization. This is especially important when, like in many startup environments, that information lives with one person. Capture what you can in shared documents and systematize the learning. Make sure you’re introducing employees to one another at an early stage in the process. Give new employees access to seasoned and even former employees so that knowledge can be shared and learnings are not lost.
6. Build systems that account for down time. For international teams like ours, working hours, national and religious holidays differ by geography. Many of our colleagues in the Middle East, for example, start their work week on Sundays and are off on Fridays. We don’t want employees who are off to feel added pressure to respond on their weekends. Lately, I’ve taken to scheduling Slack messages to reach someone’s inbox on their weekday mornings.
7. Practice empathy and be available to your team. During the past two years, employees and their families have had to re-acclimate to changing environments, school disruptions and, in some cases, family or personal health scares. It’s times like these where our ability to lead with empathy, to actively listen and to ask questions can cultivate a healthy working atmosphere that shows that we value our employees as humans. In addition to this being the right thing to do, it can directly improve productivity.
8. Make time to re-align, even as you’re building. This is especially important for startups. As companies grow, add new team members and build new products and functionality, it’s critical to ensure that you and your team are aligned in the vision and mission of your business. At Localized for example, our mission and geographic footprint have evolved. We connect university students and fresh graduates in emerging markets with industry experts and global employers looking for top talent. As a company we know how important it is to reassess where we’re at and where we’re going to ensure that our progress is always moving in the right direction.

[i] Localized surveyed 274 employers in 25 countries repeatedly over a 12-month period between 2020 and 2021. We found that demand for early-stage remote roles increased from 8% to 48% and international hiring increased from 15% to 43%. In other words, as companies go remote, they go global.