Leading From Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Managing Remote Teams – Research-Backed Approaches for Performance and Burnout Prevention

by David Burkus

"The ultimate guide to leading remote employees and teams, tackling the key challenges that managers face-from hiring and onboarding new members to building culture remotely, tracking productivity, communicating speedily, and retaining star employees"--

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Management, Self Help, Professional Development, Entrepreneurship

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 5, 2021

About the author

One of the world’s leading business thinkers, David Burkus’ forward-thinking ideas and bestselling books are helping leaders and teams do their best work ever.

He is the bestselling author of four books about business and leadership. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into dozens of languages. His insights on leadership and teamwork have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, USAToday, Fast Company, the Financial Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, CNN, the BBC, NPR, and CBS This Morning. Since 2017, Burkus has been ranked as one of the world’s top business thought leaders by Thinkers50. As a sought-after international speaker, his TED Talk has been viewed over 2 million times. He’s worked with leaders from organizations across all industries including Google, Stryker, Fidelity, Viacom, and even the US Naval Academy.

A former business school professor, Burkus holds a master’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book.

Remote:
- saves carbon
- no commute
- better work-life balance
- employees are more productive
- work anywhere
- no facilities, low HR overheads
- hire from anywhere
- the benefits go on and on...

First off.
A huge big NO thanks to Marissa Meyer, for ruining remote work in the 2000s.

Some lessons from this book:
- Start meetings early for water cooler bits
- Every agenda item is a question
- Leave room open at end for end conversations
- If one person in a meeting is working remote, then that automatically means the entire meeting is remote - no questions asked.

Also really liked:
One brainstorming session should be broken into 3 mini sessions:
Problem, idea, decision meetings.
Gives time to decide and form consensus
Problem -how can we X? ask a question.

An exceptional book for leaders. I feel I am completely capable to manage remote teams now.
Especially how I have no desire to do the DAILY 4 HOUR COMMUTE again.

4.6/5

[Paul Grubb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to keep a "business book" out on my desk as something to read when I'm having a quiet moment between tasks. Often, these books are inspirational reads or guides to better management. This particular book is not what I'd call a timely selection, given that our company shifted to "virtual first" when the pandemic hit and has stayed in that format ever since. So I've had over 5 years of experience in the remote environment at this point. But that doesn't mean I couldn't learn anything from this very practical review of how best to lead when your team is on your screen but not in the same room with you.

I genuinely went into the process of reading this book with an open mind to see if there were things I could do better as a remote manager. I discovered when I was initially reading it, though, that I was instead comparing the author's guidance to my own practices. I'd check things off like, "Yep, I do that," "That sounds about right," or "Nah, I don't do it that way, and I don't need to." When I realized I was doing that, I forced myself to start over. That wasn't really approaching the author's advice with an open mind at all. I was using my own experience as the guidepost, a sort of answer key to compare against the book's suggestions. I realized pretty quickly that wasn't very helpful at all.

When I began again and really considered some of the author's advice, I felt I got a lot more out of the reading experience. In fact, I took at least one of the suggestions into practice on my team. Over the years, my team had gotten in the habit of leaving their cameras off for our smaller meetings (stand-ups, refinement, etc.), and although I always have mine on as an example, it had come to feel like I was speaking to an empty room. The book suggests "all cameras on or no cameras on" for team meetings, and I put the former into place for our sessions. In the weeks since applying this new rule, I do feel the team has reignited its bond. While I left the door open for brief outages (after all, we're all professionals), being able to see everybody's faces and reactions during our meetings has emphasized our humanity again, which I appreciate.

There are a number of good suggestions in the book, and I was gratified to observe that my team and I do practice a large majority of them. I am still thinking about different ways to enact other policies from the book that I think will help, as well. It's a mark of a quality "business read" when I reflect on it frequently after finishing the book, and I can see this one will fall into that category for me, as well. Recommended, especially if you find yourself in a new remote management situation. In that case, you should really try to read it sooner than I did. It's still helpful five years in, but it would have been an essential read back in 2020 when this all started.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little more high level and introductory than I would have liked for my purposes; it would be a great intro to remote teams for companies new to it, or for junior project managers about to start their first gig with a remote team. The written style flows very nicely and it's a comfortable read. Feels polished and is organized in a logical, clean way.

I was heartened to see almost everything that was suggested is reflected in what my company is already doing, so I did get a key takeaway from it: keep on keepin' on.

Overall, I would read more from this author!

[Tim Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Leading from Anywhere” is David Burkus’s fifth book. It was written during lockdown in 2020 and it’s about, leading and managing a team remotely.

It assumes your business has been office based and then, suddenly, through a Pandemic maybe that you have to shift your employees remote and what as a leader and a manager you should do.

David walks you through unifying your team around a shared purpose or goal and then how to create a culture and e takes you through the four aspects that make a great culture. He then walks you through the day-to-day aspects of leading remotely. Such as hiring remote teams, building bonds, communicating virtually, running virtual meetings, creating innovation, managing performance, keeping engaged and saying goodbye.

All great advice for managers and leaders and it’s all backed up by interview, case studies and just great examples.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finish this audiobook and will be looking up some other resources via the authors website. Absolutely very timely and has me thinking about communication in teams, hybrid models, and setting appropriate boundaries for work/home life.

Interesting case examples Tulsa Oklahoma experiment and the nature of our work. Communication written and verbal is very critical for all future employment. I also like the acknowledgment there will be times when there’s conflict or tension, only 🙂if you’re working with humans and it’s important to address that as quickly as possible and not to avoid the difficult conversations. Also thought the difference between a people or a process problem was helpful and separating out the brainstorming process to three different meetings, was tangible and made sense.

[Miguel David · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great little book. I went in with few expectations, but the author managed to cover, in a very practical way, most of the topics that come up in Remote Work life and leading this type of teams. Recommended!

[Vovka · Rating 3 out of 5]

More about "leading" less about the "from anywhere" part. I think I'd been hoping for more focus on the challenges of leading remote teams, rather than on the basics of leadership, which this book covers nicely (but redundantly, as there are many, many well-written tomes on leadership).

[Kim Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid advice

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I expected. The little bit of history of remote work pre-pandemic and the companies who squashed it (Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.) was interesting. He made some really good points about times when phone calls have advantages over video calls. The argument for higher productivity and lower sick days and employee turnover makes sense to me, and I might point some people this way when discussing it.

I love the Basecamp argument for remote work and asynchrony- “offices are distraction factories”.

Avoiding agenda-less meetings is a WIP in my company.

[Niklas Laninge · Rating 3 out of 5]

No gamechanger but short and filled with practical advice easy to try.

[Reuben]

So often, information is kept locked down on a need-to-know basis. Nbd in an office, but can be a major roadblock to efficiency with asynchronous work. Our default should be trust.
Five elements that explain how the best teams became the best teams:
One dependability the extent to which team members were accountable to shared expectations
structure and clarity whether the team had established roles and rules of engagement
Meaning how much the team felt their work had significance
impact how much the team felt their work made a difference
psychological safety how much the team felt they could be vulnerable and authentic with one another.
Teams bond most effectively when they can answer the question "What are we fighting for?"
Story about better charge nurses having more documented errors.

Psychological safety is the core element of thriving team cultures. This is built on trust and respect. Trust is reciprocated, and respect is a learned behavior.

Trial hiring. Are they collaborators? Communicators? Self-motivated?

When new people are added on to teams, have the entire Team interview them. They're all going to be working together, and the cohesion of the team is critical. Here are a few questions to have your team ask a new hire:
1. what does your ideal team look like? How often do they interact, and how do they treat each other?
2. And what type of culture do you feel you do your best work?
3. What was it like working on your last team?
4. Have you ever been on a team that just didn't work well? What was it like?

When top talent is transplanted from one company to another, they experience, on average, a 20% decline in performance. And it stays this way, even after a period of five years. Not so with "lift outs", however. That's where a whole team is transplanted.

For video interviews, consider breaking out a few questions and asking candidates to pre-record answers in short videos.

Don't do brain-teaser questions during interviews. It's useless for distinguishing between candidates.

For onboarding, prioritize connection over documentation. Schedule a welcome video chat for the whole team to greet the new person.

Remote work makes teamwork more important, not less so.

One-on-one coffees or lunches are great, communal meals are great. Taco Tuesday Lawyerist.

Partner teammates for work sprints. You do a video call, put the video in the background, and you both work your butt off on something for 25 minutes at a time, then chat for 5 minutes then back to work. Family members are much less likely to interrupt you!

Video calls are not as great as we think they are. and a couple of studies, they found that participants were better able to accurately gauge people's emotions during voice-only calls.

Work first, voice second, video last.

All of chapter 6 on running virtual meetings is great.

When you need to think creatively to solve a problem, don't schedule one long meeting. Schedule three: a problem meeting, an idea meeting, and a decision meeting.

When brainstorming, don't criticize ideas, but rather, the assumptions behind those ideas.

[Henry Davis IV · Rating 3 out of 5]

After having the pleasure of listening to this book's author, David Burkus, virtually when he graciously attended the Washington, D.C. Project Management Institute Chapter Book Club featuring this work, I can say Mr. Burkus is both well read and entertaining. Fortunately, this comes through in this book, although with limitations. This book was written in literally a couple of months which shows in the very limited case studies it features and sometimes cursory description of the concept or behavior being described. Had more time been available for David to flesh out his narrative, this book would have easily earned four stars or more from me. With that said, it is a very timely and decently researched book that is a pleasure to read. You may think you're a virtual work expert after having adopted this new work pattern for the past year, but I dare say you will still learn something new from this book. Whether it is the general leadership review in the beginning, a very nuanced and useful discussion of how to hold effective meetings and other events on-line from mid-book on, or the conclusion that includes questions from real managers like "what if I have to fire someone?"; this book has a little something for everyone. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is or has considered teleworking and especially if they are a manager (regardless of whether they telework themself or not).

[Eduardo Xavier · Rating 3 out of 5]

The COVID-19 forced many business to shut door and then go remotely (or break forever). But many other companies like Automattic (known for Wordpress), WolframAlpha (the search engine behind Microsoft’s Bing, Sira and Alexa) already had experience on remote work. Other company were born remote.
For David Burkus, remote team work can perform even better the in-person team. We should giving in the idea that work from home is less productive. In fact the author shows examples that work remote can be so productive that can even lead people to burnout. He also presents ideas to avoid burning out and produce engagement between team members, hire, dispose people and even ourselves.
From the very beginning, it all starts with the company purpose (and I like the idea of calling it a cause). Cause when people have a high purpose, doesn’t matter if they’re remote or not.
I also liked his ideas on planning and facilitating virtual meetings and to keep evaluating individual performance. Breaking meeting with themes, check people individually even if the team do daily meetings. That all sounds interesting.

The printed version of the book is so beautiful, but I gave 3 stars because I missed a lot of confirmation about researches to prove what he said. Also he touches into many subject superficially that some chapters seems a blog post of “10 things to do, 5 to avoid” added with some context. The book chapters’ references seems to depend more on him than anyone else.

[Theresa Jump · Rating 5 out of 5]

True and consistent to his style, David Burkus has delivered another smooth, practical and on-time, 'how to lead' guide. The ideas in this book can be used to manage all types of remote gatherings.
Managing live, on-line time is essential for general well-being, for workers, their partners, friends and families. Creating discipline around remote work and quality over quantity makes good sense all-around.

I particularly enjoyed Chapter 7 “Thinking Creatively” which discusses brainstorming during a call. I understood how much can be achieved and challenges remedied, with moderated team participation. Burkus refers to this as a ‘problem meeting’ (page 122), followed by an ‘idea meeting’, then a ‘decision meeting’. As a former board president and active in various organizations, I really love this idea.

I’m not currently leading a ‘team’, though I realized at the end of the book, it will remain in my physical library. I will need it one day.

[Rachel Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are finding yourself leading and managing remote teams these days, this is a great resource. I liked Burkus's examples of how to form and sustain remote teams. There are great suggestions for avoiding burnout, making processes more efficient, ensuring clear communication, and making sure people feel supported. It reinforced some things I was already doing in managing my remote teams but I gained some new ideas as well. I loved how the book was easy to read. Burkus also provides good summaries at the end of each chapter and a helpful appendix with additional resources. My only critique is that almost all of his examples involved for-profit businesses and some of his ideas are probably not well-suited for a nonprofit or government/community program. Maybe he could adapt a new chapter or two devoted to remote management in the nonprofit sector, which carries its own set of challenges! I would be happy to collaborate with him on the endeavor.

[سليمان العوشن · Rating 4 out of 5]

إذا كنتَ قائدًا لفريق يعمل عن بُعد أو تطمح لأن تكون، فإن كتاب "القيادة من أي مكان" هو دليل لا غنى عنه. ما سيعجبك في هذا الكتاب أنه لا يقدّم مجرد نظريات، بل يقدّم حلولًا عملية مستندة إلى واقع العمل المعاصر. أسلوب الكاتب ديفيد بوركوس واضح ومنظم، ويعالج تحديات ملموسة تواجه الفرق الافتراضية مثل بناء الثقة، وتحقيق التواصل الفعّال، وتعزيز الانتماء، وتحفيز الأداء. أكثر ما أثّر فيّ هو تأكيده على أن القيادة عن بُعد ليست نسخة باهتة من القيادة التقليدية، بل فرصة لإعادة صياغة بيئة العمل بشكل أكثر مرونة وإنسانية. الكتاب يجمع بين العمق والوضوح، ويمكّنك من تطوير مهاراتك القيادية مهما كان موقعك الجغرافي. أنصحك بقراءته إن كنت تؤمن بأن المستقبل للعمل عن بُعد قد بدأ فعلًا، وأن النجاح فيه يتطلب فهمًا جديدًا لدور القائد

تابعني على شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي

سليمان العوشن

http://about.me/aloshan

[Florian, Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where "The Nowhere Office" explains why there is no going back to presenteeism in the office and "Redesigning Work" shows how an organization adapts to the new normality, "Leading from Anywhere" starts where most people are most likely to feel whether remote work works or not: with leadership. In very concrete terms and with many checklists, Burkus shows how to organize virtual meetings, how to build teams remotely or how to foster innovation in decentralized organizations - and even how to say goodbye to a virtual team. These examples show that the book is not only interesting for managers, but simply for every person who is part of a decentralized team.

[Phil Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite business books ship with each of the following:

* Solid data and research
* Anecdotes to support the former
* Clear writing
* Opinions

Far too many books lack one or more of these components. Some lack all four.

Against this backdrop, Leading from Anywhere is refreshing. Timely, important, and exceptionally readable, Burkus lays out a game plan and then proceeds to knock down the pins. I'm putting it on my short list to recommend to others as they try to navigate the new normal.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remote Teams Practice

This book provides an empirical look at the dynamics, performance and best practices as regards the new normal of dispersed teams. Many management myths regarding remote work are challenged and debunked. A practical look at remote work IT functionality requirements is also provided. Overall, this book is an excellent starting point for managers, team leaders and workers to aid in quick alignment to virtual office, dispersed teams, and multi-office execution implementation.

[Maddie]

Not rating because work books are hard for me to rate… this book is a great resource for anyone working for a fully remote company (like me) or even in a hybrid model. It was written in the early days of the COVID lockdowns when people were forced to work from home, so I think it’s relatively topical, though many of the best examples are from companies who were intentionally remote rather than forced-remote. I plan to create a training for the managers at my company about this book, and it was well worth the read.

[Peter Østergaard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average read, my rate is 3.5 stars. There are surely a number of good advices for the team/companies/organizations that are moving to a remote or hybrid work environment. And I have leave the book with some concrete actions for my work and my team(s).

But a couple of the chapters are basic leadership advices like giving feedback, performance review and how to do brainstorming etc. That are very identical with the recommendation you would give to a in-person environment. Hence the rating.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. I read this for my work’s book club. Some things were helpful and made for great discussion about the future of our teams. Other parts were no where what our company would consider doing (out of our control) or were too high level. This is one of the first books post COVID (written during) so it is very much up to date which I appreciated and don’t have much to compare it with. Interested to see what other books say regarding remote teams.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read a few different books on remote leadership over the past year, but this is the first one I thought to be well constructed and useful. There is a difference in leading remote vs physical teams, and this is the first book I’ve read that truly acknowledges those differences, takes them seriously, and provides real, actionable guidance.

This is the first of David’s books that I’ve read, but now I’m going to seek out the others.

[Marcell Nimführ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too little. There was barely any instruction for remote teams that is not exactly the same for on premise teams. Very little actionable items, too many just-common-sense things.

As a researcher myself I give the third star for the excellent bibliography. This makes the book a quick starting point with enough branches to dive deeper.

[Zhivko Kabaivanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leading from Anywhere (2021) is a guide to leading a remote team, covering everything from building a company culture, managing performance, and running virtual meetings to providing feedback to team members.

In addition to setting out the best way to manage a team remotely, it makes a strong case for remote work in general.

[Andrea Puig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enriched with practical examples, David Burkus delineates the path to be explored by contemporary leaders, facing the challenges of the new remote era. Motivation, communication, innovation, performance, hiring, on-boarding, engagement take part of the covered dimensions, using a clear narrative, tips for easy recalling, true stories and strong data.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very practical and to-the-point. The ideas were generally not rocket science, but "management books" are a new (and, granted, not currently applicable!) area for me so I'll take it. 👩‍💻 The takeaway that's within my grasp right now is to try to infuse remote work with connections and humanity, albeit virtual and distant.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great comprehensive primer for anyone leading remote teams. I’ve been doing this for six years, but I still found a few useful tips. My favorite: start virtual meetings early if you can to allow socializing before the start time, not using up scheduled meeting time and make sure you always have an action oriented agenda.

[Allison Pringle Christiansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

learning from anywhere

Having worked remotely for more than a decade, I learned more from this book than I expected I would. Interesting, easy to read and straightforward advice that can be put to work immediately.
Worth the time for leaders everywhere. Not just for those leading distributed teams.

[Jamie Muffoletto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just found this book and am so glad I did. Not only am I walking away having learned a few new things to lead my team but I am also walking away knowing I am doing a lot of things right. This is a great book for any stage of managing a remote team. I will need to look into more books by David Burkus because I really like the way he thinks!