Leadership & People
Remote work removes the natural visibility of an office. The answer is not surveillance or wishful thinking. It is better information used for better conversations.
Key Lessons from This Episode
Remote work removes the natural visibility of an office. The answer is not surveillance or wishful thinking. It is better information used for better conversations.
Many remote teams kept the meetings and software of office work while losing the informal signals around them. A task can be marked complete without showing the effort, collaboration, or confusion behind it. A quiet employee may be focused, disengaged, blocked, or simply working on something the manager cannot see.
Read This Lesson →At one extreme is the impulse to track every click, minute, camera, or seat. Geoff shared an example of a company considering AI cameras and detailed attendance tracking. The tools promised certainty, but they also threatened trust.
Read This Lesson →Geoff's company uses signals from tools teams already work in to help leaders notice patterns. The larger principle matters more than any particular platform: information should help a manager ask a better question, not declare a verdict.
Read This Lesson →“A coach needs enough visibility to help. A cop looks for evidence that someone deserves punishment.”Geoff McQueen
In an office, leaders absorb information without planning to. They notice who is stuck, who is carrying too much, which customers keep calling, and where energy has changed. Remote work removes much of that peripheral vision.
Geoff McQueen, a serial technology entrepreneur and the founder of Team Score, believes that loss of visibility pushes managers toward two equally unhelpful extremes.
Many remote teams kept the meetings and software of office work while losing the informal signals around them. A task can be marked complete without showing the effort, collaboration, or confusion behind it. A quiet employee may be focused, disengaged, blocked, or simply working on something the manager cannot see.
The uncertainty makes leaders uncomfortable. Some respond by monitoring more. Others avoid the issue because any measurement feels intrusive. Neither response gives the team what it needs.
At one extreme is the impulse to track every click, minute, camera, or seat. Geoff shared an example of a company considering AI cameras and detailed attendance tracking. The tools promised certainty, but they also threatened trust.
At the other extreme is management by hope. Leaders assume good people will handle everything and avoid naming visible underperformance. Over time, that choice affects more than the struggling employee. High performers notice when standards are optional. They begin to carry more or care less.
Geoff uses the example of one employee consistently doing less while a strong teammate keeps compensating. If the leader never addresses the imbalance, the high performer eventually learns that extra effort changes nothing.
Geoff's company uses signals from tools teams already work in to help leaders notice patterns. The larger principle matters more than any particular platform: information should help a manager ask a better question, not declare a verdict.
A drop in visible activity may indicate disengagement. It may also reflect deep work, a difficult personal season, poor project design, or a blocker no one has removed. The manager's job is to bring curiosity and context to the pattern.
I noticed this change. What is happening, and what would help you do your best work?
This approach preserves both accountability and dignity. Employees know that commitments matter. They also know that a metric will not be treated as the whole truth about their work.
Empathy does not require pretending that everyone wants the same level of growth or responsibility. Some employees are satisfied in their current role. Others want to stretch. Leaders should understand that difference instead of forcing one definition of ambition onto everyone.
Side projects and flexible schedules do not automatically signal disloyalty. The practical question is whether the person is honoring the commitments of the role. When expectations are clear and performance is healthy, flexibility can coexist with trust.
Remote leadership needs visibility, but visibility must serve the relationship. Measure what helps the team understand its work. Address underperformance before resentment spreads. Ask before assuming. Use data to prepare for a human conversation, then let the conversation provide the context.
The goal is not to know every minute. It is to help every person understand what good work looks like and receive honest support in doing it.
Meet the Guest
Geoff McQueen is a serial technology entrepreneur and the founder of Team Score. He helps distributed leaders replace guesswork and surveillance with useful performance visibility, clearer standards, and better coaching conversations.
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