CEO & Cofounder, Said Differently.
I believe remote work is the future. Creativity flourishes across decentralized workforces, and companies typically get better work and better ROI from this approach. When I share my perspective on this topic, one question I’m often asked is how my company mentors in a remote culture.
I understand the question. Upleveling talent in a distributed environment is not easy, but it is possible. Therefore, concerns about mentorship and the fate of junior talent should not stop you from reaping the economic benefits of remote work. The key is to use creative workarounds to overcome challenges while embracing the inherent advantages of virtual collaboration.
Digital Training And Educating
In my experience, these inherent advantages stem from technology: the ease with which we can connect to people, regardless of location. For example, while you probably won’t fly an intern across the country to join a pitch, you can invite them to observe your Zoom pitch or watch a recording of the meeting.
These advantages are not reserved for junior talent. Meeting recordings can be essential teaching tools even for your most experienced teammates. And if anyone wants to enhance their skills, regardless of their level, consider inviting them to ride sidecar with the appropriate person. If your company is fully remote, you shouldn’t have to worry about the “proximity bias” that hybrid teams can face. After all, no one gets preferential learning opportunities by being in the office if there is no office to go to.
That said, you should still expect employees and freelancers to raise their hand if they are interested in something. To encourage this, consider offering training and development perks that allow employees and freelancers to seek reimbursement for educational opportunities. You can promote the program internally, but it is still up to individuals to identify an opportunity and submit it for approval.
Hiring With Confidence In Mind
I believe this willingness to advocate for oneself is essential to all aspects of remote work, not just training opportunities. I have found that this is not an introvert versus extrovert dynamic but rather a matter of confidence. Consider hiring with this in mind by looking for self-starters who are comfortable speaking up, working independently and, of course, using technology to collaborate virtually. Also, look for individuals with strong communication skills, high expectations for themselves and an innate understanding of what “high quality” entails.
Defining these criteria and selecting the right candidate has many benefits. In my own company, we look for candidates who show ambition and proactiveness. One of the first things we do once they come on board—especially for junior members—is make sure they know exactly who to go to with questions and encourage them to utilize these contacts. Often we assign multiple mentors to offer a diverse learning experience. It’s also helpful to assign projects with measurable outputs.
The feedback we’ve received from hires is that they gain more insight and experience by operating this way than they do from being in-person. This may be because of how easy it is to fall back on “osmosis” in an office setting—the idea that junior talent will absorb the necessary education just by sitting in an office. I have seen many ad agency interns spend their days embarking on coffee runs pitched as rites of passage, an underutilization of their talent. In virtual environments, you can’t use the coffee run cop-out. You are forced to be intentional, which is a good thing.
Overcoming Barriers
Another advantage of distributed learning is that you can expand your talent pool by offering opportunities to groups historically overlooked, like parents balancing child care and people who have aged out of full-time work but still want to learn—and teach. Because mentorship does not have to be one-sided.
Virtual mentorship can be successful—if done strategically—and leaders shouldn’t shy away from investing here. Whether a candidate shows promise but doesn’t have the experience yet or their skills are just outdated, I’m a huge advocate for putting resources into nurturing team members. It might be in the form of bringing in outside experts to help people brush up on a particular skill, or it could involve creating internal boot camps designed to fill some gaps where skills are lacking. If you’re hiring and investing in the right people, more than likely they will end up mentoring others on your team with their newly advanced skill sets. It’s a win-win for the larger team.
That said, nurturing talent from afar does come with its share of challenges. For one, you may not spot when someone is struggling, personally or professionally, as quickly as you would if you were in an office together. Communicating a “trust but verify” policy can help here—trust people to deliver excellent work while also checking in along the way.
It’s also important to creating a culture in which admitting to mistakes or struggles is encouraged. I believe executives should lead by example by admitting when they are lost or stuck and by seeking advice from talent at all levels. You can also build meaningful relationships with employees and freelancers by connecting on a personal level on work calls, even if it is just a brief exchange.
Conclusion
In my experience, making these efforts to support junior talent and mentor all levels helps to make employees and freelancers happy while ensuring your organization has the creative, design, technical and leadership skills needed to stay at the forefront of innovation.
The distributed workforce model has only started to scale in the past few years, and, admittedly, we’re still reinventing the rules of the road. But I have found that with intention, structure, the right workforce and a strong culture, you can create effective, meaningful mentorship and training programs for distributed work.
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