{"id":30574,"date":"2020-04-09T13:23:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T12:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/?p=30574"},"modified":"2020-04-09T13:23:18","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T12:23:18","slug":"remote-work-feedback-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/blog\/remote-work-feedback-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"What to ask when requesting feedback as a remote worker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Working remotely comes with its own set of challenges. Especially if your company doesn\u2019t have robust support mechanisms in place, productivity and communication can take a hit. Feedback from others helps you develop (or hone) the skills necessary to cope with those challenges and thrive in a distributed team. And that\u2019s only one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/blog\/request-feedback-more-often\/\">reasons why you should ask for feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So what are the most valuable skills in remote work environments? What exactly should you get feedback on? Use the templates below to gather perspectives and advice that will help you become a successful remote worker.<\/p>\n<h2>Productivity<\/h2>\n<p>Employees who are used to an office environment may need some time to get to the same level of productivity while working from home (or anywhere else). Routines that suit you and your team help you stay productive and sane.<\/p>\n<p><b>Essential questions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How effectively do you think I&#8217;ve been managing my productivity? Can you share an example?<\/li>\n<li>What\u2019s one habit that you think would make me more productive?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Additional questions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>From your perspective, how well am I able to <b>manage my time<\/b>?<\/li>\n<li>What&#8217;s one technique that you think could help me <strong>stay focused<\/strong>?<\/li>\n<li>How do you feel about my ability to clarify my <b>responsibilities and priorities<\/b>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Note: <\/b>These questions might be tricky to answer for most of your coworkers, including your manager. To set the right expectations, emphasize that you\u2019re asking for their <i>personal impression<\/i>, rather than an objective assessment.<\/p>\n<h2>Proactiveness<\/h2>\n<p>With great autonomy comes great responsibility. When working in different locations where there&#8217;s limited insight into what others are working on, it&#8217;s especially important to be proactive. As a remote worker, you need to be able to \u201cunblock\u201d yourself and take initiative while still considering other people\u2019s roles and responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p><b>Essential questions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do you feel about the level of initiative that I show?<\/li>\n<li>What&#8217;s an example of a situation where I should take more (or less) initiative?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Additional questions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What\u2019s an example of a time I <strong>proactively tackled a business problem<\/strong>?<\/li>\n<li>What was a situation where I demonstrated<strong> independent problem solving<\/strong>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Communication<\/h2>\n<p>(Over-)communication builds trust and ensures smooth collaboration in remote teams. To keep everyone in the loop and avoid any misunderstanding, remote workers must communicate frequently and effectively.<\/p>\n<p><b>Essential questions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What&#8217;s an example of a time I communicated effectively?<\/li>\n<li>What&#8217;s one thing I should improve to communicate more effectively?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Additional questions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do you feel about the <b>frequency<\/b> of my communication?<\/li>\n<li>How do you feel about the <b>clarity<\/b> of my communication?<\/li>\n<li>How well do you feel informed about my <b>availability<\/b>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>General topics<\/h2>\n<p>When requesting feedback, consider leaving space for thoughts on topics that you didn\u2019t ask about specifically. These questions can help you get the general gist on a particular topic or allow the feedback giver to share what\u2019s on their mind.<\/p>\n<p><b>Essential questions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do you feel about my <b>overall effectiveness<\/b> as a remote worker?<\/li>\n<li><b>Anything else<\/b> you\u2019d like to share about my remote working style?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Getting started: how to ask these questions<\/h2>\n<p>Now that you have a solid list of remote work feedback questions at your disposal, it\u2019s time to reach out to your coworkers. Here are some ideas on how to use the questions above:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Combine the essential questions from the different skill areas into one well-rounded <i>remote work skills<\/i> survey.<\/li>\n<li>Ask the essential and additional questions to dive into one skill area, such as <i>communication<\/i>.<\/li>\n<li>Pick a single question and ask someone directly, maybe during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/1-on-1-meeting-essentials\/\">1:1 meeting<\/a>. Do this regularly to cover all relevant skills, and be sure to take notes for later reference.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Remote work comes with unique challenges. Ask these questions to develop (or hone) the skills necessary to thrive in a distributed team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":6905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feedback"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.small-improvements.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}