How To Lead Digital Nomads
If you swing by your local coffee shop in the middle of the workday, you’ll glimpse a sea of laptops more noticeably vast than before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. In 2020 many employees were sent home to work, and once international travel restrictions lifted, quite a few of them took the opportunity to get creative with the “where” of their work. And the slow undercurrent of the digital nomad lifestyle gained speed.
A digital nomad: a person who uses technology to perform their job functions and moves about to live in different places while getting their work done—whether that be a cafe, beach, lake or mountain within the United States or abroad—only needing a strong WiFi connection or hotspot. Some organizations have reinstated operations exactly as they were before the pandemic, some have moved to a hybrid workforce and some have stayed fully remote. And for those organizations that have allowed a remote environment, many of their employees have moved accordingly. These digital nomads have answered a question that we, at Building Champions, often ask in coaching, “What does this new circumstance make possible?”
We want to help you, a leader, best coach digital nomads so that not only will they grow and develop into their best selves professionally and personally, but also so your organization will adapt and thrive with this new way of work. And, if you’re a digital nomad leader yourself, you’ll have even more insight into how to best coach your team in this ever-changing cultural environment and professional landscape. In this blog, we’ll discuss how you can coach digital nomads and why embracing the concept of nomadic work can benefit your organization’s culture.
But first, let’s define a healthy organizational culture. We believe that to have a coaching culture that both attracts and retains top talent, you need these two key components:
Throughout the organization, coaching is the predominant style of leading, managing and interacting with others.
There is a deep belief that growing people and growing the organization are inter-connected and inter-dependent.
So, let’s get to the “how” of fostering a coaching culture with a workforce spread about the globe.
How to Coach Digital Nomads
Don’t let one-on-ones fall off the calendar. Recurring one-on-ones with your teammates are vital to professional development. This is the time for you to really pour into and invest in your people. You have an immense privilege to lead them and call out what you see in them. Learn where they want their career to go and help them get there. If you are only connected to your employees digitally, then consider these meetings sacred and don’t let them get moved.
Learn from them. Invite your teammates to share their learnings from their varied international experiences. Currently, more than 40 countries are accepting digital nomad visas so get excited with them. If they are courageous enough to work and live as a digital nomad, then their risk-taking mindset can teach you something—be curious enough to find out what it is.
Create connection opportunities. If some of your team is in the office and some are scattered over the globe, then be sure to make space for team connect time. If possible, set the expectation that for virtual team meetings all cameras are on. There are always excusable reasons, of course, but if you explain the importance of connection, there will likely be more buy-in from the team. Remind them that eye contact and facial expressions can be helpful communication tools. Another connection opportunity for digital nomads could be to offer virtual coffee connects. We offer this at Building Champions to our team. Once a month, teammates who opt-in are randomly paired and welcome to grab coffee on company time—sometimes it’s virtual, sometimes it’s in-person, depending on their location and calendar.
The uptick in people becoming digital nomads isn’t isolated to freelancers. If organizations choose to allow their employees to work as digital nomads, then there are unique benefits for those companies.
4 Ways Digital Nomads Can Benefit Your Organization
Increase retention. As is true in any relationship, when you give someone freedom, they’re often happier. And if you allow people the choice to move and experience new cultures and places, that’s a lot of freedom. Freedom fosters trust and trust is vital for team health and productivity. If people feel trusted and productive, then they’re more likely to stay with your organization.
Provide cultural perspectives. Your digital nomads are experiencing new cultures and meeting new people. There is so much to learn from new experiences, places and people. So, ask them what they’ve been learning. And ask them if there are any new practices they’ve gleaned from other cultures that should be considered for use in your organization? A Swedish cultural tradition that we’ve incorporated in our Building Champions Summit (our quarterly team gathering) is Fika, a time where people gather to connect over a sweet treat and coffee or tea. Obviously, that’s harder to implement for digital nomads, but you get the idea. What great things are other countries doing that you could learn from?
Enhance productivity. The IWG Global Workspace survey revealed that in 2019 (even before the pandemic upended our workplace realities) that 85% of respondents said their business productivity increased when flexibility was given. Digital nomads are often in different and varying time zones, so flexibility is key to their workday. If people are given the option to work during hours that best fit their schedule and lifestyle, it seems that research has shown that productivity increases.
Save money. One growing idea in the business world is BYOD (bring your own device). There are many security details to consider, but some organizations are saving money on hardware and systems and setting the expectation up front with their employees that they will not provide a laptop. It’s an idea that won’t necessarily work for all industries, but it would save funds. But also, if you aren’t providing a physical desk and office space for an employee who has chosen the digital nomad lifestyle, you’re saving money in that capacity too.
So, if the concept of digital nomads is new to you and your organization, think it through. An employee may approach you soon with this sort of request and it would be smart to think through the possibilities and benefits before dismissing the idea entirely. The world has been changing at a rapid pace especially over the last few years and with each new event, the forward-thinking leader always asks, “What does this make possible?”
