What are the most effective ways to maintain motivation and engagement during a remote change initiative?

Here are some things that I have learned and applied: 1. Understand the change yourself. Be certain that you are convinced. If not, fill the gaps. 2. Understand the situation on the ground. Speak to the remote teams (key members). Obtain different perspectives of the current state. 3. Bring points 1 and 2 together. Identify what's similar, what's good, and what's missing. Reflect on an approach that would immediately get people to listen. 4. What's in it for them? What's the aim and how would they be impacted? What are the next steps? Keep it simple towards the initial stages. 5. Keep your heart, ears and doors open to answer questions and listen. The above has worked for me but be prepared to repeat!

What's worked in my teams is heightened communication - no assumptions. It encourages team members to articulate their understanding, experiences, and suggestions. Engage them in the mission, making them feel like integral parts of the change, even leaders of the process itself. A shift from being passive observers to active participants. Collaborate on addressing resistance and fears. Among engagement methods, the most effective one is dedicating time to listening, comprehending, and empathizing. Each team member is going through their unique journey, and simultaneously, the team is experiencing its own. It's crucial to exercise patience, resilience, and a willingness to embrace and drive change through empathy.

Change is a process and takes time. Build awareness - what is all about, why the change is needed, what is the time-target, what will be the benefit for the organization & for your remote team. Set clear roles and responsibility and clear target and allocate adequate resources. Make sure you are sponsored by your leadership. Reinforce the same change message in each follow up call and always pause for Questions and Suggestion. Be an active listener: make sure as a leader you address resistance and challenges - Develop a change Managment plan and take action to implement it. Smart KPI reviews and trucked is a must - Celebrate success and achievement with the team. Reward the team.

During my journey, the most powerful thing that kept the teams motivated was to engage them continuously and encourage volunteers and participation. Showcase the little steps that have been taken and take feedback. Speak and coach. When required, use your conflict management skills to resolve issues/concerns. Support!

To be successful in a remote change initiative empowerment and involvement of the whole team is just the beginning but far not sufficient to achive positive results. You have to build on the individual needs and strengths of the team members and not to forget that first you have to reach goal congruance on team level. You also have to be able to communicate about weaknesses and missing skills on team level to go deeper afterwards on individual level. Defining roles and responsiblities is also a key moment when starting a remote project. All this has to be inline with the personal motivation of each indivdual on the team. Even better if those motivational factors can be openly discussed so the team understands the drivers of the others.

The most powerful question for teams who are planning change is "What do we not know?" It gives people permission to not have all the answers, to collaborate on what may require action or communication for the unknown, and to be okay with addressing further change.

It's important to create an environment of psychological safety, enabling teams to design their own social contracts to help bust silos, and creating a positive cognitive and emotional culture. It's also important to consider the trust quotient. That is, change leaders and leaders in general, showing credibility, reliability, are relationship focused, and not simply self-orientated (people will notice). Empathy also goes a long way. It creates an oxytocin loop - one that inspires trust and engagement. Change leaders and leaders, need to be aware of their own threat states and practice strategies to self-regulate, to ensure that negative emotion contagion is not being spread. This is a sure-fire way to erode trust and rapport.

Another way to build trust is to have open conversations about people different communication styles. Using tools like Social styles or DISC questionnaires can help to see the differences, discuss objectively how we can better include everyone and leverage differences.

In my opinion, there is a need to make the effort to speak and listen to them. You may need to repeat some meetings. Take in suggestions and see how to fit this in (now or later). Have a plan for them. Share a common place where all decisions and information are made available centrally. Help resolve issues/concerns. Relate this to the main objective. If required, bring a third party (this can be senior heads, coaches, or other teams) to share experience and thoughts. Build and work on creating ambassadors or advocates. Get help on the ground if required.

Educate and Inform. Often, resistance stems from a lack of understanding. Comprehensive training sessions, workshops, and informational documents can help clarify the reasons for the change and the benefits it will bring. More importantly, set people up for success by providing them with the tools they'll need to get the job done.

Addressing resistance and challenges is pivotal during remote change initiatives. As Peter Senge wisely said, 'People don't resist change. They resist being changed!' Acknowledging resistance as a natural response allows proactive identification of sources, fostering trust and transparency. Challenges are part of the journey; addressing them with clear guidance and resources maintains momentum. Celebrating milestones reinforces commitment. However, a cautionary note: excessive reactivity can amplify negativity. It's crucial to differentiate valid concerns from mere resistance. Striking a balance between issue resolution and a positive outlook is key to success. Emphasize solutions to keep the team engaged and motivated

I wrote an article based on my experience about this. Check out my post which shows the different stages of emotions we pass through to understand and accept. 𝟭. 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲: Start conversations to address doubts and concerns openly. 𝟮. 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆: Understand the impact of change on individuals and provide support. 𝟯. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: Inspire by sharing the big picture and how everyone plays a vital role. 𝟰. 𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀: Every step forward is a victory. Celebrate it! 𝟱. 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁, 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁: The more you share, the more you address questions, the more you support, emotions and reactions will settle giving space for creative thinking and planning.

In addition to KPIs, there are many AI tools that can read unconstructed feedback. That's often where we can gather more rich insights that can help define better actions.

In my experience, communication plays a huge role in tracking the progress. Collect data and visually communicate the progress and impact. How did the team deal with this? I would consider this as their achievement. Spotlight each team while they share their experience and progress.

Again, monthly culture change updates are key to monitoring and measuring impact. Along side of that, a quarterly or bi-annual post-audit survey is also useful.

Create organic feedback loops throughout the change culture process. Ensure that they are at every layer in the organisation so that you can continue to capture data from a cross section of employees. These learnings will help you improve and shape your culture accordingly.

I would say that one good tool is to use KATA model: Learn from mistakes and successes. Just remember to do the invite to the session multiple people, not just the closest one.

Change Leader also needs to self-reflect, partucularly when remote. Skills to adapt and adjust starts from accepting different points of view and that there is not a single truth out there.

Commit to being a reward and recognition culture. Start by appreciating your employees when you notice change in mindset and behaviour. And encourage other leaders and employees to appreciate positive changes in each other. This creates a bias towards collaboration, alignment, and solutions.

The key to maintaining motivation and engagement during remote change initiatives lies in three pivotal strategies. First, it’s crucial to personalize change management—leaders must be visible, accessible, and align individual motivations with the change’s broader purpose. Second, adopting an open-source engagement model is vital, where leaders articulate a clear vision, strategy, and execution plan, and employees are encouraged to co-create solutions. Third, flexibility should be woven into the organizational fabric, empowering teams to tailor their work arrangements. This triad of personalization, participative engagement, and flexibility forms the bedrock of sustained motivation and commitment in a remote work setting.

Continuous & timely communication is key to maintain motivation & engagement during remote change initiatives. It's easier for employees & even stakeholders to feel left out during a remote change initiative compared to a physical, on-site environment. Thus, plan your communication strategy in a way that everyone starts receiving information early & continuously.