Long-distance leadership: letting go and leaning in

Wayne Turmel | 25 Mar 2025

Leading a remote or hybrid team requires a different mindset than you may have had if everyone was all together in the same physical space.

Has traditional team building had its day?

Zoe Carter-Owen

UK companies spend around £200 million annually on company away days and team-building activities. But does this investment really enhance productivity or collaboration?

CPOs: leadership in a challenging landscape

Emma Burrows

In an era of constant disruption, Chief People Officers must embrace AI, leadership agility and business strategy to drive workforce resilience and success.

Building your leadership pipeline: the crucial role of confidence

Kevin Eikenberry

Healthy confidence is a critical criterion in picking leaders and forecasting future success. Thankfully, it is also a skill that can be developed.

Six female femtech leaders transforming women's health

Alix Hobbs

To mark International Women's Day, here's a look at the innovation, passion and drive of six female Femtech leaders whose work is transforming women’s health.

Welcome back to the office. it hasn't got any better

Wayne Turmel

Companies trying to get staff back into the office need to address some fundamental questions about culture, productivity and collaboration if those RTO mandates are going succeed.

Why coaching in business can fail to produce results

Clare Norman

Coaching often fails to deliver because organisations want the benefits of coaching without making the up-front investment in screening individuals for coaching readiness.

From the archive

Morale: a moving target

Duane Dike

What we think we know about morale is probably wrong, especially the black and white notion that morale is either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Like most human feelings, morale is a moving target, which is why being sensitive to its nuances is such a key skill for leaders.

Duane Dike

Thinking about the good things

Duane Dike

Some days, things at work just don’t pan out. But rather than letting this undermine your motivation, it’s worth taking a little time to think about the things that do make your job worthwhile.

Charles Helliwell

Capitalising on adversity

Charles Helliwell

In times of adversity it is always better to see ourselves for what we are and face up to all the vulnerability that comes with it. Each tomorrow is another journey into the unknown. Far better to go into it with an open and inventive mindset than one which views success as just surviving another day.

Dan Bobinski

A Cure for Micro-Management

Dan Bobinski

Over-controlling is usually done by managers who don’t quite know how to manage. The result is ineffective use of personnel and tremendously lower productivity and profits.

Wayne Turmel

Three ways to look at perfection

Wayne Turmel

We often like to think of ourselves as perfectionists. But does everyone on your team have the same idea of what 'perfect' is? Turns out there are (at least) three ways of defining it.

Earlier opinion

Hybrid work: do you want a mule or a platypus?

Wayne Turmel

Would you describe the hybrid workplace as a mule or as a platypus? Stick with me, because the question is not as crazy as it might sound.

Remote working and mental health

Wayne Turmel

One of the more interesting and talked-about topics around remote and hybrid working is how it impacts people’s mental health.

Combating burnout: five practical steps for leaders

Ang Brennan

In today’s relentless workplace, tackling burnout among leaders is a pressing reality. Here are some practical strategies to help build a supportive and resilient work environment.

Managing performance on hybrid teams

Wayne Turmel

As hybrid working becomes more and more widespread, one of the biggest difficulties that has emerged is how to manage individual performance when some people are in the office more than others.

The importance of explicit expectations

Karl Hebenstreit

The mantra for human effectiveness is “communication, communication, communication”. But without setting explicit expectations, communication on its own isn't enough.

Surviving re-orgs and buyouts at a distance

Wayne Turmel

For people working remotely, an internal re-organization or an external buyout can be especially disconcerting and confusing.

How to lead with questions in cognitively diverse ways

Megan Seibel

Questions can be powerful leadership enablers. So it is worth taking time to understand the art of asking the right questions and creating a questioning culture when leading others.

Pause and allow

Neil Jurd

Being 'busy' is normally seen as a positive thing. But being busy has a dark side - stress, poor sleep, never having enough time to stop and think. So how can we learn to be effective without becoming overloaded?

Are America and Europe returning to the office in the same way?

Wayne Turmel

It has been four years since Covid caused a seismic change in how and where people work. But are North America and Europe handling this trend in the same way? The evidence says not.

What to do when you’re just not feeling it?

Wayne Turmel

Working remotely can be great, but it can also be isolating, especially on those days when you’re lacking motivation or just can’t seem to get to grips with what needs to be done.

The importance of age-inclusivity in hospitality

Penny Brown

Amid the ongoing labour shortage in the UK's hospitality industry, one positive sign is that the sector is attracting a growing number of over-50s workers, who now make up over a third of its workforce.

What to do if hybrid isn’t working

Wayne Turmel

How are team’s hybrid working arrangements working out? Are they better or worse than you expected?