Working remotely comes with its own set of challenges. Especially if your company doesn’t have robust support mechanisms in place, productivity and communication can take a hit. Feedback from others helps you develop (or hone) the skills necessary to cope with those challenges and thrive in a distributed team. And that’s only one of the reasons why you should ask for feedback.
So what are the most valuable skills in remote work environments? What exactly should you get feedback on? Use the templates below to gather perspectives and advice that will help you become a successful remote worker.
Productivity
Employees who are used to an office environment may need some time to get to the same level of productivity while working from home (or anywhere else). Routines that suit you and your team help you stay productive and sane.
Essential questions:
- How effectively do you think I’ve been managing my productivity? Can you share an example?
- What’s one habit that you think would make me more productive?
Additional questions:
- From your perspective, how well am I able to manage my time?
- What’s one technique that you think could help me stay focused?
- How do you feel about my ability to clarify my responsibilities and priorities?
Note: These questions might be tricky to answer for most of your coworkers, including your manager. To set the right expectations, emphasize that you’re asking for their personal impression, rather than an objective assessment.
Proactiveness
With great autonomy comes great responsibility. When working in different locations where there’s limited insight into what others are working on, it’s especially important to be proactive. As a remote worker, you need to be able to “unblock” yourself and take initiative while still considering other people’s roles and responsibilities.
Essential questions:
- How do you feel about the level of initiative that I show?
- What’s an example of a situation where I should take more (or less) initiative?
Additional questions:
- What’s an example of a time I proactively tackled a business problem?
- What was a situation where I demonstrated independent problem solving?
Communication
(Over-)communication builds trust and ensures smooth collaboration in remote teams. To keep everyone in the loop and avoid any misunderstanding, remote workers must communicate frequently and effectively.
Essential questions:
- What’s an example of a time I communicated effectively?
- What’s one thing I should improve to communicate more effectively?
Additional questions:
- How do you feel about the frequency of my communication?
- How do you feel about the clarity of my communication?
- How well do you feel informed about my availability?
General topics
When requesting feedback, consider leaving space for thoughts on topics that you didn’t ask about specifically. These questions can help you get the general gist on a particular topic or allow the feedback giver to share what’s on their mind.
Essential questions:
- How do you feel about my overall effectiveness as a remote worker?
- Anything else you’d like to share about my remote working style?
Getting started: how to ask these questions
Now that you have a solid list of remote work feedback questions at your disposal, it’s time to reach out to your coworkers. Here are some ideas on how to use the questions above:
- Combine the essential questions from the different skill areas into one well-rounded remote work skills survey.
- Ask the essential and additional questions to dive into one skill area, such as communication.
- Pick a single question and ask someone directly, maybe during a 1:1 meeting. Do this regularly to cover all relevant skills, and be sure to take notes for later reference.
