The phenomenon of remote work may feel a bit more like the norm to today’s employees, but many leaders are still scrambling to adjust. This is because the shift to remote work necessitates a radically new leadership style. According to Clark Lowe, President and CEO of O’Connor Company, it is a leadership style built on trust.
Lowe admits to being intimidated by the hasty rise of remote work in 2020. “When I rolled out a plan to keep our company working through the pandemic, all I had were unanswered questions. How would I track productivity and progress, verify work hours, and set expectations? At that time, Trust ran one way in the corporate world. We expected employees to trust and follow us, but we did not return that trust. When we went remote, it forced us to trust our employees. Suddenly, they had unprecedented leverage in the relationship.”
Remote teams require leadership built on trust
Historically, leadership models relied heavily on physical presence and hierarchical decision-making. Leaders were evaluated on their ability to command a room and their capacity for direct oversight. However, this model is at odds with today’s remote work environment.
Lowe asserts that the digital workspace necessitates a leadership model emphasizing autonomy, trust, and flexibility over direct control. Drawing from his extensive military background in the Marine Corps, he translates military discipline and strategic thinking into effective remote leadership strategies that fit the new remote workforce.
In the military, team cohesion and leadership development are continuous processes. Lowe emphasizes the same principles within the O’Connor Company. He invests in continuous training and development for his team members, ensuring that each one is prepared to lead and take initiative. This focus on leadership at all levels fosters a culture where team members are proactive and self-regulating.
“The concept of managing people is outdated,” Lowe observes. “I want to lead people, not manage them. This difference may seem minor, but it is crucial in a remote work setting. Leadership fosters meaningful relationships. It encourages autonomy and trust, and those traits are vital for maintaining engagement and satisfaction in a remote environment.”
Lowe’s Marine Corps background also instilled a deep commitment to integrity and ethics. By operating transparently and prioritizing ethical practices, he believes leaders build long-term trust within remote teams. He sees this ethical foundation as crucial for maintaining a culture of accountability.
“The most critical element of remote leadership is trust,” Lowe explains. “Remote work requires us to trust our teams to manage their responsibilities independently. This marks a radical departure from the ingrained belief that physical presence equates to productivity. I have been energized by watching new leaders in our company, such as business partner and VP of pre-construction Zach Froio, learn to foster and grow his remote team.”
Leveraging technology to build accountability through trust
During the pandemic, companies hastily adopted technology aimed at enhancing efficiency and productivity. Tech solutions like Teams, Zoom, Slack, WebEx, and Google Meet have become the standard tools of today’s workplace. The novelty of these technologies has worn off, and Lowe wants to shift the conversation toward more profound questions about the policies and processes leaders implement around that technology.
Tools like Slack, Zoom, and Teams are indispensable in O’Connor Company’s remote work paradigm. These platforms facilitate real-time communication, enabling team members to stay connected, collaborate seamlessly, and maintain productivity. Lowe’s focus on technological adoption ensures that his teams have the resources they need to remain engaged and effective, but his primary concern is using the technology to cultivate a culture of autonomy, flexibility, and trust.
In the military, leaders learn to trust their units to execute plans without constant oversight. Lowe applies this lesson to his remote teams by trusting his employees to manage their tasks independently. This trust is not given lightly but built over time through consistent communication and verified performance metrics.
“We use technology to set well-defined goals and benchmarks for our remote teams,” says Lowe. “We also use that technology to empower them to work independently. When you strike the right balance between autonomy and accountability, you foster a sense of ownership.”
Today’s remote leaders have a choice in how they will use technology. They can employ project management tools to micromanage or to maintain accountability. Tools like Asana and Trello allow for both macro and micro-level tracking of project progress. If used from a mindset of trust, they can provide a balance of autonomy and accountability. They can ensure that team members have the freedom to perform their tasks while adhering to project timelines and deliverables.
“The rise of remote work is reshaping not just where we work, but how we work and lead,” concludes Lowe. “For many of us, this transformation challenges long-held beliefs about productivity, management, and organizational dynamics. To build a culture of accountability in a remote work environment, we must learn to prioritize trust, autonomy, and flexibility. As leaders, we ensure that productivity and engagement thrive outside the office when we relinquish our need for control.”