From Monitoring to Mentoring

The COVID pandemic has profoundly changed the workplace for many businesses and organizations. Perhaps the most seismic impact has been on office-centric industries with a sudden global shift into remote work. Recent global surveys found that remote workers have increased productivity and satisfaction (Prodoscore, 2021).

The shift into remote work for those in management has not been embraced with the same delight as the employee. Why is that? The answer may be embedded in both management distrust of employees and managers’ concerns regarding their role and utility in the new workplace.

Remote managers may distrust their employees.

Parker and colleagues (2020) surveyed 1,200 individuals, both employees and managers, in 24 countries across a variety of industries, including education, manufacturing, science, real estate, and financial services. Nearly 60 percent of supervisors did not appear to have much confidence in their remote supervisees. A large percentage of supervisors believed that remote workers performed worse than those who were in the office (38 percent), and some managers were not sure (22 percent). When asked about whether remote workers could stay motivated over time, again, there was a large percentage that was skeptical (41 percent) or simply unsure (17 percent).

Remote managers may lack confidence or feel they are no longer necessary.

Parker and colleagues suggest that this sudden thrust into the new remote workplace has left managers in a quandary. Office-based face-to-face management strategies do not translate into a telework environment. Accompanying this skepticism about the efficacy of those they managed remotely was supervisors’ low self-confidence in their ability to manage these workers (40 percent). These findings led Parker and colleagues to identify a lack of self-efficacy in their ability to manage workers remotely that may be fueling management distrust.

Spyware is used to reduce anxiety about remote worker productivity and assure management role.

Distrust of remote workers may also lead to increased tracking. Laker and colleagues (2020) studied the rise of close monitoring of remote employees justified by employers as the need for scrutinizing productivity. These efforts included installing surveillance software or “tattleware” programs on their work computers. And in a “tit for tat” dance of distrust, there has been a boom in anti-surveillance software by employees to thwart these efforts.

Laker and colleagues note that the effect of such scrutiny has been distrust on both sides, as well as deepening the division between workers and managers. Overzealous monitoring of the remote worker may also lead to a toxic work environment. Parker and colleagues found workers who experienced high levels of remote monitoring (frequenting checking up on the employee) often or always felt anxious when working (49 percent) and experienced high interference with their work or home life as a result of managers’ expectation that remote work meant that they were “always on.”

Viewing remote management through the lens of opportunity for leadership growth.

Laker and colleagues suggested that businesses should focus on collaboration and empowerment and not surveillance, and this should be grounded in trusting employees to manage their productivity. This requires managers to develop a paradigm shift, from 20th-century workplace monitoring (overseeing banks of 9-to-5 cubicle-locked workers) to the 21st-century remote workplace, which is flexible and values employee autonomy. Rather than closing opportunities for managers, remote work management may actually expand their roles in new ways. Just as the remote workplace has brought a sense of self-determination for the employee through enhancing autonomy and an internal locus of control, remote management offers similar opportunities for psychological growth and efficacy.

From monitoring to mentoring

Rather than “monitors,” the remote workplace offers managers the opportunity to become “mentors.” Although the “nuts and bolts” of mentorship will look different across organizations, the underlying goal of mentorship is that of a collaborative mindset toward achieving shared goals. For managers, there is a unique opportunity for leadership in the evolving areas of work-life balance and work motivation of those they supervise remotely.

Aspirational goal setting as part of performance standards is another opportunity within remote management mentorship. As virtual workers may be able to accomplish more in less time due to the lack of office distractions (e.g., co-workers interrupting for a “quick consult” or “chat”) and more energy (no commute time), this can, in turn, provide the cognitive and emotional “space” for such goal setting.

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From monitoring to meaning

Gagne & Deci (2005) note that work motivation and satisfaction have long been linked to environments that promote both extrinsic motivation (such as pay increases or other rewards) and intrinsic motivation (such as a sense of control and meaning in work). Transformational leadership may be particularly impactful in remote management and enhance managers’ sense of meaning in their new roles. The basic “four I’s” of this leadership style—idealized influence (i.e., serving as a role model); intellectual stimulation (i.e., challenging status quo, encouraging creativity, exploring new ways of doing things); inspirational stimulation (i.e., articulation of a clear vision); and individualized consideration (i.e., supportive and open lines of communication)—can be readily incorporated in virtual management (Bass & Riggio, 2006).

A recent literature review (Vought, 2017) noted that this leadership style could be implemented in several areas in remote management, such as virtual team-building groups and the use of technology to streamline work and enhance creativity. Virtual managers can be role models in “virtual etiquette” in addressing conflicts and providing a culture that builds trust through sharing rather than hoarding information. Individualized consideration can be realized by providing remote employees virtual “facetime” access to leaders.

Remote work management is a new world. Rather than be driven by distrust and impulses to control and spy, remote work management offers the opportunity to use technological gains to promote employee loyalty and commitment. In embracing such values, leaders are likely to be energized by their new role. The sense of meaning in work fills a profound psychological drive to lead lives that are meaningful. When examined through this lens of motivation and satisfaction, what drives people to work hard and be happy is not just flexibility but work that resonates with core values and goals. This is as true for the manager as it is for those who are managed.