The boss sits enthroned in a padded executive chair above his employees - authoritarian, unpopular and condescending. This image of leadership has been burned into our minds. But it has had its day: digitalization, project-based work and cooperation are shaping working life today. That's why I don't even have a boss's chair - or my own office. As a digital nomad and agency boss, the world is my office and my laptop is my closest traveling companion. In this personal experience report, you can find out how I manage remotely and take responsibility for over 25 employees in a remote team.

I have always been a technology fan. I built my first websites for clients when I was just 14. The web was still small, but I quickly realized the huge potential that lay dormant here. After graduating from high school, I packed my bags and went to Australia for a 9-month work & travel program. I financed the entire trip with web design jobs.

In 2008, I was one of the very early digital nomads - before the term even existed. From today's perspective, it was an incredible effort: I had a huge, lead-heavy laptop in my luggage, the smartphone was a marginal phenomenon and Wi-Fi was often in short supply. Nevertheless, the realization has prevailed: I can work from anywhere and it's huge fun.

After studying at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and UC Berkeley in California, I founded the digital agency Friendventure in 2012 with a number of loyal clients. This was the first time I took on employee responsibility. It was clear to me that I wanted to be an entrepreneur but at the same time remain flexible. I also traveled a lot during my studies and was always inspired by different places. I really wanted to maintain this flexibility. Digital nomad and agency boss, travel and employee responsibility, does that go together? 

Remote leadership means equal rights for all

It is said that the company is a reflection of the entrepreneurial personality. As a globetrotter, my agency is also characterized by great freedom and personal responsibility. When I founded the company, my credo was: I want to run an agency where I would like to work as an employee myself.

The most important decision for me was to treat everyone equally. All the freedoms that I take for myself should also apply to my employees. Why should I tie my employees to their desks when I have experienced the benefits of self-determination first-hand? In terms of productivity, but also in terms of general well-being. 

So being location-independent has grown out of my personal preference. I am now a part-time digital nomad, so to speak. I travel around 4 months a year and also commute a lot between our offices in Cologne and Berlin as well as various other appointments. That's why I'm also a passionate rail traveler and spend several hundred hours a year on the train, where I also work, of course.

I am firmly convinced that the system only works because everyone has the same rights. Otherwise it would be: "Look, Julian, he's on the road again and we have to sit in the office 9-to-5." Colleagues rightly go on the barricades when things like that happen. That's just not how companies work these days. Fortunately!

The advantages of remote work

We are not an intercultural remote team spread across the globe. We have an employee base around our locations in Cologne and Berlin. But even here, many employees work from home or take the opportunity to choose their workplace freely - e.g. in cafés, coworking spaces, on the train while traveling, in other cities or as a combination of work and vacation in other countries. 

Despite the possibility of working from anywhere, most people come to the office regularly, but change location flexibly as required. This combination of flexibility at the workplace and a fixed team and office is very well received by my colleagues and applicants. It also offers the following advantages for me as an agency manager:

Lower employee turnover

According to a Stanford study, employee turnover is 50 percent lower in remote teams. We have had similar experiences: a close-knit team and the option of working remotely prevent good employees from leaving. Precisely because relocations to other cities (e.g. as a result of partner life planning) do not necessarily lead to job changes. 

Happier colleagues

According to a study by TINYpulse, remote workers are happier and more motivated in their jobs. Without anonymous employee surveys, an exact evaluation is difficult, but the ratings on Kununu give a good indication. It is a challenge for a remote manager to keep a close eye on the mood in the team. An "open door" at all times helps here. In the digital age, this means that my employees can reach me at any time via Slack and talk about problems of all kinds. For me as the boss, it's also important to actively participate in Slack discussions within the team. Of course, there are also regular face-to-face meetings.

Healthier colleagues and fewer sick days

The number of days off work due to mental health issues has been rising for years: according to the TK health report, 18% of sick days are now of a mental nature, and young people in particular are at risk. Even though there are repeated reports of higher stress levels when working from home, we believe that a high degree of self-determination (time and place of work) is the ideal solution. 

In our experience, this self-determination leads to greater well-being and, as a result, fewer sick days. With flexible working hours, if I have a headache in the morning, I can simply turn around and start work later instead of having to take sick leave at 9 a.m. sharp. 

Attracting sought-after specialists

An organization is only as good as its employees. In the service sector, my employees are my capital and a key factor in competition. The shortage of skilled workers is not a nebulous forecast for the future, but already a reality in almost all sectors. 

By working from anywhere, we have a much larger talent pool from which we can draw. Attractive working conditions also strengthen our own employer brand. And by that I don't just mean a hip foosball table and free mate - without an underlying culture, it's all just smoke and mirrors. 

Concentrated work

The advantage of working remotely is that I can actively seek out my breaks to concentrate on my work. Personally, I'm always in the middle of the action in an open-plan office and am easily distracted by things. That's fine from time to time.

However, I can work in a much more concentrated way in our smaller Berlin office than in our main office in Cologne, where I rotate from meeting to meeting, am taken to one side or get involved in processes myself. In the evening, I realize how exhausted I am after such a working day.

Alongside the benefits, there are of course also a lot of challenges for us as a remote team. Especially when remote teams grow quickly, as we did last year. Within 12 months, we doubled in size to over 25 employees. This has really shaken up our internal processes. On the other hand, construction sites that were due were ruthlessly exposed.

Let's get back to the main topic: leadership. Of course, leadership is a real challenge in remote teams, as it often takes place from a distance. Now to the crucial question: How do I lead my employees when we are not in the same office, in the same city or even in the same time zone?

Some team members at Raidboxes also work remotely. You can read about the advantages and challenges of working remotelyin our article on this topic.

Remote leadership in the 21st century

Top-down was yesterday! To be more precise, the principle of rigid hierarchies dates back to the age of industrialization. No one would think that the challenges of an iron foundry in the 18th century could be compared with those of a medium-sized company at the beginning of the 21st century. Nevertheless, the majority of companies today are still organized strictly hierarchically.   

A strict catalog of specifications, meticulously prescribed work instructions and tight controls - these are all tools of the old working world. They simply can no longer be used to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Because the reality is this: We work in agile project groups, answer messages digitally, jump from one task to the next, Skype with customers and educate ourselves on the side. The major tasks presented to us by digitalization can only be accomplished through cooperation and creativity. 

I see the optimal preparation of my employees for these modern working methods as digital leadership or remote leadership. I am not alone in this: young companies in particular are increasingly questioning traditional corporate structures and developing new working models - e.g. holacracy, sociocracy or even remote working.

I don't want to separate digital leadership and remote leadership, because they absolutely belong together: Remote has long been a reality in the digital world. Every time I send a digital message, make a phone call or use other communication tools, I am working remotely. Even the most adamant advocates of face-to-face work cannot deny that a company with different locations must work remotely in order to remain agile. 

The 8 pillars of digital leadership

So what characterizes remote leadership? In my opinion, it comes down to the following 8 things:

1. Less control
2. More trust
3. Handing over responsibility instead of delegating
4. Empowerment
5. Intrinsic motivation
6. Preventing silo thinking
7. Team events
8. The right tools

1. less control

Command and control has had its day. Bosses must say goodbye to being able to control all of their employees' activities at every turn. Studies, such as that of the German Economic Institute (IW), show that productivity drops significantly under constant control.

To be honest, I also had to adapt, as I naturally like to keep all the reins in my own hands. The physical distance of working remotely helps me to stay out of the operational side of things. I had to replace the feeling of "I think everything is slipping out of my hands" with "They're already doing it without me". 

Less control also has the advantage for me of being able to focus on the essential tasks as a boss and entrepreneur. For me, digital leadership also involves making forward-looking business decisions. I have to keep an eye on the market, keep an eye on new technologies and adapt our service portfolio if necessary. In other words: working more on the company than in the company.

During the growth phase in particular, I had to consciously withdraw from the operational side in order to build up new structures instead. I was able to hand over some areas of responsibility completely so that I am only involved in critical situations.

2. more trust

Less control automatically means more trust. And without trust, nothing works. No society, no family and no company either. Trust is one of the most important factors for performance and successful teamwork. This is shown by studies such as the one conducted by the University of Münster on trust in virtual teams. 

"The face-to-face contact that virtual teams lack can be compensated for by increased trust" Guido Hertel, Professor of Organizational and Business Psychology at the University of Münster

I have to trust that my employees are working on a task appropriately. Ultimately, I don't care whether my colleague goes for a walk or feeds his goldfish on the way to his goal. It's the result that counts. Experience shows that the best ideas don't come to us at our desks, under pressure or in stressful situations anyway, but when we have our heads free to think creatively. These spaces only arise in a relationship of trust.

And just like in soccer, the team loses and wins together. If the goalkeeper has a bad game and he nets a last-second save, the team stands together. That doesn't mean that you don't analyze mistakes. That's also how I see it in a corporate context. It has to be clear that you are working on something together and that each individual makes their contribution, but is also allowed to make mistakes. 

3. handing over responsibility instead of delegating

You hear everywhere that the boss has to delegate tasks to his employees. But that alone is not enough. Delegating usually leads to employees working on a task and then handing it back to the boss. This is followed by feedback, further processing and then you're stuck in a seemingly endless feedback loop that consumes an unnecessary amount of resources and nerves. 

The best solution is therefore to hand over full responsibility to the employee. This leads to more agile decisions without the results having to suffer. In addition, employees can often give each other much better feedback than if the boss is constantly involved. In case of doubt, their skillset is much more precisely tailored to the task.

4. empowerment

Empowerment means providing the optimal framework conditions so that employees can realize their full potential. A high performer in the wrong position, a trainee overburdened with tasks or simply a lack of technical infrastructure can be a real brake on the development of potential. 

But it's not just technology that is important: in addition to tools, employees need freedom and a long-term perspective. To encourage employees, you have to increase their radius of action. Greater scope for decision-making can be a real motivational boost. For example, a well-known hotel has allowed its cleaning staff to handle complaints up to 1000 euros themselves without consulting their superiors. The result was a significant increase in work motivation and a reduction in bureaucracy.  

The task of a digital leader today is to promote their own employees to become a better professional version of themselves. There is no room for vanity, elbow mentality and competitive thinking. It pays off two and threefold when expertise grows from within the company and knowledge is actively shared. 

5 Intrinsic motivation

What motivates an employee in the long term? A high salary, generous bonuses or a company car? Neither - studies show that the positive effect of a salary increase only lasts for a short time and reaches its maximum at 60,000 euros per year.  

My experience also shows: Intrinsic motivation helps. Intrinsic means "out of one's own incentive". The opposite is extrinsic motivation, which includes the motivators mentioned above: Money, commission, company car.

Because extrinsic motivation effects fizzle out again after a short time, proactive value creation can only come from intrinsic motivation. If you only do things by the book, you won't achieve anything in the company and will remain far removed from innovation.

What helps in concrete terms? Appreciation of work, freedom to make your own decisions, transparency, an open error culture and celebrating successes.

6. prevention of silo thinking

In my opinion, a major danger for established companies is the lack of knowledge sharing due to departmental silos. These clearly separated and strictly hierarchically structured departments make cooperation more difficult and, in the worst case, lead to a "state within a state". Departments become so large that they pursue their own interests alongside the interests of the company.

Effective measures to prevent silos are agile project work and remote teams. The advantage of agility and remote work, as I see in my agency, is the constantly changing composition of interdisciplinary project teams. There are no departments with a sign on the door saying PR, design or IT. Those who avoid this spatial separation in the first place and instead rely on remote working have a clear advantage right from the start. In the beginning, setting up agile project teams certainly means extra work to ensure that the project does not end in chaos. In the long term, however, companies benefit from this agility.

7. team events

For remote teams spread across the globe, it can be difficult to bring all employees together in one place. It's a good thing that our employees all live in Germany, so nothing stands in the way of a joint Christmas party and other events.

In addition, we have been packing our bags once a year for the past three years and flying to sunnier climes (Mallorca, Lisbon, Crete) for a week to work together. This strengthens cohesion immensely and creates trust within the team. In October 2019, our third workation (a combination of work and vacation) took place in Crete. For many employees in our rapidly growing team, it was their first physical meeting, as they had previously only communicated via digital channels.

I see regular meetings and events as crucial to the success of a remote company. We are all social beings and want to get to know the people we work with on a daily basis. As "strangers", it is incredibly difficult to create a shared team spirit. If you've cooked, eaten and laughed together before, it's much easier.

8. the right tools

Many people think that tools are the most important thing in remote teams. It's true: tools are definitely essential in the digital working world. However, tools must always be integrated into sensible workflows. What good is the best project management tool on the market if the numerous functions are not needed anyway or if it mercilessly overwhelms employees? In the worst case scenario, individual employees use different solutions, which doesn't help anyone. And never forget:

A fool with a tool is still a fool. 

Although email is not yet obsolete, it is becoming increasingly useless in agile, project-based teams. An email is of little use when five people are communicating with each other and there are also twelve in the CC. Recently, managers have been spending hours every day processing emails that are of little relevance to them. Collaboration tools are a real blessing here, as they structure communication much better or allow comments to be made directly on the user interface. 

The advantage of such communication tools is the direct use of the swarm's intelligence. The hurdle of asking a question in the channel is much lower than walking into your manager's neighboring office and asking for advice. This means that even as a remote manager, I can always keep an eye on the needs of my colleagues and we remain agile at the same time. 

Remote guidance is possible!

It may sound crazy to the established bosses of the last century: But remote leadership is possible, it works well and sometimes even better than constantly breathing down your employees' necks by being too present. 

Remote working has long been a reality that we have to recognize as part of the digital age. I would therefore advise every company to prepare its structures for remote working. Be it for employer branding reasons or to retain deserving employees.

Nevertheless, I see a regular presence as a boss as a great advantage. Every now and then it is necessary to feel the vibes in the team first hand. As a fully remote team, the only things that remain are the joint events and meetings.  

However, there is one catch to remote leadership that can only be eliminated through self-discipline. Thanks to my digital nomadism, I'm practically always available unless I'm stuck in a dead zone. The temptation is often great to quickly check emails before going to bed or to do this or that to-do for tomorrow. 

I have to define clear boundaries for myself here. It's not always easy, but it works with a few hacks: notifications off, fixed times when I check my emails, daily planning with sport, meditation, etc. I'm very happy to accept the need for discipline if I'm rewarded with great flexibility and freedom on the other hand. My colleagues and I wouldn't want to be without it!