Welcome to "The Story in Your Head" podcast with Ron Macklin and Michelle Mosolgo.

In this episode of “The Story in Your Head,” Ron and Michelle discuss remote work. They dive into how to establish a good relationship with your remote team, what are the benefits of remote working, and advice for leaders of remote teams.

“The Story in Your Head” podcast is about sharing stories through host interactions and interviews with guests so listeners will create space to learn about themselves, build authentic connections, produce opportunities to gain knowledge and get out of their own story to make space for others – no matter someone’s background and experiences.

Episode 43: Remote Work

Michelle opens by reading the definition of remote work, and then asks Ron how he would define remote work.

• Ron discusses his definition, which is anytime two people are not in the same room but are still working together.
• This helps Michelle realize how her definition should change a little bit.

Michelle then asks what’s different about remote work and what skills does Ron think are needed for remote working, and what are the benefits of remote working?

• Ron begins from the fundamental space of a time before zoom or many other technologies that we have today.
• He discusses his previous career, and says how it requires a high level of communication and coordination.
• He works through his mindset of how to both send and receive communication from others when you are working remotely with them.
• Ron says that one of the most important pieces is being able to notice the person through those pieces of communication, and to be able to notice when something is off.
• Michelle then discusses her previous career and the remote work that she had been doing throughout that time.
• She says it took a while to learn the culture and practices, but concludes that sometimes she got to know them better than she knew people that she frequently worked with in person.
• This reminds Ron about how he heavily focuses on the individual person, so that he could connect with them, and intuitively understand when they need help.
• Ron says a key for being able to remote work is to be able to connect with the other people you are working with.

Michelle asks Ron if there are any practices that people can employ to help them build those skills?

• Ron says his foundation is to get to know the person before the project starts.
• He then discusses how working with people that you’ve worked with before isn’t always as easy as jumping right back in where you left off, because they have likely grown and changed in that time away.
• He notes that the most important thing to develop those relationships is to listen more than you talk, and the process of how to build trust with those people.

Michelle asks how it is different than working with people that aren’t remote, or if it is at all?

• Ron says that when we are around the same people every day, we get used to those people’s shields.
• He then discusses the reason that some of his remote relationships were closer than the in person ones.
• Michelle reflects on her remote relationships, and how those for her are the ones that have tended to last through the years.

Ron asks Michelle if she could go back and give a 30 year old version of herself advice, what would it be?

• Her first piece of advice is that people matter, no matter what you do.
• Her second piece is to truly get to know the person, not their role, and how that relationship can be around for the rest of your lifetime.
• Ron then thinks about his advice, which is that each relationship is as precious as whatever you’re trying to build.

Michelle and Ron reflect on how technologies have changed the way that people can connect now.

• Ron discusses how to look at these relationships in relation to current day social media.
• Michelle adds that we need to look at the core of the person, and social media might not reflect that.

Join us to hear how understanding the idea of “self-talk” — and what you can do about it — could change your relationships and life for the better.

Visit www.macklinconnection.com